More on Mercedes Radio

Late 2021 and early 2022 there were several contributors posting about poor reception on Mercedes based models, myself included. In February our Bourton went into Auto-Sleepers at Williersley for some warranty work on a crack in the body, and at that time they also looked at the radio issue. What they found was that the earth point for the antenna assembly was not making good electrical contact to the chassis. The Earth point is located on the “B” post just above the seat belt anchor point.
This earth point should have been secured to the body by a brass screw and nut against bare metal, but was instead secured by just a self tapping screw which should have been biting into the metal. However it had been screwed in so far that it was past the thread end under the head, and rattling about.

This certainly improved things somewhat but the radio was still not holding station and not finding enough radio stations in my opinion. When I got home from A-S I  decided to investigate further.

Under the drivers seat there is a plastic connector unit where all the connections for the antenna connect and I decided to look again at this unit again.
In the photo below, you will see the connector unit with 3 x Green connectors, and 1 x White connector.
Also in the photo can be seen a cable joint with a Blue connector and a cable with a Purple connector.

During my check of the connections I turned the radio on but had no reception which was the normal situation on my drive. As I looked at the three green connectors, I noticed that two of them were fully pressed home, but the one on the end was not quite flush by about 2 mm. As I pushed this connector fully home, the radio burst into life and a string of stations appeared on the station list.  All other connectors appeared to be good. 
4 months on and including  a 5 week trip to France & Germany, the radio and navigation systemhave performed faultlessly and I am confident the problem was the two poorly made connection.

This earth issue and connector unit may just be the key to other members’ problems and is well worth checking if your Mercedes based MH is having signal drop out problems.  

It's sad to see a Mercedes not built properly. I had a French built Rapido similarly faulty but this was with the electrical connectors in the wiring loom leading to the electric bed. Whoever pushed the 8 pin connector together failed to see, or couldn't care less, that one of the flat blade-type connectors wasn't pushed in. It was clearly sticking out by 4mm and the operative could not have failed to see it. You can't push an 8 way plug and socket together without looking at it. Brownhills failed on three return trips to find the fault: they referred me to Rapido who put me on to the bed designer in Italy. He sent me the workshop manual - which you might have thought that Brownhills would have - and I traced all the wiring, found the bad connector, ripped the whole plug and socket out and soldered and insulated all the wires. Then the bed worked. Until it collapsed in one corner and that was the end of that £64k vehicle so far as I was concerned. I'll never have an electric bed again, nor a Rapido of any sort if that is their idea of quality control. Nor will I set foot in Brownhills - unless I am passing and want a free coffee and toilet, of course.

Thank you for this it’s been driving me nuts! Even thought of changing it. I cannot see the image you put up. I havenori ted off what you have written and we will have a go’

I had a similar problem on my Stanton, but now I have a Bourton and the radio reception is better. When driving, it is however limited to BBC stations with stronger signals. Most commercial stations, other than Classic FM, are very patchy.

What I do not understand is why the reception in the Sprinter is so much worse than almost ant car I have driven.

Having seen the photo of the wiring under the driver's seat, I thought I would check mine. Oddly, the wiring on my 2022 Bourton is totally different from that shown in the photo.

Thank you Boogie for examining the poor radio reception on Mercedes Sprinter Bases. I have an Autosleeper Devon and have never received anything on the radio other than Classic FM ! 

Having looked at your picture, I'm keen to examine the wiring under the drivers seat. Can you tell us how you got that access please? Did you remove the seat?   If so is that easy?

Also, but unrelated, My reversing camera has given up the ghost with a message ' No signal' . I'm being asked for an Autosleeper job number to identify the camera brand. It should be on a sticker in the glove compartment. but my compartment is a blank. Where else might it be? Has anyone found it elsewhere? 

Many thanks for any consideration.

The build number will be on a plate on the passenger side door pillar and, probably, in your paperwork. It’ll be something like P123456. From that, AS will know everything about your van.

Thanks for the reply. No sign of a  number on my passenger door pillar, but in my paperwork though, I have found 2 similar numbers which  look likely, but beginning with letter J. Why 2 though I don't know but I have passed them on to my repairer.

On the Devon, the build number should be on a sticker at the back of the glove box.

On my Sprinter the radio problem was interference from the interface unit for the Veba reversing camera that was fitted above the cab interior light adjacent to an unscreened download from the radio aerial. The workaround was to fit an on/off switch in the power feed to the interface unit and only switch on when camera needed.

Thank you... I do have a reverse camera fitted so that could be the cause. Unfortunately  I'm not up to the fix you were able to do. So I'm going to hope it's the first cause in this thread... a bad connection under the drivers seat. Just waiting to find out how to get at it.

As for the AS job number. there is nothing in my glove compartment. but I have found a number which could be it in a Marquis sales receipt. Progress !!    Thank you for your time.

andie wrote:Thank you... I do have a reverse camera fitted so that could be the cause. Unfortunately  I'm not up to the fix you were able to do. So I'm going to hope it's the first cause in this thread... a bad connection under the drivers seat. Just waiting to find out how to get at it.

As for the AS job number. there is nothing in my glove compartment. but I have found a number which could be it in a Marquis sales receipt. Progress !!    Thank you for your time.

You may find an AS weight plate on the driver's step, this has the AS build number on it, like...(K1519)

Yes, I have one of those as well.

The connector unit under the drivers seat is accessed by pushing the seat as far back as it will go. No need to remove the seat.
My Bourton is a 2019 model on the W907 sprinter base..its build number is K04039 and build numbers are located at the rear of the glove box 0n all A-S motorhomes.

Boggie wrote:The connector unit under the drivers seat is accessed by pushing the seat as far back as it will go. No need to remove the seat.
My Bourton is a 2019 model on the W907 sprinter base..its build number is K04039 and build numbers are located at the rear of the glove box 0n all A-S motorhomes.

Not on mine. See weight plate post above.

Like ti's in 2011

Mine is on the passenger B pillar. Most in glove box.

I have recently purchased a 2019 Sprinter camper van after pure frustration with having owned  a Fiat and a Peugeot Autosleeper and constant engine management problems.

The Sprinter radio, like other reports would only receive classic FM on a good day. I tried to diagnose the problem, failed, took it to my local garage they failed and suggested it is the android unit as the unit was getting very hot.

I decided to buy a cheap ariel and signal booster, by pass the mercedes wiring and see if that worked, and it did, all stations tuned straight in and a good sound.

I then cut the the cable to the origional mast base, bought a 5 meter std car airel extension lead cut the femail end of it and solderd to the tail of the mast, fed it to the booster and then the android unit, all working well.

With over heating android unit I bought 4 small computer heat sink units stuck them to the unit and will keep a watch on the unit to see what happens.

Hi
Can you let me know roughly where your aerial was earthed on the B pillar as I cannot see mine anywhere 
Thanks

Hi,
I have changed to a Sprinter van conversion, when I did the modification the earth is direct through the roof panel via the aerial lead to the radio unit.

Gerald Rager wrote:Hi,
I have changed to a Sprinter van conversion, when I did the modification the earth is direct through the roof panel via the aerial lead to the radio unit.

Mine came wired like that new in 2011

Hi Redcar, On my Bourton the earth point for the antenna is located above the anchor point for the upper seat belt fixing. On the driver side. It is necessary to remove the upper seat belt fixing bolt and prise off the B post trim to access the earth point.
It's an easy DIY job
Cheers
Boggie

Boggie wrote:Hi Redcar, On my Bourton the earth point for the antenna is located above the anchor point for the upper seat belt fixing. On the driver side. It is necessary to remove the upper seat belt fixing bolt and prise off the B post trim to access the earth point.
It's an easy DIY job
Cheers
Boggie

Thank you, I’ll have a look