Dear friends:

My 1994 Mercedes c220 has started having some rattling noise
around (under) the radio antenna located on the driver side of the trunk. The noise only comes up and lasts for about 10 seconds whenever:
1) Ignition ON
2) Radio ON
3) Ignition OFF (shutting down the car).

Did anyone have a similar symptom and what was your solution?

I think Mercedes cars love to make weird noises occasionally (such as fuel pump noise at startup, antenna noise etc...)

I owned some very old Japanese cars (Honda Accord, Toyota Corolla) and none of them had intermittent and unpredictable problems like my current Mercedes car.

Thank you very much in advance.

Eric

I have the same problem with my 94 c280, just as you described. I asked the dealer about it, and they told me they looked at it and determined it was fine. They said as long as the antenna continues to go up and down, and as long as the noise is not constant, then it does not need replacing. Hope I was able to help.

Mine was noisy when I switched on the radio and it clack-clack clack on the way up. Does this on the way down too with a few more closing clacks at the end. One day I took my car to a Benz dealer and they were supposed to fix this and other things. When I drove off and approached a traffic light, I duly switched on my radio and to my embarassment, the aerial shot out like a speargun and hung by the side of the car! The dealer offered to put it back in without any replacement due to their bad workmanship and said I had to pay for a new one if thats what I wished. I went to an independent tech and he put in a new Benz aerial piece cheaper than the dealer, but the noise is still there, but far quieter. Has to be the gear inside and the motor which may have to be replaced at a high cost. Leave it! Only listen to the radio for traffic reports thats all. Just wonder how the Japanese cars can have such quiet and smoothly operating radio antennaes?