My manual states (on page 60)...
"Turn key in steering lock to position 1 or 2 (with either front door open, the sliding/pop-up roof can be operated with key removed or in steering lock position 0)."

Now what I don't understand is what is in the parenthesis. I tried to to close/open the sunroof with the key out of the ignitiona nd with one of the doors opened, and it did not work? Other C280 owners, would you check and see about yours? I don't know if this is just my car or what. If it is supposed to do what it says, then basically it has the same power operation as the power seats, you can do it with the door open. Though my sunroof will not open/close with either front door open with no key. ANyone have a clue what might be going on?

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

If the roof is open & you lock the door & hold the key to locked position the roof(& windows) will close.
Sunroof won't work w/key removed!

__________________
MERCEDES Benz Master Guild Technician (6 TIMES)
ASE Master Technician
Mercedes Benz Star Technician (2 times)
44 years foreign automotive repair
27 Years M.B. Shop foreman (dealer)
MB technical information Specialist (15 years)
190E 2.3 16V ITS SCCA race car (sold)
1986 190E 2.3 16V 2.5 (sold)
Retired Moderator

Yeah I noticed that, but why does the manual say this? Does anyone else's manual say that??
How weird....

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

???

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

catching up with benzmac???

David, since I am on-line again...

The power roof and windows of the early C classes can be controlled with the doors closed and the key in the ignition lock and turns into pos.1 (or 2). When the key is out of the ignition and one of the (front) doors is opened, you should be able to control the power roof and windows as well (this was changed by mercedes on the later models).
If you lock the door after you left the car and keep your key turned for a while, you should be able to close the power windows and roof as well.

If you have the front door open ant the key out, can you control the windows?
Can you control windows and roof with the door lock?
If you cannot control either windows or roof, you have a problem with the "comfortbetätigung" (however that is called in english). The relay for the power windows and roof is in the trunk behind the battery. There is an additional relay for the comfort-closing feature in the trunk (above the additional fuse box) and there is a comfort-closing fuse in the additional fuse box in the trunk.

If some features are working well and the roof is not...you may have some features messed up by the after market alarm (since you posted a problem with your central door lock button before)...

Do your windows and roof close when you lock the car with your alarm remote? (mine does...)

greetingz,

__________________
1990 300SL-24
1993 C250D with a minor 600+k kilometer
www.MBenzNL.com(the Netherlands)

No, I cannot close my windows with my remote. But I can do it with my key. Sometimes it doen'st work though? Like 5% of the time. Maybe that has something to do with the relay?
No, I cannot roll up the windows or sunroof after the ignition is off with a door open. Though I have like 1 second of power after ignition is off.
Do you know what year they changed this feature??

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

= comfort closing.

This is a particularly useless feature: you hold the lock button on the remote control and the power roof and any open windows close. It is useless because you have to know they are open, and then hold the button pressed until they are closed. More often than not the key remote transmission is interrupted.

Alternatively, you can turn the key in the door lock and hold it in the locked position until any apertures close.

This is useless because it is much easier (and more comfortable) just to close the window before turning off the car and getting out.

The power windows in my car do not operate with the key in position 0 or removed from the ignition, even with a door open. However I remember that our '88 W124 300D did this.

By the way, the air conditioning is rendered less effective if windows or sun roof are open, apart from when the car has been parked in the sun and you have just got in. I think you probably knew that already!

My 1995 does not have the standard flip that was made for the C's in 96 and 97. So I have an aftermarket remote, which is the alarm also. I would need some other things to get my windows to close with it. I really want a trunk release though!! Can that be put in? MBenz I am sure you have done this. Give me details...

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

jjrodger,

thank you for the übersetzung...

david,
Sometimes the comfort closing does not work, like 5% of the time...If you activate this feature several times in one row without leaving the comfort closing feature sufficient time to "rest", the comfort closing will not function properly. You have to give it some time after you have used it...
I think mercedes changed the power windows and roof in 1997 (with the model change). It is not possible to control windows and roof of an after 1997 model C class without the key in the ignition lock.

I have an after market alarm system as well and when I close my car (with the alarm remote), it automatically closes all open windows and roof.
I know you have an after market alarm as well and had some troubles with the power lock button on the dash. Maybe these problems are somehow related and are caused by the installed after market alarm.
There is a fuse and a separate relay in the trunk for the comfort closing. I presume these are not worn since your doorlock still activates the closing windows.

What do you mean with trunk release? Do you mean the switch on the center console or a button on your remote control?
I have a 1998 trunk lid on my 1993 C250D. The later trunk lid locks are vacuum controlled; the early trunk lid locks were 100% mechanical. The 1998 trunk lids can be controlled by a switch on the center console (since it is vacuum controlled) and I have the wires present but did not find a proper switch yet. The newer mercedes models have one panel with 4(+1) power window switches, power side mirror switch and trunk lid release switch...and this panel is too expensive to buy and cut to pieces to get the right switch out of the panel.

greetingz,

__________________
1990 300SL-24
1993 C250D with a minor 600+k kilometer
www.MBenzNL.com(the Netherlands)

I meant that I was wondering how extensive it was to add an aftermarket trunk release, either on the remote or in the car. No big deal though.
How do I give the comfort relay sufficient time to "rest"
Last night I tried closing my windows with the key and it did not work. Sometimes it doesn't? Where exactly in the trunk is that relay; I want to check it out and see if I can attempt to solve the problem.

As for my doorlock problem. I figured it out. There is no problem. When I start the car with all of the doors closed, the doors lock and are inoperable by the switch on the console. If I start the car with any door open, then the doors do not lock, and I must press the lock button to lock them. I can then unlock them using the button on the console. I had read this in my manual before, but couldn't make any sense of it. Now I have. I really don't understand WHY they did that though?

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

The relay for the power windows and roof is behind the battery (at the right side of the battery under the chassis) and it is black and rather large.
The relay of the comfort locking feature is situated behind the additional fuse box in the trunk. Take out the trunk mat, the black plastic plate behind the spare wheel well (3 "screws") and you will find a white (small) relay being stuck in the plastic cable tray...

greetingz,

__________________
1990 300SL-24
1993 C250D with a minor 600+k kilometer
www.MBenzNL.com(the Netherlands)

MBenz,
I located the relay, and the fuse. Everything seems ok. Windows go up/down with key, but windows do not operate with door open. Anyway, I have a few questions...
What is the other white fuse next to it?
In the fuse box back there, there is REAR WINDOW LIFT, fuse # 7, what is this?
Again, Fuse # 10, FRONT WINDOW LIFT. What are these?
And one more question, this I have been curious about for a long time: Coming out of the car from right under the fuse box is a clear tube that comes out and rests on the battery, what in the hell IS this??

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

Fuse #7 and #10 in the additional fuse box powers up the power windows. It is a fuse in the permanent power circuit for the (rear and front) windows.
Power seats, power roof and additional sound systems are fused in the back as well.

That other white fuse might be for the power roof...

The clear tube that is connected to the (overflow pipe of the) battery is meant to lead possible battery water and gasses out of the trunk.
Partly due to this tube not being connected properly or at all, a lot of the C classes around here suffer some severe rust in the trunk (spare wheel well).

greetingz,

__________________
1990 300SL-24
1993 C250D with a minor 600+k kilometer
www.MBenzNL.com(the Netherlands)