W208 Stereo/Nav issues

[DannyG]

So I just bought a 2001 CLK55, and suddenly my stereo is acting up a bit. When I turn the car on, the screen stays on the welcome screen for around 30 seconds, then the radio would start playing for a second, then stop for a little while, the start playing again, and so on... That and once it stops "buffering...?", or whatever the hell it's doing, the stations take forever to change after hitting the button. There's about a 2-3 second stall... Pretty damn weird. Anybody have this happen to them, or is this fairly normal? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

To remove this ad, register today or login if you already are registered!

[DannyG]

Sweet... Guess nobody has a clue

[H-MAN]

Sorry never heard of that problem. I'd recommend you just get a replacement radio or shut the thing off, roll down the window & listen to the rumble.

[Chappy]

I don't have COMAND, but unusual electrical gremlins can also be attributed to other things:

Do you have the stock battery? It could be time for a replacement. Mine was bad at 5 years....they usually only last 4 or 5 years.
Have you jumped your car off? Disconnected your battery?

Bottom line....any little electrical spikes can cause havoc with your cars electrics.

Interestingly, one of the few items specifically EXCLUDED from the MB extended warranty is the radio, CD changer and COMAND systems. Hope you don't need a new one.

[DannyG]

Originally Posted by Chappy

I don't have COMAND, but unusual electrical gremlins can also be attributed to other things:

Do you have the stock battery? It could be time for a replacement. Mine was bad at 5 years....they usually only last 4 or 5 years.
Have you jumped your car off? Disconnected your battery?

Bottom line....any little electrical spikes can cause havoc with your cars electrics.

Interestingly, one of the few items specifically EXCLUDED from the MB extended warranty is the radio, CD changer and COMAND systems. Hope you don't need a new one.

Thanks for the responses. My best friend is actually an MB tech, and said he'd never seen this before but thinks it might just need a software update, as it's malfunctioning is sparatic. At any rate, I don't think it's an electrical gremlin as none of the other power options (seats, windows, sunroof, etc.) have any spikes or surges. They always operate the same, even when the radio is acting up.

Either way, even though the head unit is probably fine, I have the car scheduled at a local car audio shop to have a 6.5" Pioneer AVIC-D3 installed. Goin for the upgrade!