[mwdake]

I hope this is the right place to post this.

I have a 2006 E350 that was recently broken in to by someone who smashed out the sunroof.
Among other things the roof got scratched and the body shop had to paint the roof. The body shop told me they removed the windshield and rear window to paint the roof then replaced them.

About a week after I got the car back the Nav system showed my current location as being about a mile from my house out in the Gulf of Mexico. I just thought it was confused as it later showed the correct location. Today it did it again and shows my location as 1/2 mile or so away. The bottom of the nav screen does not show the coordinates or satellites like it did.

I am assuming the black antenna at the top of my rear window is the antenna for the nav system.

I am wondering is it possible the body shop did not hook up the antenna properly or did something that would cause the system to not get a fix from the satellites?

thanks for any assistance

 

[Skylaw]

That is not only entirely possible, it is the most likely cause of the problem. I hope they unhooked the antenna connections when they removed the window, and did not re-connect them - rather than breaking them.

I would take the car back to them and have them reconnect.

 

[Diesel Benz]

Is this the pre-facelift W211 Sedan model if it has the GPS antenna at the top of the rear window (the facelift has it on the roof)? These are prone to fail but you could check the connector at the far front/left/top, near the hinge at the trunk.

You should also set the COMAND to show how many satellites it can detect. If it shows "-" the connector is unplugged or the cable/antenna is broken. If it shows "0" when it should not, it must be the antenna.

 

[mwdake]

Thanks for both of these answers.

It is the pre refresh model as the antenna is on the back window. I have my screen set to show the satellites and coordinates etc. It just shows a dash - for the satellites, not a 0.

It is so weird as this morning while parked on my driveway it showed me as located out in the Gulf of Mexico. After I drove for a few minutes it started to show satellites 6-8 and the correct location. Later in the day I went out and it showed just a - for satellites and no coordinates or altitude but the location was correct as I drove around. Then a few hours later it was showing 8 satellites and coordinates again.

So, it appears to be intermittent but it was definitely not behaving like this before the visit to the Mercedes body shop. Now I have to convince them that the problem is because they must of not hooked the antenna back up properly or they damaged the cable.

 

[Skylaw]

After theses system functions have been interrupted, they may take some time 0 up to 30 minutes or so of continuous operation to re-synch fully. That may have happened, so notify the shop, but keep watch - the problem may not reappear.

Did you get any fishing done while you were "in" the Gulf?

 

[mwdake]

Did you get any fishing done while you were "in" the Gulf?

Yes, I should take up fishing as I seem to be out in the Gulf more than at home.

The nav system behaved today on the run to the gas station and back.
I think I will call the body shop just to get it on record that my navigation has been acting erratically since they worked on the car.

thanks for all the advice