chemo

2005 w211 e320 cdi 80,000 miles

3 months ago stranded me at work with ESP malfunction/ABS malfunction. Would not start. Went back later to get it ready for tow and it started up and did well for about a month. No limp mode, just normal operation. At that time, the car did not show any codes on the dealers computer but it was running fine at the time.

Then 10 weeks ago it happened again, but this time it would not restart and displayed ESP Malfunction (but not ABS malfunction). It has been at an independent authorized mercedes service center since, including 1 week at a real dealer. The independent says it was the computer and put a new one in and it did not work, though there were some issues with coding the new computer but they were ironed out. It was towed to the Dealer by the independent (1.5 hours away where I bought it) and they worked 2 hours on it and said the comptur was not hooked up properly and it was DRIVEN back to my town. Then it wouldn't start and it sits at the independent still not starting demonstrating ESP Malfunction.

Everything else works. Just will not crank. Now week 10.
I am told the battery is in good condition, replaced last year, and making good charge.
Bit of history:
About 4 months ago, new brakes
About 3 months ago, horrible rev dependent vibrating sound that turned out to be a broken catalytic converter with a "dent" on the top, the side facing the inside underbelly of the car, and was told it was my fault and not a warranty issue. Fixed by dealer. I think in the process several other things were checked like the "shift sensor" or something but that was not it.

Except for a leaky high pressure fuel line when I first bought it in 2004, the car has been flawless.

I love Mercedes, I have had a 1977 240d during highschool and college, 1965 230sl, a 1997 c230, a new 2011 w212 e350 estate for the wife. But I am at my limit.

I have tried my best to read every thread regarding ESP Malfunction warning but none seem to fit my situation. Any point in the right direction.

foreyes

I would PM Konigstiger about your issue, he always has excellent technical advice. He has helped many of us forum members countless times.

JonnyWalker

This exact thing JUST happened to me and I posted about it. The dealer replaced my SAM (Signal Acquisition/Activation Module) and the ESP module.

Barry45RPM

Do you have Keyless Go? If so, it may be a defective stop lamp switch, which must be working for the car to crank. My 03 wiould crank for a second then stop & the idiot lights you mention would illuminate. Changing out the stop lamp switch (Brake lamp switch) fixed it.

Diesel Benz

This does not sound right. If the car was diagnosed with a Star diagnosis tool, it should have identified at least some stored codes if at some point an ESP or ABS malfunction had been reported to the driver.

Perhaps the dealer erased all codes first and then checked if anything comes back immediately.

mercuxio

Did you manage to iron the problem out ? I;m having a similar problem. a Brabus D4 2003 not starting and displaying "ESP Defective" and the radiator fan goes to full blast (Emergency mode - I was told). After a few attempts 1-10 times, it will start and no malfunctions. But it gets very annoying. I noticed it only happens when the engine is hot as in been driven for a while > 30 mins. When it has cool down a little, this problem does not happen.

My independent reckons its the ECU. I'm having doubts. Escpecially when you have replaced the ECU and the fault is still there. Plus, if it is indeed the ECU, it wouldn't be intermittent.

The error in the SDS under ESP read something like 1 or more signal was not read from the ECU (something along the line). Same error in instrument cluster and transmission control.

Racin_fool

@Mercuxio - It definitely sounds like the M.E. (engine) control unit is failing. There have been several issues chasing this similar problem and it ends up being the control module. I know you say that it shouldn't be intermittent, but they put that control module in one of the hottest places in the car and I've seen multiple engine control units fail causing a no start issue and/or the fan going to full speed like you describe.

mercuxio

Could it be the front SAM? Is there a possibility. I noticed the box that houses the sam and the ecu with the ESP board is of a lock tight design. Are there vents below? The sam and ecu seems hot. Hot to the touch at least. Unsure of the temperature.

Has a funny thought to retrofit the fox with perhaps an active fan to provide air circulation and also to remove the cover of the ecu. Is that feasible ?

bsvensson

just my 2 cents worth!

I just this morning got my car back from MB. It started out as yours with an ESP/ABS failure wouldn't start etc. It went away for awhile like your but then came back as ESP failure only. It would come and go, but then became a daily thing. This is when i went to MB to run a diagnostics on it and it came up as being the Steering Angle Sensor it also turned out that my steering was off more than 5% which could cause the am as well.

They way i got it to run with the ESP/ABS failure is to go into the service menu and turn off the ESP (note this will also turn off you ABS)just so you can get home!

They changed the Steering angle sensor and everything seems to be running fine, no errors or codes. Its an simple DIY i just haven't had the guts to do it as I didn't have the tools.

bsvensson

FYI the way to turn off the ESP..

1) you turn the key to pos 1
2) change the cluster to mph
3) hit the reset button 3 times to get into the service menu (you should hear a beep)
4) use the menu buttons to get to ESP on/(dyno mode ESP off) don't remember the exact words!
5) pick ESP dyno mode and turn key back to 0 and then start the car.

Just be aware that this turns off all of the above as well, just my little disclaimer

mercuxio

I doubt it is the steering angle sensor. That was one of my first suspicion. The STAR did not put out any errors on the Steering Angle Sensor just faults on ESP, ETC that says something along the lines of CAN communication with ECU timeout/not receiving signals.

kikotoying

These happened to our w163 before, when engine gets hot it dies then when it cools down it starts and able to eun it again a few miles. ESP/ABS lights up when engine dies. we had it diagnose came out it was the crank position sensor.

mercuxio

What did the STAR says ?

eclass

my $.02

sounds like a power supply issue, what computer was replaced? have seen SAM cause this and the EIS (ignition switch). Basically what can happen is the message for key on is not sent correctly over the communication bus or the voltage supply from relay operation fails. Need a star to diag.

mercuxio

That sounds logical.star puts out the error logged as my previous post.any idea which relay on the sam is responsible for the eis? And even the ecu? Relays are much cheaper trials than the ecu.

mercuxio

Btw, nothing is replaced yet.refuse to be a guinea pig. it's just intermittent when car is hot.doesn't happen when car is cold.any chance of a failing cps?

It only happens during start. Not turning over andafter like 5 seconds the esp defective message comes out and radiator fan goes full blast.once started the car drives like normal.

If it's ecu,i would think the malfunctions would be displayed even when driving.

eclass

fan runs on high means engine computer has no voltage. check both the circuit 87 relay position I and position K (one big one little right front corner of sam) also check circuti 15 and 15r relays, ( middle back and center- both bigger ones)

mercuxio

I have swapped the circuit 87 relays but doesn't make a difference. Haven't gotten a spare circuit 15 relay as yet. However I did swap the 15 and 15r relays with each others but problem still persisted. Ideas?

mercuxio

Just for closure - replaced ecu. Problem solved.

GaryPope

Hi, I have just had the same problem.......... Went to Robinsons Mercedes Peterborough and they got me going again, very strange. The ECU has a cooling fan, which has a fuse. My cooling fan had a fault, blew fuse, stopped engine starting. Disconnect fan and replaced fuse, Car starts fine. Have been told that I must have the fan replaced (£310) which I will do shortly. In this case I also had the ESP/ABS fault come up but I believe that as in CNC machines, the fault code shown is not necessarily the actual fault.

mercuxio

Gary, is yours a W210 ? I have not come across any W211 that has the cooling fan although the EPC states that there is one. I have retrofitted one into my apparatus box that holds the ECU to cool down the temperature. Where I live it's 34 degrees celcius all year round. I found the fan off a w220 in a scrap yard.

The cars that has the fan fitted in factory has the fan wired to the same fuse as the ECU. Occasionally, the fan (usually when it is dying) causes the fuse to blow and the systems throws out the ESP problem as there is no comms from the ECU. I have read that if this happens, it will happen again. Though it's just a fuse, make sure you have spare. Or alternatively, rewire the fan to some other fuse (I retrofitted mine to tap on the same fuse as the front cigarette lighter) or replace the fan.

Zippo1937

MY '05 Mercedes e320 ESP: I blasted the horn and it got struck and it wouldn't turn off.. Turned off the key and finally turned off for good. No horn and the ESP signal came up. Dealer is saying the steering angle sensor needs work' MY cruise control does not work. On 1/23/13 have an appt with the dealer to search & repair. Could be costly but no other choice.

USSwede

Similar problem to my W212. I have had 3 separate occations now where the BAS, ABS, ESP, power steering, and speedometer stops working. The car is only 10 months old and has 15000 kilometres on it (still warrany, of course). But I've been driving rentals now for 4 weeks and my Merc has been in and out of the shop during this period. Very annoying. They've replaced the ESP module once but that didn't solve the problem, same day I got it back all the same errors occured and it went back in. I'm still waiting for the car to return but I'm starting to wish for a replacement car. I don't want to exprience the same issue once more. Last time it happened I was towing a boat and was backing it down the ramp. Since Murphy was present it all happened right there and I had a hell of a time trying to manouver the car without power steering. How many times should they get to try to solve this before I can demand a replacement? Seems also this issue is OLD as many other Mercs have had the same problem. Why doesn't Stuttgart solve this once and for all?

iulianpopa

Today in the morning (-5deg C outside) my battery was death,
(Strange I bought it in 2000, yesterday, everything was ok,no malfunction on my car)
I tried to start the engine this morning , no power at all,and It was some red messages on my dash like the distance to break will be muchmore longer like normal because the ESP is not available.I tried to start with my old battery, the car start but, nowI have 2 malfunctions on it, The first one is: service brake visit work shop and also ESPnot available see operator manual,
I’m not sure what is mean all this messages,
My car is E320 2003, without 4matic

Plutoe

When your battery went dead there was no voltage to all the control modules. That causes faults.

On your car if the message(service brake visit WS) was in white that means there is a fault in the system that does not affect brake power.

The message ESP not available see manual indicates that the ESP has been turned off and if you did not turn the ESP off the lack of voltage did---you may want to turn the steering wheel all the way R and L----did the message change??

Unfortunately the service brake message can only be turned off when you connect to DAS(factory software), locate the fault, fix and erase the fault.

If you have loads of snow---read your manual!!