I was a happy owner of 2001 CL55 AMG: isn't "deja-vu"?! The car has 65000 miles. Recently all of a sudden the driver side speakers, both front and rear, stopped working: no more audio!!! [:@]

As I am quite familiar with electronic stuff, I could say that the problem could have a few reasons:
- problem with the left channel of the Audio Amplifier
- connection lost between the CD Changer/Player and the Audio Amplifier
- issue with the CD Changer/Player
- loose speaker connectors somewhere inside the door assembly
- speaker wires disconnected or broken somewhere else in the path of the wires connecting the Audio Amplifier (located in the trunk) to the driver Speakers (located in the door assembly)

Step 1 – Suspecting loose connectors, I first decided to look at the speaker connectors inside the driver door assembly, but removing the door assembly became very challenging – like dismounting anything else in this car (e.g. try to repair the serial resistor which is in the front light assembly when you get a light bulb error message and the bulb has no problem but it's because of a serial resistor which is burnt out!!! Yes try to fix it!) – and although I had a technical document describing how to proceed, eventually I could NOT take the door assembly off and as I thought I could break something I gave up and … just placed my hope of having the problem somewhere else in the car. If doctors could do that a lung cancer could become a small flu!

Step 2 – I then looked at the Audio Amplifier + CD Changer located in the trunk, dismounted both and did the easiest test consisting in "smelling" the audio amplifier and … nothing! But as I still suspected something wrong with the amplifier I sent it to a repair center specialized in Bose amplifiers and a few days after I got the following diagnostics: nothing is wrong with the amplifier!

Step 3 – I suspected speaker wires broken somewhere else in the car. I went to a local electronics store and bought one of those continuity test devices consisting in a tone generator on one end and a probe on the other end, I connected the tone generator to the speakers connector in the trunk and moved the probe around the driver door, and there I could find what was wrong:
- at the speakers level there was no tone: so the wires were broken somewhere before
- the only other place I could suspect was at the door opening level where a large protection pipe (which looks like an accordion) comes out of the car body and goes inside the door assembly and the problem was there. I opened both ends of the accordion pipe and found another protection pipe inside that I opened with a cutter and there you go: ALL 4 SPEAKER WIRES WERE BROKEN!!! Not only one, or two, or three, but all four wires were broken. How could that happen? Perhaps the number of times that the door got opened and closed during the past six or seven years caused a certain amount of fatigue to those wires and they eventually broke :nix:
This looks like a very childish-kind design flaw! Bad or wrong quality speaker wires had been used in a place where they would move or bend too many times until eventually they broke due to fatigue [sm=wakeup.gif]

Anyway I reconnected those wires together (not so easy because of the limited space) with a "quick splice assortment" kit and everything was back to work and I was again a happy CL55 AMG owner! [sm=burnout.gif]

MB designers: please use speaker wires capable of handling the effort [sm=headbang.gif]

[sm=thanx.gif]

 

Hi Anajand. Hoping you're still on the forum. I seem to have the same problem. All the right side on my cl55 works, as does the sub and front middle speaker. Nothing at all in the door, not tweeter, front or rear door speakers.

I've pulled back the accordion cover and see 3 tubes. Do you remember which of them had the speaker wires in them and what are the color codes for them,or was it just that obvious that they were gone and had to be the speaker wires.

I'd rather not remove the door panel, if I don't have to, as Mercedes seems to bury the screws and clips both to make it look nice and to make it hard to remove without a trip to the shop!

Any suggestions you can give, I'd appreciate. Thanks

 

Figured it out.

 

I am having the same issue on my CL55.
The left rear driver door speaker only works when the door is in a certain position (wires broken). I have the door panel off but I can't find a part number for the Bose speaker harness in the door-
Does anyone know if the door speaker harness can be purchased for these cars?
I would prefer replacing the harness than splicing into the existing harness.
Any advice would be most appreciated.
Thanks!
Elm

 

I have the same problem with the drivers side sound.. 03 CL55 100km all of the sudden. The dealer has substituted a different amplifier in the trunk and says all ok.. not sure I believe them.. amp is $1700. does anyone on the west coast fix these Bose units?

 

Same problem here, I'll check those wires today...

 

It's a very common problem on the CL55 and like models, the wiring through the door hinges will eventually break due to so many flexes... about $3500/side here locally to repair this, or do it yourself - like re-wiring a fiber-optic cable - so many wires, but do-able with a lot of patience. Worst wire to break and short out is airbag - you'll get a surprise one day. Good to have your mechanic check these thick wiring harnesses that go through the door hinge areas, both side.

 

Just in case it is of any use to anyone, I am selling my spare Bose Amp.

01 02 03 04 Mercedes C230 C240 C320 C32 Bose Amplifier Amp W203 203 820 13 89 | eBay

A local garage told me I needed a new one so I ordered it from the USA and turns out the garage was wrong and that the one I had was fine. I have a new garage now - one that actually knows AMGs!

 

Guys please help with situation, loud hissing nois coming out of speakers and audio system turns on and off sometimes says system unavailable even if car completely off. Battery dies in certain time.