Cruise Contol Inoperable

[jetflyboy]

I have not seen this posted anywhere. If it was discussed, I apologize for repeating. For the second time in less than 3 months, my car displayed the message above. The first time, I took it to the dealer, but by that time the message will not appear again, and was told everything checked out okay. This morning, when I started the car, I got the the message again. However, I was extremely low on fuel. As in like 15 miles to go. I filled up, and the message is gone. I do not remember the circumstances of the first incident. Is this a normal behavior? Does the car shut down cruise control when you are almost out of gas and this is just another feature, or is there an issue with it? I just cannot get that message to show again.

To remove this ad, register today or login if you already are registered!

[Sportstick]

Is there any chance your hand brushed against the ESP OFF button in the center stack, under the a/c vents? Disabling the ESP will also turn off cruise control, but I believe this resets with each ignition cycle.

[jetflyboy]

Originally Posted by Sportstick

Is there any chance your hand brushed against the ESP OFF button in the center stack, under the a/c vents? Disabling the ESP will also turn off cruise control, but I believe this resets with each ignition cycle.

No, Sports, never touched it. I'm really hoping that it is fuel related!

[Ben'sBenz]

Mine did that too a few weeks ago. It just happened once so I didn't take it to the dealer.

[jetflyboy]

Originally Posted by Ben'sBenz

Mine did that too a few weeks ago. It just happened once so I didn't take it to the dealer.

Do you remember if you were low on fuel at the time? Just trying to connect some dots here

[steven1888]

this happen to me recently too. so here's what i got.
my fuel was low today and when i tried it.. its didnt work..
so i added gas and tried it.. it WORKS!!!
but did it again during the drive on the highway and it didnt work.

my next guess is that i have a heavy foot.. so when that happens .. the benz doesnt let you use the cruise control????? just as loss as you jetlyboy haha

[jetflyboy]

Originally Posted by steven1888

this happen to me recently too. so here's what i got.
my fuel was low today and when i tried it.. its didnt work..
so i added gas and tried it.. it WORKS!!!
but did it again during the drive on the highway and it didnt work.

my next guess is that i have a heavy foot.. so when that happens .. the benz doesnt let you use the cruise control????? just as loss as you jetlyboy haha

Maybe it's just a fluke. The dealer is puzzled, and almost does not believe me. I think I'll snap a photo of it with the date and the time and then take it in. I hope the hell it never happens again.

[steven1888]

well im just as puzzled too lol. hope you find out what is wrong.

[Glyn M Ruck]

I'm battling to see the tie with fuel level. I think it was just an electronic brain fart corrected by rebooting one of many micro processors.

Implausible speed sensor data can cause a mute Tempomat/cruise control.

You can check for stored codes with a decent OBDII scanner that reads transmission codes.

[jetflyboy]

Glyn, you probably are correct that it might have been an electronic brain fart.

I was theorizing that the car system will shut down the cruise control so the driver will not just "cruise" and to remember to refuel the tank. A far fetched idea, but as I said, it was a theory...

Thanks for the input.

[Sportstick]

Originally Posted by jetflyboy

Glyn, you probably are correct that it might have been an electronic brain fart.

I was theorizing that the car system will shut down the cruise control so the driver will not just "cruise" and to remember to refuel the tank. A far fetched idea, but as I said, it was a theory...

Thanks for the input.

Was the Fuel Reserve warning on? I would think so if you only projected 15 miles of fuel remaining (btw, why do you do this? With your name, this makes me even a bit more nervous about flying! LOL!)

This is an interesting theory, as it may be a way not to let you lull yourself into a highway trip and get yourself stuck on the roadside. Just as disabling ESP triggers Cruise Control Inoperable warnings, it would be possible for the fuel reserve warning to do the same. Anyone know if this electronic/programming link now exists?

[jetflyboy]

Very funny, Sports
I used to be a commercial pilot for a major airline, and no matter what distance we fly, the first thing we do after landing is to fill up. Now I am a flight instructor.

Now, to explain what happened. I wanted my own test in whether the mpg differ between S and C setting, or not. I drove in a very controlled environment (I have gas on board with me) and went beyond the Reserve warning light. At some point, you cannot see how many miles are left before you are actually on empty, all you see is the car and a pump. Had I run out completely, I probably would have harmed the engine, which would be very stupid.

I normally fill up whenever I get the warning light or at 320 miles driven...whichever comes first.

Now...How about them flying lessons you wanted, eh? lol

[Sportstick]

Originally Posted by jetflyboy

Very funny, Sports
I used to be a commercial pilot for a major airline, and no matter what distance we fly, the first thing we do after landing is to fill up. Now I am a flight instructor.

Now, to explain what happened. I wanted my own test in whether the mpg differ between S and C setting, or not. I drove in a very controlled environment (I have gas on board with me) and went beyond the Reserve warning light. At some point, you cannot see how many miles are left before you are actually on empty, all you see is the car and a pump. Had I run out completely, I probably would have harmed the engine, which would be very stupid.

I normally fill up whenever I get the warning light or at 320 miles driven...whichever comes first.

Now...How about them flying lessons you wanted, eh? lol

Aha....interesting test protocol! When that car and pump shows up, hit OK on the steering wheel control and you will revert to data.

If I could once successfully land something on Flight Simulator, I might try the real thing one day! LOL! And, I'll never leave home without bingo fuel!

[jetflyboy]

Yeah I know it is different, but I was also trying to see how much can I go on the reseve, which, BTW, after a certain point, hitting OK did NOT bring the data back. And that was why I connected the cruise control to the fuel. I think it kept showing miles to go till I hit 25, and then nothing but the car and the pump; no more data

[fattysnax]

The same error message popped up for me this weekend! Tank was full though and I did not touch the ESP button. The message disappeared after I restarted the car so I don't even know how to demo the problem to the service rep.

Ugh I knew little things like this would happen after about 3 years of ownership ...

[CoolBDPhenom03]

Just happened to me just now. I've been driving around SF today and have made several stops. As I was leaving a grocery store, I started her up, then shut her off because an employee came out to chat car talk. Turns out he owns a C43 and his brother has a C55.

Anyway, I start up again and I get this message. ESP is on normal, I have over 1/4 tank of gas (no fuel light) and I messed with the stalk to see if it would go away...no luck.

When I get to my destination a few miles later, I shut off the car completely for a second and start back up...no error message, even after I put it in drive.

Weird.

[xXHotelCrazyXx]

Let me let you guys in on a little secret. As an aviation mechanic we see this kind of stuff very often. There many many many computers on board a modern jetliner that are very sophisticated. We get a lot of nuisance messages that pop up randomly every so often. We will run an operational check of the system and if we cannot duplicate the problem, we will sign it off and the aircraft will continue flying flawless like it always does. If we see a repetitive problem through a 30 day history, then we will dig into it deeper and after a trend analysis has been performed and troubleshooted, the problem is corrected. I would not worry about this issues unless you start to see the message often, or i shows its ugly head under certain conditions over and over.

[Diesel Benz]

Originally Posted by xXHotelCrazyXx

Let me let you guys in on a little secret.

Is the airline company you are working for a secret too? I'd like to know in order to...

Those who get this error message the first time, have the fault codes read (there will be a stored code even if the problem is gone, the OP of this thread should have had it too if the dealer had done any decent diagnosis work).

It could be as simple as a brake light switch starting to misbehave (not necessarily visible from the brake lights if it is the other contact pair).

[xXHotelCrazyXx]

No secret...

[Mixedfruits]

lol well heres my problem. MY car is now slammed and the otherday I went over a dip my rears rubbed my fenderliner hard and ripped it off while ripped off the liner cut my rear esp/cruise control/ abs sensor wire in half... Freaked out thinking this was going to cost me a fortune, in the ende just stripped the wires and connected with electric tape... worked fine. At the same time I think why would mb parts be this ****ty and wires not tucked in better, yet again im thankful for a easy fix. So my thoughts is like he said above brain farts?

[CoolBDPhenom03]

Originally Posted by Mixedfruits

lol well heres my problem. MY car is now slammed and the otherday I went over a dip my rears rubbed my fenderliner hard and ripped it off while ripped off the liner cut my rear esp/cruise control/ abs sensor wire in half... Freaked out thinking this was going to cost me a fortune, in the ende just stripped the wires and connected with electric tape... worked fine. At the same time I think why would mb parts be this ****ty and wires not tucked in better, yet again im thankful for a easy fix. So my thoughts is like he said above brain farts?

Yikes! Okay, now I'll have to check it tomorrow. I'm paranoid.

[CoolBDPhenom03]

Turns out it was just a front wheel speed sensor glitch, according to my dealership. We'll see if it comes back.