Remote locking concern

I have a 2003 Mercedes-benz C-class 220 CDI. The remote central locking has always worked faultlessly and still does, but total closure for the windows only happens if I hold the blipper within about an inch of the driver’s door handle. Any further away and the doors will lock, but nothing happens with the windows. Is this normal? If not, can I rectify the problem to allow a bit more ‘remoteness’ in the operation? Bruce Harding My first suggestion would be to fit new batteries into the fob if you have not already done so. Given the year of your vehicle, it should work through radio frequency and not the earlier infrared remote control. If it did have the earlier infrared system, having to hold the remote close to the driver’s door handle would be acceptable, but with the later radio frequency operation you should be able to operate the system from a short distance from the vehicle.

Battery replacement is quite simple and should be completed as quickly as possible. On your C-class you should have the plastic key with the emergency key fitted within the unit. To replace the batteries, you need to first remove the metal emergency key from the fob. In the space from which the emergency key slides you should see a small sprung tag – push in this tag and the top section of the key fob should slide out, revealing the batteries in the holder. Your key should use two CR2025 batteries. between the gearbox and vehicle body, and also check the gearchange connections to ensure there is no slack in the linkage that is preventing the gearchange from sitting in the correct system when in ‘Park’.

Given the symptoms of the locked gearchange and the row of zeros on the dash display, I feel the most likely cause of your problem is the key/ignition switch. It may be of benefit to get the vehicle read by a local garage with the Star diagnostic system, which should retrieve any stored fault codes following the non-start scenario.