Just picked up my 560SEL today.

I noticed that the passenger side speakers don't seem to be pumping out any sound at all. The forward, mid, and back speakers are all dead. On the driver side all the speakers work perfectly and sound great. I've tried adjusting the balance to only the passenger side but nothing comes out at all. I'm pretty sure that all three speakers aren't dead, so I'm hoping its a lose wire or something of the like.

Thanks for the help in advance.

-Pathogen

Pathogen, this is one of the very typical problem for these cars. Mine is a 1991 560 SEL and I replace the amp myself. It is fairly easy if you can turn acoupel screws loose and have patients.

MB uses a separated amp for each channel. They are behid the seat back of the back seat. What you do is to switch the amp on the good side to the failed side to confirm it is the amp. I have typed a detailed procedure so many times so you should be able to do a search to find the write up.

If you go with Becker, I think they charge you $125 plus core plus shipping for a rebuilt one. I got two from Ebay. If you really could not find one, I am willing to sell this spare to you.

I have an agreed warranty with the dealer I bought the car from. He's a really geat mechanic and we've been going to him since the early 90s when my dad had his 450 SEL.

Hopefully I'll be able to have it repaired through him, if not i'll try and figure out how to repair it myself.

Just to try to understand something; if the amp is broken it will affect all three speakers?

As BigBenzWV pointed out, there's a left amp and right amp.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

I read up on all the other threads and feel fairly confident about installing my own amp. I'm just curious as to if it would be possible to install a commonly used amp instead of looking for a used Becker amp.

Yes, but get one that takes a common ground, i.e., doesn't require a floating ground. Post in the car audio section and I'm sure Scott will tell you what will work.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

My 300Se has a Clarion front end and the stock MB back end. I checked out the amps behind the seats and they really suck! BTW, the Clarion sucks too. So, I'm going to install my Sony CD AM-FM player and a new amp I bought at Crutchfield. Details to follow.

BTW, whoever installed the Clarion did a really crappy job. the wiring is horrible.

__________________
Regards

Warren

Currently 1965 220Sb, 2002 FORD Crown Vic Police Interceptor

Had 1965 220SEb, 1967 230S, 280SE 4.5, 300SE (W126), 420SEL

ENTER > = (HP RPN)

Not part of the in-crowd since 1952.

ok i got the seat out but i can't seem to find the amp or anything else wired to the speakers :\

I have power rear seats and i removed the lower portion but only see gers for the rear seats and the heating mechanism.

Peel back the black insulation about 15cm below the speaker.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

Pathogen. The amp is localed behind the upper seat back. You need to push the back up and then out to front. Behind that, you should see a sheet of black insulation, the amp is behind that sheet. There are about 4 x 4 inch black box with a hardess coming fron the top. Be very patient about removing the hardness from the amp and force alone wouldn't work. Push down on one of the flat side and then pull. I broke one of mine after 10 minutes of pulling.

Good luck.

I removed the upper portion of the back seat and found that the working side looked to have something more than the non working side. On the passenger side(the non working side) there seems to be only one unit and a yellow wire running in that portion.

The working driver side has two units and no yellow wires.

http://www.exigencies.org/passenger1.jpg
http://www.exigencies.org/passenger2.jpg
http://www.exigencies.org/passenger3.jpg
http://www.exigencies.org/driverworking.jpg

Looks like you found them. What you need to do is to switch them, only the top black one with a bunch of wires go into one hardness. Again, work carefully to take the hardness out.

Any idea what that extra unit is on the driver side with the 12V written on it? I was pretty sure that was the amp :x

When taking the top unit out does it have to be unscrewed on the sides? Does it just pop out without the wires attached to it?

Thanks for answering all my questions, I really appreciate it

Alright sweet I changed the amps up and figured out that the passenger side amp is infact dead.

I'm looking for a spare amp if anyone has one i'd be interested in purchasing