BrownSugar

They're a bit thin on the ground mate. I can't find anything for sale. Now if you want a diesel ....

The stereo is wired into the canbus system and does a lot more than just play music. Replacing them is not a straightforward plug and play. I have a 2008 SRT Design and my factory fitted MyGig went kapput. Didn't want to give Chrysler two grand for another one so I replaced it with a Sony. It was a nightmare. Had it fitted professionally but they had four goes at it before everything was sorted. My advice would be to put up with factory unit mate. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

After reading this my faded door pillars started to annoy me. So I masked them off as well as the triangles on the back doors and I sprayed them with Halfords satin black. Looks good right now, hope it still looks good after the winter.

Sorry mate, missed that.

You say "...it only starts doing it when it warms up..." are you saying the noise is there when the car is cold or once it is warm? Also, are you certain it's coming from the wheels? Mine was making an annoying metallic rubbing sound when it was cold but stopped once warm. I eventually found it was the heat shield above the catalytic converter rubbing on the prop shaft. The heat shield lines the underside of the prop shaft tunnel. The shaft is set very high up on these cars and the cat hangs below it. Once the heat shield got hot it expanded and moved away from the shaft, therefore, silent once warm. The tell tale sign was scratch marks on the prop shaft above the catalytic converter. My first fix was to rub high melting point grease on the shaft where the scratches were. This worked for a while but eventually the noise came back. I tried getting a new heat shield from Chrysler but this part appears to be unavailable. Therefore, I had that section of the heat shield removed. Its been a few months now and has been fine, the floor doesn't get hot and the carpet hasn't melted! But now it runs silent hot or cold.

Nice tip. Where did you buy the vinyl from?

Have a look at 1aauto.com they have loads of great videos on fixing a 300. Also have a look at this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jODddB-iYs

A while ago my reversing sensors were playing up. The lights would come on randomly and it would beep when I was driving forward. On another post Briscoe76 put the below info on. It fixed the problem and also sorted several other electrical gremlins I had... radio playing up, speedo needle randomly waving about, indicators missing a beat, random warning lights. Give it a go, it's the best tip I've read for years. PS: Really envious that you have an SRT8. Briscoe76 Hi, did you get this problem sorted at all? If you didn't, then its an easy fix. Open the bonnet and, and find the washer bottle. Next to that, bolted to the drivers side wing, you will find a black box. Unplug the box, and hey presto, the fault will vanish. It will also cure a few other faults, such as indicators that miss a click, rear wipers wiping on their own, reversing sensors firing up when your driving forward. The box is the HID translator module. All it does is let the ECU know when a headlight bulbs blows. If you can live without that function then you can cure all the rest!! The HID module develops a fault, and effects lots of other things down the line.

Mate that's mental. Now that it's sorted why don't you put your new stereo back in and see if it's still okay? My battery died a few months back. When I fitted a new one I had loads of lights up on the dash and the MyGig went completely awol, I had to replace it with a Sony. Well done for fixing it though and especially for posting the cure. I'm sh*t scared of going anywhere near that damn battery on this car.

Has anyone ever had the bonnet (hood) release cable snap? if so how did you get the bonnet open?

Wow... that flat battery has caused you some problems mate. Never heard of that problem (thankfully) and sorry I have no knowledge of Scottish mechanics. However, some time ago Briscoe76 put the below tip on these forums. I followed his instructions and it has solved several electrical gremlins for me. I used to have the speedo needle waving about wildly, indicators would sometimes miss a flash, the alarm would set itself off and the parking sensors would bleep randomly, but since following his tip they have not re-occurred... fingers crossed, don't want to tempt fate. Definately worth a try. Briscoe76's tip: Hi, did you get this problem sorted at all? If you didn't, then its an easy fix. Open the bonnet and, and find the washer bottle. Next to that, bolted to the drivers side wing, you will find a black box. Unplug the box, and hey presto, the fault will vanish. It will also cure a few other faults, such as indicators that miss a click, rear wipers wiping on their own, reversing sensors firing up when your driving forward. The box is the HID translator module. All it does is let the ECU know when a headlight bulbs blows. If you can live without that function then you can cure all the rest!! The HID module develops a fault, and effects lots of other things down the line.

Mate, if you look on these forums you will see a lot of us have had the same issues following flat battery or swapping the old one for new. I had the same lights as you. Orange engine light, ABS and traction control when I fitted a new battery. I pressed the ESP button under the clock on the centre consol and that light went out. For the others I had to go to a garage and have the codes cleared on their computer. Maybe I got lucky because their reader cleared all the codes. There are many code readers out there, it seems not all work as well as others, so try another garage. Don't dispair mate, it can be fixed. However, the 300 does not like a flat battery.

Unfortunately these damn electric faults always cost hundreds of pounds to fix. Most of the cost is in diagnosing the issue. Give me those old school motors with simple electrics and mechanical parts that I can fix in the garage.

I'm trying to remember... in the menu is there a screen where you can specify double press or single press to lock the doors? I'm sure I've seen this option somewhere. Sorry if you already know this but when you get out of the car, press the lock button on the driver's arm rest then shut the door. This locks all doors and activates the alarm.

How did it go mate?

Driving it shouldn't cause any damage. Limp Mode is designed to protect the car when the computer detects a fault, if it was really serious the car would just shut down. However, I know from experience how frustrating it is to drive a car when it's in Limp. Maybe drive across London from Surrey to Hertfordshire... you'll struggle to get above 30 mph on any given day so you won't notice the limp.

Mate, I feel for ya. There are hundreds of reasons why modern cars will go into limp mode, sometimes for the most ridiculous reason. I can't recommend anywhere in Surrey but would you be able to limp the car to Knebworth in Hertfordshire? My 300 has gone into limp mode twice over the past two years, each time I took it to a small company called Herts Auto Tek. Can't recommend them enough, these folks really know the black art of engine fault codes, engine remapping, etc. www.hertsautotek.co.uk 01438 829000

When I changed my battery I also had fault lights appear on the dash. I took it to my mechanic who connected up his diagnostic computer. Loads of faults appeared, including "lost radio communication". I didn't have a problem with the clock but maybe you'll have a "lost clock communication"? Have you put it on a computer yet?

I've been told by many mechanics that the Merc CRD engine is an engineering master piece and with regular oil changes it should be good for at least 300,000 miles. We'll see. My car is a 2008 SRT Design and had 110,000 on the clock when I bought it two years ago, it's up to 130,000 now. Touch wood... I've had no problem with the engine, just issues with front suspension knocks and annoying electrical problems. So, I would say 150k on the engine is nothing to worry about, but check all the electrics. As for the suspension... nothing you can do other than replace parts as they wear. it's only money mate. Go on... buy the beast.

JAYCE... Have a look at the topic called "Abs/esp Lights On After Dead Battery Swap" - similar problems are being discussed on there. You'll probably have to get it on a diagnostic computer and get the error codes deleted.

Good point mate!! I only ever turn my aircon on with the direction pointing into my face. Never would have know that. You might have saved Handyman hours of toil and trouble... as well as money.

JAG, Briscoe76 posted the following. I had the same problems you describe, his tip fixed it: Hi, did you get this problem sorted at all? If you didn't, then its an easy fix. Open the bonnet and, and find the washer bottle. Next to that, bolted to the drivers side wing, you will find a black box. Unplug the box, and hey presto, the fault will vanish. It will also cure a few other faults, such as indicators that miss a click, rear wipers wiping on their own, reversing sensors firing up when your driving forward. The box is the HID translator module. All it does is let the ECU know when a headlight bulbs blows. If you can live without that function then you can cure all the rest!! The HID module develops a fault, and effects lots of other things down the line.

Hey Grizzlymanjay... Did you buy it?

My mechanic told me that on some Mercedes Benz cars you can't disconnect the battery without first attaching an auxiliary power source... i.e., the car has to have power at all times. The 300c has quite a few Merc components in it. Maybe this is why we're getting these issues when we swap the battery.

Mate, I love my car, but I've found the electrical system on these motors to be an absolute nightmare. Things have a mind of their own on this car. Weird error messages... lights coming on... lights going off... speedo needle waving about wildly... radio stops working... doors suddenly lock with the key in the ignition... I used to think the car was possessed until I joined this forum and saw it wasn't just me. As for your recirc button, when the light goes off is the air still on recirc? If so it's probably just the bulb giving up. Otherwise there's a fault inside the heater control unit. Maybe buy a cheap unit on ebay (there are a few on there) and see if that fixes it. I've taken mine apart to replace a couple of blown bulbs. Apart from that there's nothing else in there you can fix... it's just one big printed circuit board with a load of chips on it.