Electrical components on the left side of the car do not work?

Tiny
ROB EIVIN
  • MEMBER
  • 2003 MERCEDES BENZ CLK320
  • 6 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 117,000 MILES
Hello and thank you in advance to whoever takes the time to help me out.

I have the vehicle listed above coupe Sport (non-cabriolet). Recently, after replacing the battery, the majority of the electrical components on the left side of the car do not work. Here’s a list of electrical components that are not working on the driver side, dash & center console, followed by a list of what's not working on passenger side.

Not working on driver side & dash/center console
- blinker light in rear view mirror
- seat adjustment switches
- driver door window (stuck down)
- rear driver window
- dash cluster flickers all kinds of malfunctions (sometimes it’s 3 malfunctions sometimes it’s 6 or 7, there’s no consistency)
- every 7-12 seconds or so the brights flicker and so do the brake lights (both lights)
- the auto roll up window feature does not work when using the key fob trick
- brightness of digital temp numbers flickers really bright randomly
- “low fuel” light flickers even when car is on a full tank.

Not working on passenger side:
- I get error on dash that says the passenger seat is not secured down. Now I can’t adjust the seats using the seat switches on the door. This was just working fine until I took the seat out (battery was disconnected) to clean the carpets and bolted it back in.
- rear window won’t roll up or down (stopped working at the exact same time as the other, driver side windows)

All fuses have been checked, as far as I can tell none are blown. Some random things to note about the car - it has an aftermarket alpine stereo system that was professionally installed and the power for the system that connects to the battery is disconnected. The car sat for almost a year and I removed 3 small mice from it. The mice nest was in the trunk, it does not appear that they chewed on the wires. I was also told (though I don’t know if it’s accurate or not) that the wires in the car are not soy based and mice likely would chew on them. I noticed the majority of these issues after replacing the battery. Engine, transmission and everything else runs flawlessly.

Thanks for reading and for any advice offered!
Thursday, June 1st, 2023 AT 8:52 PM

2 Replies

Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 47,633 POSTS
When you removed the seats were there any ground wires disconnected? It sounds like the ignition switch control module or door module can be not working.

If not, we need to do a CAN scan to see what codes come up. You can get a CAN scanner (Controller Area Network) which will work on most cars from Amazon.

Here is a video to show you how:

https://youtu.be/u-4syLc-ifQ

and

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/can-scan-controller-area-network-easy

Let us know what happens and please upload pictures or videos of the problem so we can see what's going on.

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Friday, June 2nd, 2023 AT 8:58 AM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 47,633 POSTS
Here is the ignition wiring and a guide to help test for outgoing power to confirm the failure:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-use-a-test-light-circuit-tester

Check out the images (below). Please let us know what happens.
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Friday, June 2nd, 2023 AT 9:04 AM

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