djbuck04

if for some reason ya brakes go bad and the sbc unit is acting up, GO STRAIGHT TO BENZ. i just took my E class there and they're footing the bill fixing it for FREE, plus i got a cool W212 loaner until the work is completed loving that 10 year unlimited miles warranty they put on that unit lol

Gersh320

Damn, you are so lucky. Mine turns 10 in September. I never thought I would hope something goes wrong, but...
No signs of it going bad though. What were the signs of yours beginning to fail?

djbuck04

SBC light ABS light and the brakes literally failing was the sign. it went from zero to 100 in failure under a split second. i turned the car off ran a errand came back to start it up and all hell broke loose. i should of took pics of the cluster to show all the lights

mxracer

They just replaced mine. I heard the pump running more and more frequently before it finally went.

bernard farquar

I had no symptoms at all, just the "Brakes visit workshop" in the display. The code pulled was "SBC unit beyond service life" so I got a free one from the Mercedes dealer.

djbuck04

now i just got off the phone with a service rep and he's telling me i have a brand new pump but i still have the codes and its gonna cost me 1300 for them to "figure out" what's wrong. his EXACT WORDS "it could be a faulty wire" dude blow me, im about to take my car to my mechanic and save about a thousand dollars

ozusa

Don't count your savings chickens yet.....if your mechanic has the Mercedes diagnostic tools necessary, you may save some money. If not, they maybe won't be able to help much. You may be better off paying your dealer to simply pull the codes, write them down and tell you. That should be a couple of hundred bucks and then you can think about what you can do. Is your car operable in its currents state?

akil E220 cdi

is it possible that SBC does not deteriorate ever,I am owner of a w211 e220 cdi year 2005.the car has 139.000 km

ozusa

The pressure vessel will very slowly deteriorate and fail to maintain pressure in even the most well-behaved SBC system. That may not make any difference to you, but in theory the system would eventually lose braking ability for that reason if no other. But this is more of an academic concern for most people and shouldn't worry you compared to the other possibilities that are more likely.

vettdvr

No. It is a wear component. Mine went from working no issue to total failure at next stop light. The car was parked and put on flat bed for return to dealer. The SBC was replaced.

Yes it is smart to photo the warning message as it IS possible to restart and have the alarm go out. This way your photo is proof that it did happen.

relinuca

Sorry for the dumb question, but what exactly is an "SBC" unit? Would my '09 E350 have one?

Thanks in advance,

relinuca

PortAxePlayer1

SBC is the braking system used in '03-'06 E Class, After the facelift (>'07) SBC was dropped in favor of the Adaptive Braking System taken from the W221 S-Class. So No You don't have SBC relinuca I would consider this a positive thing,

ozusa

+1

ashourama

Hi
You are lucky
I have W211 - mod 2003 - the warranty expired on 04/17/2013. The Mercedes Benz - Lebanon don't honor this warranty.
I have bought my car from USA (A man imported it from USA).
I am ready to pay for service, because it's too expensive. They ask me to pay $ 3.300.00 to change the SBC Unit because the alert "Service Break - Visist Workshop" appears on my vehicle's board.

Zippo1937

ESP Leaned on my horn ('05 E-320) and would stop blowing. Horn switch went bad and ESP signal in the cluster came on. I forsee some expensive problems arising from this.. Checking in with the dealer on 1/23/13 and expect a shock.

NCBenzUser

Once the SBC unit is replaced, is the new one a better model? Or, will the same occur 5 - 10 years down the road? I'm used to keeping my cars for a long time... like my '83 300D Turbo..

ozusa

There have been at least two versions of the SBC hydraulic unit. A2114311612 was replaced by A2114312112. I do not know if the latter utterly eliminated the issues.

Zippo1937

Purchased a interior rear view mirror for my '05 Mercedes E-320. My previous mirror is great condition for the exception of the HomeLink garage dr. opener. I want evrything to work so I made the purchase for $400 just to have the Homelink working. The dealer wanted $1,250. I will probably put it up for sale on Ebay.

Now another problem popped up. The driver's side Catalytic converter is going out. Wow! are they expensive. This Catalytic converter is expensive because I reside in Calif. which has strict smog regulations. I might look for a "used" e-320 '05 with low mileage. Any info. where I might find one. It has to be for Calif. car. Tks.

Gersh320

I would call salvage yards for that Catalytic converter.

ozusa

I suggest you create a new thread, or search for an existing one, and you may get more people with knowledge of cat replacement to reply. This thread is about W211 brake systems.

Tschuss_Bill

Need to find a friend at a junk yard. Since the late 80's it has been a federal offense to sell used catalytic converters.

-Bill

Dan Wang

You may also want to check with various dealers to see if they have any reburbished units. I did this on a W203 c class and the cost savings were significant.

Tschuss_Bill

Do Tell! How much did you pay for one?

dsatch

I also got the Service Break, Visit workshop warning. Replaced the Brake light switch. Didn't fix the problem. Took it to the dealership. They are replacing the SBC for free. Mine is an 04 E55 with 130k.

ozusa

Folks,

oops. That should be "threw"....

Good and bad things can happen. My 2003 E320 SBC gave a white error message with less than a week left on its 10 year warranty. The system still worked, but the code meant that it was at the end of its life. It was replaced for free by MB. I was very fortunate the message did not come up the next week !

So, if you get a brake message, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Don't ignore it.