[John Boy 330xi]

Man, why me? I finally get the car of my/our dreams and on day 4 the alarm started going off around 3p.m. We stoped it by clicking the button, like we've had to do before on other cars and it goes off again. There's no one around, I've gone out, opened the trunk, played with the inside trunk opener to see if that could be the issue, it wasn't. I tried fooling with the tow button, that wasn't the issue, I've raised and lowered the roof, thinking it wasn't seated well, (I don't think it would do anything anyway) that wasn't the problem. I checked to see if the doors are aligned and shut snugly, they are. I've opened and shut the hood, it's shut tight. I opened and closed the clove box a gazzilion times and that's not it. I even took the car for a 2 hour ride thinking something would reset. That wasn't it. I've tried using my keys, then my wife's keys, that wasn't it. I don't get it! I've even tried moving my wifes car a little farther away from mine, cause it all started when she got home and parked next to me. NO CIGAR! WTF WTF WTF I'm ready to pull fuses, its 10:50 pm and my neighbor already offered to help the situation out with a brick cause its waking up his dog, who barks, and that wakes up his kids, who scream, and that wakes up his wife, who is a pure CU.. well, you know the rest.

Does anyone have any ideas? Besides being embarrasing, its annoying to have such a nice car with terrets!

HELP!

Thanks guys,
John

 

[Miked619]

has it been raining around your area? Do the door locks seem to operate normally? Asking because I know if you dont keep the drains clear sometimes the water will backup and go places that are not good. The alarms are pretty cheesy on the car so my other guess would be one of the trigger switches are screwing up, the courstey lights go out normal? Not sure but I would guess there is one on the hood and trunk also. Sorry cant be much help.

 

[John Boy 330xi]

Its snowing today, but it was dry last night. I called Mercedes road side assistance, to my surprize, the man said he'd be here in a half hour. It was late and I didn't want to make any more noise for the neighbors, its not that they live terribly close, its just that this is a REAL quiet little neighborhood on top of a mountain, any strange noises occur here and you see doors open and hear shot guns click. Mmm, not a good idea for a repair guy to be wandering around looking for the right house at midnight. He said that he wouldn't mind coming over today, I don't know what he can do, all I know is it better be free! The car is 4 days old to me, 8 thousand miles on it and the only record of anything being replaced on the car with the prior owner is a battery. Which, leads me to believe this was a problem before.

Wanna know what's weird, no shit, it started doing this when my wife got home. She parked her car near mine, there was plenty of room to get in and out, but later, I moved her car even farther and either the lights flashed with no alarm later on, or it didn't do it. I slept through the night. Furbie Benzes?

 

[slkpwr]

ask the guy to check on the PSE or PSU (not sure which is right) unit in the trunk of the car.. if that is wet that's the one causing the problem not your wife's car. if thats not it.. could be any of the alarm sensors malfunctioning (dont know where they are but your tech should know).

 

[DEATHERAGE]

this is stupid. It has been raining an EPIC ammount in my area and my alarm keeps going off at random. I cannot stop it no matter what unless I start the car then turn it off again.

Sigh man wtf~!

 

[DA_SURG]

I hate alarms...nobody even pays attention to them anyways cause they just go off all the time.

BTW, does mercedes call you guys every time the alarm goes off, cause they do that to me. Must be annoying to be getting calls all the time [][][}]

 

[Miked619]

I like to think of the mb alarm as nice door unlock No they don't call, or at least they dont call me. Deathy if its been raining A LOT try to get your car undercover, seriously. Also check your passenger floorboard/up under the dash on the passenger side for water. When it really poured I got water into that section, glad I didnt put a sub in there, woulda been a disaster.

 

[DEATHERAGE]

man its allways undercover or in the garage but i gotta go to work n shit hasnt stoped raining in a week

 

[fgwinn]

Had same problem with my 2000 SLK230...

Here's an excerpt from the invoice for the warranty repair on my 2000 SLK230.

"Customer states alarm will go off whether car is locked or unlocked. Found PSE pump & anti-tow sensor faulty test.
Replaced PSE pump & anti-tow sensor."

The three parts that were replaced were

170-800-08-48 Pump
170-820-03-26 Control Unit
220-820-28-26 Alarm Unit

The car was in the shop for 5 days. The first repair "failed" and I had to wait another two days for more parts to arrive. I suspect that the dealer replaced more than the minimum parts required to effect a repair. BTW, this was a 5-hour repair.

Our experience was that if we left the door ajar, the alarm would no go off. Of course, this does not work well if the car is not garaged.

Hope this helps.

 

[16falcon]

Do a search on PSE pump in this forum and you will find that this (unfortunately) is not that uncommon. Apparently water leaks in the trunk area run down the wiring into the PSE Pump (pneumatic pump and electronics for door locks) which causes the problems. The pump itself is wrapped in a foam padding just to the right of the jack/lug wrench. I was going to take mine out and put it in a thick plastic bag and try to keep the wiring from funneling any water into the pump. When I tried to pull it out though, the wiring appears to be too short to get it to move out of its spot. I was afraid I'd mess it up yanking on it so I left it alone. Has anyone else pulled that out to try to seal it up? Is there some trick to it?

Another thing to check is that your drains in the outer edge of the trunk lip are not clogged up causing the water to leak into the trunk.

 

[beverage]

Would you believe this, but apparently it is quite a common fault with both the SLK and the CLK!! [:0]

Mine started doing this, just after I moved house, but I put it down to the fact that there was a Caterpillar Digger rolling past the house most days, and it was causing the house to shake, so figured it was setting the alarm off as well. [V]

Weirdly enough, I found that when it did go off, that within the next three hours it would go off another two times!!!! [?]

Anyway winter hit, and it stopped going off!!! Then last summer it started again. [!]

So got it in at the dealership, they did there tests and initially they thought it was a faulty internal sensor, so they replaced that then and there, and checked that a signal was getting around the wiring uninteruppted - it was!!!!!

Got my car back, and couple of weeks later it went off again. Back to the dealership and again the test came back saying faulty sensor, deciding that this was highly unlikely, they ordered an entire brand new alarm unit. But I had to wait several weeks before it arrived (this was actually due to no one ordering it at the dealership, rather than it being a hard to find part!!! [!] When they did eventually order it, it arrived next day!!!! [:O])

So car went back, got the alarm replaced, and ever since then it has behaved beautifully!!!! []

Just a shame that two months after getting the alarm sorted, part of the clutch pedal dropped off!!!! [:0] [!] [] (Thank goodness it was still in warrenty at this time!!! [])

 

[MAX BLAKELY]

On mine, they had to replace the entire computer...that controlled lots of stuff. New replacement computer doesn't have the courtesy fade-a-way night lights to escort you to your door....but what the heck, no troubles since. As an aside, my friend had her SLK stolen by thugs that had duplicated her key-fob signal that unlocked her car....simular to how they used to steal your cell phone number and then run up your long distance bill. They got in and pulled her ignition switch and replaced it with one they had purchased....and off they drove. Car showed up over a year later and in not too bad shape....just something that stopped it from running and would have had to go to the dealer to replace (maybe something electronic...don't know yet--car still in police pound). So now she is paranoid, if someone appears to be watching her approach her new ride, she just uses the key to get in and not the fob and does watch to see if she is followed....and she is now an excellent shot for such a purty little thang [)]

Regards

 

[John Boy 330xi]

Well, the MB roadside fella came by yesterday to have a look at the car. Nothing we did could make that alarm go off in a manor that it shouldn't have gone off. Its been behaving well. I took a road trip with it, my first two hour ride in each direction. When I was in the store I was still being haunted by sounds of the night before, but I'd check and the car was fine. Last night, again, fine.

Everyone seemed to have rain to make theirs go off prior, we didn't have rain here. Nor did I have snow that could have melted. Hmmm. I copied and pasted all your reports in a word doc so I can bring them to the dealership if I have trouble again. I thank you for your help. I got more than I wanted too as far as hearing about water leaks..... NOOOOOOO!!!!!
dag nag it! Homey don't need no leaks, and, Homey don't have no garage!

Again, thanks!

John

 

[John Boy 330xi]

Another thing about the alarm I noticed yesterday. In my car after the alarm is set, I have ONE blinking light flashing on the tow button. In my wife's car and the dealers vehicle that came to assist me, there's two blinking lights. One flashes on the stereo and the other flashes on the tow button.

How many flashing lights do you guys have inside the car after you set the alarm? I'm wondering if the stereo is causing a fault? Just a guess.

 

[John Boy 330xi]

Another thing about the alarm I noticed yesterday. In my car after the alarm is set, I have ONE blinking light flashing on the tow button. In my wife's car and the dealers vehicle that came to assist me, there's two blinking lights. One flashes on the stereo and the other flashes on the tow button.

How many flashing lights do you guys have inside the car after you set the alarm? I'm wondering if the stereo is causing a fault? Just a guess.

 

[beverage]

John Boy 330xi - 2/14/2005 3:26 PM

Another thing about the alarm I noticed yesterday. In my car after the alarm is set, I have ONE blinking light flashing on the tow button. In my wife's car and the dealers vehicle that came to assist me, there's two blinking lights. One flashes on the stereo and the other flashes on the tow button.

How many flashing lights do you guys have inside the car after you set the alarm? I'm wondering if the stereo is causing a fault? Just a guess.

Hmm, I've only ever noticed the light on my radio flash?? I'm gonna have to check that tonight!!! [:I]

 

[John Boy 330xi]

This is freaky, all day yesterday the car was fine. I went out, got an inspection sticker, stopped and ate, all without any problems.
I came home, parked the car, the wife pulls in about a 1/2 hour later with her Mercedes, comes in the house, the alarm goes off about a 1/2 hour later!

I clicked the clicker from the window, it shuts off. About an hour later it goes off again. I go outside, check all the doors, hood, trunk, glove box again, set the alarm it goes off about an hour later. I then leave the alarm off, IT GOES OFF AGAIN even shut off!

My wife gets pissed, she's worried that we're going to get a brick in the window when we come back from eating. She hopped in her car, turns her car around in the driveway and parks her car a car length behind mine, time lapses and the alarm is fine.

We went out to diner, came home, no problems. There's no sensors for radius in either car. I was at the dinner today and had cars on each side of me, no problems. I think my car just hates her car!

 

[John Boy 330xi]

This is freaky, all day yesterday the car was fine. I went out, got an inspection sticker, stopped and ate, all without any problems.
I came home, parked the car, the wife pulls in about a 1/2 hour later with her Mercedes, comes in the house, the alarm goes off about a 1/2 hour later!

I clicked the clicker from the window, it shuts off. About an hour later it goes off again. I go outside, check all the doors, hood, trunk, glove box again, set the alarm it goes off about an hour later. I then leave the alarm off, IT GOES OFF AGAIN even shut off!

My wife gets pissed, she's worried that we're going to get a brick in the window when we come back from eating. She hopped in her car, turns her car around in the driveway and parks her car a car length behind mine, time lapses and the alarm is fine.

We went out to diner, came home, no problems. There's no sensors for radius in either car. I was at the dinner today and had cars on each side of me, no problems. I think my car just hates her car!

 

[16falcon]

John Boy 330xi - 2/14/2005 9:26 AM

Another thing about the alarm I noticed yesterday. In my car after the alarm is set, I have ONE blinking light flashing on the tow button. In my wife's car and the dealers vehicle that came to assist me, there's two blinking lights. One flashes on the stereo and the other flashes on the tow button.

How many flashing lights do you guys have inside the car after you set the alarm? I'm wondering if the stereo is causing a fault? Just a guess.

I checked mine tonight. The only thing that flashes is the red light in the tow switch. Nothing from the radio.

 

[BlueBenz]

bit of a long shot here...
does your wife's merc have an alarm (i guess it does)
could it be that they are interfering with each other in some way (radio signals blah blah) ??