C320 electrical nightmares
 

hi I have a 2001 C320 and my problems continue. the first thing a few months ago my battery would run down. once i recharged the battery the power seats would not work. I took it into the dealer and he said the power seat controler was bad and to replace it. I did that on the drivers side and the seat on the drivers side works and no discharging battery. At that time the passenger seat still did not work. now the ESP light is on and this AM I get in the car and the drivers seat has moved all the way to the forward position and will not move. so now neither set moves again, the alarm locks and unlock all the doors but the drivers door, the tilt steering does not move, the power windows will not go down at any door and the outside mirror works on the passanger door but not the drivers door. Oh my gosh what can I do, this is crazy it is not a flood car or struck by ligting and a very nice well taken car of car but i can only imagine what this would take to fix at the dealer.

The early W203 chassis seat computers are VERY bad..replacement is the only fix. they can cause the complete interior network to go CRAZY!

thank you is that the power seat control module underneath the seat on the floor? Now re i replaced the one on the drivers seat about three months ago. even when I replaced that one the passenger side still did not work so i guess there is one for each side and is it likely before that it could have gone out as a pair at the same time? Thanks for answering me back.

Yep, definitely sounds like it has gone bezerk.

Try the door control module, not the seat module. no windows, mirror, steering wheel control etc leads me to believe thats your culprit. Signals for those devices all go through that module, it is located behind the door panel clipped to the door itself.

I agree, I saw more DCM (door control module) problems than seat modules, but yes seat modules too. Plus the DCM controls the SCM, plus the DCM would also affect windows and mirrors. I believe the DCM also affects the steering wheel adjustment (may be the drivers SCM). Not sure on the door locks, isn't the switch (other than using the remote key, I mean the button inside the car) on the panel above or below the radio?
Gilly

I have seen lots of DCm problems on 2001-2002 c class cars but more seat control module problems than any other car. The reason you have a ESP error is probably becuase the car lost position of the steering wheel when your battery died. Turn the steeirng wheel full left and right a few times and the error should go away.

Thank you all for your replys, I will order the modules and see if that takes care of my problems. On the ESP I read that in the owners manual and tried turning the steering lock to lock and that did not put the light out. I will know more once i get the modules replaced I hope. Thanks again for your help.

my story goes on, i put both power seat control mod in (used) and then everything worked for about 5 minutes. Then the seats powered forward teh door locks, tilt power widows, quit, the trunk would not open, the esp light came on the fuel gage quit, the instrument cluster quit and said visit workshop bc the cluster quit. So I gave up and took it to factory shop and they said my rear S.A.M. was bad so they replaced that and it fixed everything but the seats. they said then that the passenger power seat control mod I bought used was for an "E" Class not mine and had me take then my old module to them and they said it was not bad and fixed everything. I paid them and took my car and after about an hour in the car, drivers seat started moving forward on its own and id put it back and it would come forward again, I got out of car and turned it off. went back later and everything was fine, except seat not moving at all. teh next day got in and worked perfect all is well, but this AM went to leave and all doors unlock with keyless entry except drivers door. locked and unlock several times with the same results, got into car and now drivers seat not working. called Mercedes and said i should not have bought used power seat module, they guess put a new one in bc each module is programed to specific car and must think it is still in original car.

well there should be a way to reset the module somehow. If the module is from a similar C class and even if the module "thinks" on its own, then that should somehow be re-programmable.
The answer mercedes is giving you is OK if they pay for it. Not if you end up spending crazy cash.
is your car under warranty or are you paying for all this ?

there is some stored info that needs to be transferred from old module to new when you put another one in. also all your seat motors will also need to be normalized, i.e. move them all from stop to stop a few times.

Hello thank you sop much for fast replys, no my car is out of waranty by time about one year and miles, I have 63,000 miles on it so thats out also. So I am paying for this. I have not heard of the stop to stop normilize I'll go try that and if the seats move do that a few time and i'll see if the merceeds store did that they may have. Thank you again its driving me crazy.