Jan T

On my 2005 SL65, todaywent to drive it and a few yards down the street it was dinging and red lightscame on the dash: On the left was a big “STOP”, and on the right “Reduced brakeeffect visit workshop”. At one point Ithink it also said to use the park brake to stop the car. It sure was right, because all that stoppedthe car was my park brake, as I had nothing in the brake pedal. Plan to have it towed in today, but any ideaswhat may be up? It was unusual cold about40 degrees this morning in So Cal, but I don’t see why that would matter. I looked under to see if any fluid on theground anywhere, but I didn’t see anything. Couldn’t pop the hood because I had to switch out cars and get to work.

Reading some other posts here, possibly SBC issue?

BlownV8

That's what I was thinking. How many miles on your SL?

Jan T

It just passed 20K miles. When I got home to have it towed to the dealer, this time the red was gone and dash read BRAKE in white, and brakes worked. So I was able to drive it there. But on start up that SBC unit was making a good deal of noise. I just missed the 10 year warranty on that thing too, if that is the issue....damn. Should know more tomorrow, bend over.

mcguirja

Dumb question, but how is your convenience battery? Mine was failing and I was getting this warning on my 2009 SL63. Changed out the battery and it's been fine ever since. I was having other issues because of the battery as well though. May not likely be your issue but worked for me.

James

Jan T

I have never received the typical convenience battery warning yet, plus I keep the MBZ maintenance charger on it. So I would think the battery is ok. Plus not sure if a bad battery would cause that SBC unit to make all that noise.

cal1

hopefully it is just some electronic gremlin raising hell. I am far from an expert, but the problem does not sound like the "SBC service threshold reached" issue, because that starts off with the white "brake" visit workshop message. You also don't have enough miles on the car for that problem. Most people are seeing that issue somewhere around 100k or so. I suppose it is possible to reach that 300,000 acuations number with so few miles as a result of sitting in So Cal traffic. Hydraulic failures are known to happen on SBC, but it seems to me if it was a hyd failure you would not have gotten the brakes back.

I just want to point out to anyone reading this that SBC does have a hydraulic back up in the event of SBC failure. Braking is only applied to the front wheels and is greatly reduced. Brake travel will increase significantly. If someone encounters this problem while driving, I would suggest slamming the brake pedal to the floor (as long as the wheels are straight) and possibly even pump the brakes. Use your "E" brake as best you can and gear down to slow the car. Maybe being cognizant of this in the event it happens to someone will give them a few extra seconds instead of spending that time trying to figure out what the hell is happening.

Good luck.

cal1

^ I guess I should not have said "slam" the brakes above. Maybe more like apply liberal brake pressure and expect significant pedal travel before feeling any braking.

Jan T

Dealer said the SBC is bad, so I guess bend over for the $2,000+. They tested it outside of the car too. I don't disbelieve it, as the SBC was making quite a bit of noise.

BlownV8

I would call MB and ask them too cover. That's BS with so few miles and it being a 2005.

Jan T

Yeah, doesn't say much about the MBZ brand in respect to any reasonable reliability. I am always interacting with high end car guys, so such things don't go over well to promote a brand. Dealer said even if the 10 years is one day past, then it is not warrantied. But I agree, what the heck failure at 20K miles, just one more reason the public sees to go Japaneze.

I thought maybe to email MBZ, but not sure of the contact. Maybe here?:
http://mercedes-benz.custhelp.com/app/ask

cal1

Here is the warranty for what it is worth.

Jan T

Thanks for the warranty info. Shows that I should at least get a printout of codes when I go to pick up and pay. Just to be clear when calculating years too, is that they told me it is the date car was produced and not the registration date. Seems mine was built 2004, yet registered as a 2005. Although I am beyond the 10 year, I suppose it may still be worth the effort to try and claim for ridiculousness due to low miles, although I don't really expect any financial sympathy.

Jan T

The fun just goes on and on. I take my car to be fixed at what I used to consider high end Dealer in Newport Beach, specifically indicating to be careful with my wheels if they need to do work in those areas since the wheels are like $12K. Then got a call today that SBC repair is done but brake fluid spilled out on one of the wheels when they were bleeding the brakes, and now need to have the entire wheel repaired....3 weeks wait now for that, while they put some loaner wheels on the car. Hello, bleeding brakes while simultaneously taking caution with a customers property with a corrosive material isn't rocket science. There are instances in life where mistakes just happen and there are other instances of pure incompetence.

mcguirja

Augh! Unbelievable how careless people can be.

cal1

That totally sucks. The WIS has warnings everywhere about protecting painted surfaces from brake fluid. One would think the experts would have done so. Not so expert.

Jan T

What is a WIS? Now need to find a reputable shop in the in the Orange County area for future repairs, and leave Fletcher Jones last on my list only for last resort.

tandan

My mb dealer also damaged my SL600. He was repairing some small areas in the door upholstery. Some one, somehow applied the heat gun to an area with no problems. As i was driving home, it appeared some one had taken sandpaper to the upper right hand corner of the door(closest to the glove box). When i looked closer, i could see the leather was completely distorted and pulling away from the door. See if this sounds familiar. They told me my car was like that when i brought it in. I had a talk with the service manager and he did take responsibility.

Jan T

Good job on follow up. Word to the wise, always take a ton of photos before taking in your car to anyone. I took about 70 quick snap photos in and out, especially of my wheels before I took it in.

cal1

Workshop Information System. A bunch of members have a system called DAS/Xentry which is essentially a clone of the Star Diagnostic System (SDS) that Mercedes uses. DAS/Xentry includes the WIS so we can see the same repair instruction documents the shop techs use.

I recall seeing a big red caution regarding brake fluid. It states that brake fluid will ruin painted surfaces.

Jan T

This situation got pretty strange in the end. Can anyone tell me how long it should take to replace an SBC unit on a 2005 SL65? Is there some standard shop rate, or reference material that gives a time factor for that job?

Jan T

Wheel before & after.

Wheel Before:
ADV05 Deep Concave by JanDaMan, on Flickr
SL65 With ADVO5DC by JanDaMan, on Flickr


Wheel After:
WheelDamage by JanDaMan, on Flickr