Mercedes w211, major problem or something simple?

41Stan41

Hi
bought a 09 e200 just over a year ago withonly 17000km on the clock now has 44500km on the clock and is about 10000km since the service indicator started flashing at me , this is not the problem i don't think .
A few days ago outy of the blue all sorts of warning messages started flashing up on the dashboard
Run flat indicator
Cruise control and speedtronic
Pre safe
ESP
ABS
said all these were inoperative , so stopped car turned off and on again started her up and all ok
then yesterday evening same thing but stop start did not work this time then just went away again
This morning started up all ok then after a few mins messages all up again and car would not change out of first gear{auto} few mins later gearbox starts to work ok but messages still flashing up and by the way engine management light also on as well as messages
Question , is this going to cost me a fortune or is it something simple
Please help , very worried at this stage as i know it is a 5 year old car but only small milage on it , one of the reasons i bought it .
I know i have to bring it to a dealer tomorrow but would like to have some idea of what i am looking at before i go

Thanks (hopefully)

Bigus

I know on older C-class the connections to the ABS ECU corroded, causing similar problems,

the reason it wouldn't change out of first gear is because it's getting faulty speed reading from the Abs ECU ,

so more than likely all faults coming from one source.

On the old model the ECU was attached to the abs pump under the bonnet, easy enough to pull off block connector and inspect the 20 or 30 pins.

Eric Cartman

Just to ask , has it been serviced since you got it , not sure what the service interval is but id say its around the 15-16000 km mark so should have had 2 at this stage

burke027

41Stan41 wrote: »

Hi
bought a 09 e200 just over a year ago withonly 17000km on the clock now has 44500km on the clock and is about 10000km since the service indicator started flashing at me , this is not the problem i don't think .
A few days ago outy of the blue all sorts of warning messages started flashing up on the dashboard
Run flat indicator
Cruise control and speedtronic
Pre safe
ESP
ABS
said all these were inoperative , so stopped car turned off and on again started her up and all ok
then yesterday evening same thing but stop start did not work this time then just went away again
This morning started up all ok then after a few mins messages all up again and car would not change out of first gear{auto} few mins later gearbox starts to work ok but messages still flashing up and by the way engine management light also on as well as messages
Question , is this going to cost me a fortune or is it something simple
Please help , very worried at this stage as i know it is a 5 year old car but only small milage on it , one of the reasons i bought it .
I know i have to bring it to a dealer tomorrow but would like to have some idea of what i am looking at before i go

Thanks (hopefully)

We see a lot of merc in our garage and the e class has a different type of abs pump And that gives plenty of trouble. And I know the pump is expensive to replace and will give the symptoms u say

41Stan41

it was serviced when i bought it but not from a Mercedes garage and i think that was the first service .
Would the ECU be throwing up error messages just to make me visit a garage and get it serviced(conspiracy theory) ????
Its working fine again now but will still visit a garage tomorrow hopefully
Could they tell whats wrong if they hook up diagnostics unit to it ????
Any more advice or ideas would still be apreciated

Thanks

41Stan41

Roughly how expensive is ABS pump you mentioned ?????

burke027

41Stan41 wrote: »

Roughly how expensive is ABS pump you mentioned ?????

Yes diagnostics will show it it its the sbc control module off the top of my head I'm unsure but if it is that it's well over 500e. Your first port of call should be a diagnostic scan tho and if u can get it done with someone with the Mercedes star diagnostics.

If it's coming and going it does sound like the sbc is on the way out tho

MercMad

That SBC pump gives a different message and. Merc dealer will charge you close to €2k to sort it. However I believe your problem is in one of the vehicle batteries. Have them checked properly and replace as neccesary.

Good luck

41Stan41

Went to garage yesterday and hooked up to diagnostics unit , there was faults showing up all over the car
First thought it was ABS pump then after a bit of discussion owner decided it was a faulty alternator because it was supposed to read 14v somewhere and only reading 12v
So got the car serviced while they had it and alternator was checked out and all solder joints redone cause guy said it should not be failing with such low milage
Fingers crossed now it was nothing major

Thanks for the advice and hopefully thats it sorted

41Stan41

Hi
well all was good for just over a month and then problem started up again
went back to garage and told it is SBC pump , think this is same as ABS or at least linked to it and will cost about 1600 to replace
also told a secondhand part is not an option
any more advice or options would be appreciated

Thanks

41Stan41

Hi again
one other thing is i think that pump has been the subject of a recall in some models
how could i find if my car is one of these and be covered by mercedes dealers warranty and save me a fortune

Thanks again for any info offered

alias no.9

Get the battery tested, if the alternater was flakey and sorting that made it go away for a while, that combined with colder nights would make me suspect the battery. The electronics will be running off the battery for a brief instant when you're starting the engine and modern multiplexed electronics can register faults if they get insufficient current.

41Stan41

Hi
are you talking about the main battery ???
where are the others located ????

if SBC is faulty is it safe to drive with intermittent faults showing ??? like maybe at motorway speeds ???

Thanks

burke027

41Stan41 wrote: »

Hi
are you talking about the main battery ???
where are the others located ????

if SBC is faulty is it safe to drive with intermittent faults showing ??? like maybe at motorway speeds ???

Thanks

It's the small battery up the front on the right under the pollen filter. The battery is around 100 euro and will sort all your problems out

George Dalton

If it is an SBC problem then it can often be sorted by Mercedes with just a software update.

My own W211 had SBC faults showing a few months back and a software update sorted it.

George Dalton

burke027 wrote: »

It's the small battery up the front on the right under the pollen filter. The battery is around 100 euro and will sort all your problems out

Have seen this before as well. Mercedes want crazy money for the auxiliary battery but they are just a motorbike battery and can be bought in any decent motor factors.

41Stan41

HI
Thanks for all the advice
No error messages for a few day now
Just an idea i had
Seeing as the problem is not permenant would it be possible to get a cheap error code reader and when (if) messages start up again reset them
Not a long term solution i know but just till i decide what to do with car or get money togeather for repairs
If this is a runner where would i get a reader and at what cost
Again would this a dangerous route to go down
Thanks again

vw4life

A 2009 E-class doesn't have the SBC system and as far as I can remember only has one battery in the boot, no aux. battery under the bonnet. Can you pm the chassis no. and I can verify the spec. on your car, could be a late reg. maybe.

41Stan41

Hi again
car still working ok at the moment but after a quick around the battery compartment i noticed that someone had scratched something on the top of the battery "recovery 03/07/12"
any ideas what this could be about ????

Thanks

coylemj

vw4life wrote: »

A 2009 E-class doesn't have the SBC system and as far as I can remember only has one battery in the boot, no aux. battery under the bonnet.

+1 the post-facelift W211 has no auxiliary battery and a 2009 model is definitely post-facelift.