Wednesday, 22 June 2011

Mercedes Command Lockup

What a strange morning I have had today !!!

A female customer phoned us this morning with a problem on her command navigation in her Mercedes ML, which had locked up whilst showing the map view. She was very hysterical on the phone and concerned about the cost of replacing this unit as Mercedes Dealer had quoted her £2000.The lady also said that not having the navigation was a disaster and how soon could we have a look for her.

Luckily she lived locally in Weybridge , so I said to bring her vehicle to us and I would plug our Autologic diagnostic machine in and see what faults there was in the car's electrical memory. She was with us within 10 minutes and so I started to investigate way the command navigation wasn't working correctly ,I offered her a cup of coffee to help calm her down as she still seemed to be very hysterical about the navigation not working and how she was unable to cope without it !

With the use of the Autologic diagnostic machine and removing the navigation command unit from the car I was able to reconfigure the unit ,this then brought the navigation unit back to life and after refitting it back into the Mercedes ML everything worked as it should.The lady from Weybridge was extremely happy and not only paid her bill but she came back later with 12 Crispy Crèmes doughnuts for us all to share.

Another job with a twist that makes every day different.



Eric The Engineer

Saturday, 18 June 2011

Peugeot 407 Electric Boot Release


Today I had a customer who was in the Surrey area and had found Cartronics web site and came down with a Peugeot 407 that had problems with the boot lid not opening. This car had no mechanical lock so there was no way of opening the boot, just a push button as the "0" in the 407 badge on the boot lid.

I had to get into the boot via the back seats and empty the boot of all the customers' belongings before I could get to the lock in the inside of the lid. After I had opened the lid I then located the fault to be a wiring issue and once I had fixed this the electronic lock release started to work again.

Once the electronic lock was fixed the remote control for the central locking started to control the boot lid as it should from the third button on the Peugeot 406 remote control.

The car was then connected to our Autologic to perform a complete diagnostic check of the car and printed out any faults that were logged on the cars electrical system. The Autologic diagnostic machine works just like the original manufactures diagnostic equipment but can be used on a number of different car manufactures, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Landrover, Peugeot, Renault, Citroën etc.

The customer was very happy that they could now open their boot lid of their Peugeot 407 and they also learnt that the back seats fold down to gain access to the boot or if they wanted to carry large objects they could now do this.

Another job with a twist that makes every day different.

Eric the Engineer


 

Mazda 6 Navigation

Today I did a job for a Mazda dealership that had a problem with installing a Pioneer Navigation System that is sold as an accessory from Mazda. The problem was that they had sold the Pioneer Navigation system to the customer but when they came to fit the system, the Mazda instructions said you could not fit this to a car that had Bose fitted from manufacture. The dealership then contacted me with the problem and I said that with a little wiring modification and sound level adjusters I could install the Pioneer Navigation into the Mazda 6.I proceeded to fit the navigation and then realised that the adapter that Mazda supply with the Navigation upgrade package for the steering wheel control would not allow the use of the phone buttons on the steering wheel to work with the Pioneer navigation Bluetooth facility. I then used an steering wheel adapter that I hold in stock that I can programme what buttons do what when connected to the Pioneer Navigation System. The Mazda dealership was very happy that we had fitted the system and managed to still use the Bose amplifier as well as the buttons on the steering wheel that control the phone functions.

Another job with a twist that makes every day different.

Eric the Engineer