Hello Everyone,

I am going through hell here, I just moved to MN a few weeks ago and I now live in an apartment. My car is unfortunately not garaged and is now subject to EXTREME cold (often well below zero!)every nite. Well I recently was awoken by the faint sound of my car alarm going off at 2am and when I looked at my car I noticed the Rear Seat overhead courtesy light was on. Intertestingly enough I have had some other odd events in which I'd get into my car via the front drivers door and I'd notice all the lights would go out except the rear seat overhead light. If I opened the driver door and closed it again the rear light would then go out, or if I hit the overhead button for the rear light it would go out.

So with all that said, my alarm now goes off at random through the nite and I know my neighbors are pissed! Tonite I got so fed up I went out and removed ALL FOUR door jamb switches! Now I have to hurry up and wait to see if the damned thing goes off again during the night. Hopefully not.

Does anyone out there know any possible culprits for this weird situation? Other than possibly the door jam switches? Could a cold battery cause this type thing? I am considering replacing the battery but I do not want to spend the money if I do not have to.

I am ASSuming that since its only the rear overhead light that is on when this happens the odds are its one of the rear door jam switches, but oddly when I disconnected the last rear swich tonite the lights STILL STAYED ON, FRONT AND REAR. So thats when I said the hell with it and took them all out.

My thanks in advance to anyone who may have some other input on this.

The most common issue is a mis-adjusted door that allows the door contact switch to signal the CL pump & that sets off the alarm.

The only other common problem is in the CL pump itself.

__________________
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

Hello "Doc"

Thanks SO much for replying about my post about my '01 E430 Courtesy Light problem,
I have owned several MERC's over the years but this is my first one with all the gadgets and toys etc. I have never heard of a "CL Pump", can you tell me what that is?

I bought the car a little over a year ago and I recently found out the car was indeed in an accident. The body work overall was excellent except for some primer over spray I found in the trunk. Also from just the right angle you can tell the right rear door was also damaged.

Interesting that you mention "miss-adjustment" of one of the doors, My Indy guy in Florida had to do some major work on my car (TCU) and in the process had to run codes. Yesterday he told me that while he was working on the car he noticed "several" codes referring to the right rear door.

I guess my question is, is this a DIY type thing? meaning can I possibly figure out or tell if the door is out of adjustment somehow? Or is this another cash cow for the dealer?

I noticed last night when I was removing all the Door Jam Switches that the front doors had a little piece of felt like material in place to contact the switches, it looks like the back doors did not have that. Is that normal?

Again thanks so much for your input.