Wow - what a story I hardly know where to begin. I was in Las Vegas (visiting) on Wednesday 1/17. I made a normal U-turn to head towards (the strip) Las Vegas Blvd. As soon as I completed the turn a warning light saying: "Electronic Rear Differential Lock Inoperative" next "Blind Spot Assist Inoperative" followed by"Malfunction See Owners Manual." I thought great - really. Next stop light, I turned the engine off and restarted it. All errors were gone. I thought okay maybe it was just a glitch or something.

Couple blocks later. I'm turning into the main valet at the Aria. As I put the car in park - all the warnings come back. Except this time it also says:" Engine Oil Level Cannot Be Measured."
Followed by the temperature light coming on indicating the car is overheating (It wasn't). I had no choice and turned the engine off. Then to my horror - it would not restart. Assumed because of the message about engine oil not being able to be measured.

If anyone here has ever been to the Aria - it is a busy place. Luckily, I was towards the front. So I hit the MBrace button and they are going to send a flatbed. I didn't want this car being yanked on to a flatbed and spoilers crunching and all of the other bad things that can happen. I had the cell phone number of the shop foreman at my dealership where I purchased it. I called and he picked up and I started to explain what was happening.

He said can you put the car in neutral and I said no. He said then you can't tow it. He also found out there is no emergency tow node for the vehicle. Also right about this time the whole car went dead like the battery was disconnected. So I hang up as he is going to check into some things on the situation. At this time the Aria valet guys brought out some go-jacks (those are jacks that lift the wheels off the ground a few inches and you can easily roll a car). The new plan was to roll the car out of the way until I could figure out what to do.

One of the jacks was missing a top bolt on the wheel and they didn't want to lift and roll the car because of liability. I then called the tow company to come out and do this - so now it was probably more like a service call. Since they are hired by Mercedes, they told me all they do is tow and this is highly irregular and they would have to call for authorization. Great! By now - I'm going on about two hours sitting there.

People were coming by constantly and taking pictures of the car and asking about it. I tried to keep a good attitude and would joke and say things like" If you have a car that runs I'll trade you." Next, I'm waiting for call backs and finally get one. Mercedes will authorize the tow truck company to do it. I call them back and they basically didn't want to do it. Made up a bunch of excuses. They just didn't want the job for whatever reason. Now I call MBrace back and they are calling around to see if a tow company wants to come out with gojacks and roll a car out of the way. They are having Zero luck. They even told me they got hung up on a few times.

Now it's over three hours in valet with the car. I decided and tipped the valet guys good enough to help me roll it out of the way. A suggestion by a supervisor was the car would be safer in the VIP area which was very shortly across the way. Luckily, someone came out and said don't. Reason is because there is a slight incline there that gets steeper fast. If the car gets away from us it could go rolling down the hill and potentially have rolled on to Las Vegas Blvd. How's that for a funny image?

I figured the missing nut on top of the wheels Shouldn't be too big of a problem. The weight of the car would hold it down and it did. We then got it up and rolled it off to the side. We had rags on the top of the tires and that's where we pushed. No hands on any painted parts. At four hours now. I'm done and want to go to my room. Thinking this will get figured out in the morning. It's very well lit and they have valet and security 24/7. They assured me they'd keep an extra watchful eye on the car.

Just as I get to my room I get a call from a technician from Fletcher Jones . He said he can come by and run some codes and jump the car. I almost told him no because I was prepared to deal with everything in the morning. So I said okay come by and text me when you get here. I get a text 30 minutes later and he says he is out front. I see his Mercedes Roadside Assistance Vehicle and I can immediately hear/tell my car us running. That certainly lifted my mood.

Battery was somehow dead and he hooked up the test and cleared the codes and the car started. Let it run for a while. There were no codes, battery was charging. Turned it on and off and it started fine. He explained there is something still wrong and we need to get it to the shop. I thought great I can at least drive it there tomorrow morning. I was certain If I didn't make a U-turn the car would be okay. I took it for a quick spin and the tech followed me for a bit then left. He offered to come down in the AM and follow me up to Fletcher Jones.

I didn't think that would be necessary as long as the car started. It started the next morning and I took it to Fletcher Jones. The technician comes out and I tell him the story and he drives the car back to start on it and said he'll know something in a few hours. By the way I found out the tech is a guy named Doug Wolf who is the: "Mercedes-Benz Global Tech Masters gold medalist" - and the team leader at Fletcher Jones MB. That's right the top AMG mechanic in the entire world. So that made me feel really good.

I hung out in the lounge for an hour and he and the service adviser came out and explained what he'd found so far. Said it should be done and fixed at the end of the day. I was really surprised. My biggest fear was a blown computer/module exclusive to this car and it would take weeks or months to get one at least. After that they offered me a loaner car or a ride back to the hotel. I opted for the ride back. A few short hour later they call me and say the car is done and send someone to get me. They even filled the car with gas for me.

Fletcher Jones was incredible and awesome in every way possible to help me. They really cared and it showed. Can't thank or praise them enough. Total rock-stars. Below, I've included the text from the tech (Doug Wolf) that was on my invoice for you to see. I know this was long but I wanted to tell this story. Apologize for any grammar. But I'm not writing this for an essay contest. Basically, this all came down to one chafed wire - lol.

From My Mercedes Invoice:

"Verified the vehicle would not start intermittently and when it did start, there would be multiple warning messages in the instrument cluster.
Performed short test, DTC's U010087 Communication with the control unit 'combustion engine' has a malfunction. The message is missing,
U010387 Communication with the electronic selector lever module has a malfunction. The message is missing, C00100 Drive train CAN
communication has a malfunction, C12100 Communication with ESP has a malfunction, C12987 Communication with control unit "Regenerative
braking system" has a malfunction. The message is missing, C10000 Communication with the control unit 'combustion engine' has a
malfunction, C11500 Communication with control unit 'Drivetrain' has a malfunction, C29100 Communication with the electronic selector lever
module has a malfunction, C10300 Communication with the electronic selector lever module has a malfunction, C14687 Communication with the
central gateway has a malfunction. The message is missing, C11187 Communication with control unit "Battery" has a malfunction. The message
is missing, C12800 Communication with the electric parking brake has a malfunction, C14187 Communication with the front signal acquisition
and actuation module has a malfunction. The message is missing, C15587 Communication with the instrument cluster has a malfunction. The
message is missing, C10F87 Communication with control unit 'Electric A/C compressor' has a malfunction. The message is missing, C25687
Communication with the control unit 'AMG DRIVE UNIT' has a malfunction. The message is missing C28787 Communication with control unit
"Electric cooling pump" has a malfunction. The message is missing, and 260007 The output for the circulation pump 'Coolant' has an electrical
fault or an open circuit. There is a mechanical fault were present. 2.8 time-spent to perform CAN network testing. Exposed Chassis CAN E1
potential distributor X30/30 at right front floor. Tested terminating resistance with no communication on the network. While moving wires around
measured 59.4 ohms, within the 58.0-62.0 specification. Measured CAN voltage, CAN high to ground and CAN low to ground. Measurements
were 2.7 and 2.3 respectivly. Chassis CAN E1 voltage ok. Exposed Drivetrain CAN potential distributor X30/21 at lest rear of trunk area. Tested
terminating resistance with no communication on the network. While moving wires around measuring resistance, the resistance measurement
would drop to 0.0 ohm momentarily on both CAN high and low. Determined there was a short circuit to ground on Drivetrain CAN. Removed
electrical connectors one by one until short circuit was eliminated. Determined N3/43 (AMG suspension) lost communication. Traced wire and
found wire chafing on bracketry in the left rear of trunk 0.4 time-spent to perform wiring repair of the CAN wiring for N3/43. After repair the
vehicle functioned as designed."

 

Wow. Just wow. And a happy ending. We read a lot about dealer misery, so to hear about dealer happiness is rewarding. Thanks for taking the time to tell the story.

 

This dealership is best in Las Vegas , We only have 2 dealership with in couple hundred miles.lol One of nicer customer waiting areas too. Glad your car was fixed in same day.

 

 

 

Wow you really kept your cool under trying circumstances, mad props. I always stay at the Aria and know first hand how crazy it gets with the cars and taxis. 4 hours is an eternity, glad it worked out in the end.

 

sounds like to me the software needs to "man up" a little... oh my, I've broken a nail and I think I'm gonna die... I can't move till I get it fixed... call the salon, I need to get there now... I can't go to brunch looking like this !!!!

 

 

Thank you for all of the detail. Did they tell you how the wire got chafed? I am curious if there a design flaw that will show up in other vehicles or if this was just a random bad luck situation that was isolated to your car.

 

 

Thanks for the story. I think its very fortunate you broke down where you did...imagine if you were an hour out in the desert with limited reception.

 

 

At the end - in BOLD.

"From My Mercedes Invoice:

"Verified the vehicle would not start intermittently and when it did start, there would be multiple warning messages in the instrument cluster.
Performed short test, DTC's U010087 Communication with the control unit 'combustion engine' has a malfunction. The message is missing,
U010387 Communication with the electronic selector lever module has a malfunction. The message is missing, C00100 Drive train CAN
communication has a malfunction, C12100 Communication with ESP has a malfunction, C12987 Communication with control unit "Regenerative
braking system" has a malfunction. The message is missing, C10000 Communication with the control unit 'combustion engine' has a
malfunction, C11500 Communication with control unit 'Drivetrain' has a malfunction, C29100 Communication with the electronic selector lever
module has a malfunction, C10300 Communication with the electronic selector lever module has a malfunction, C14687 Communication with the
central gateway has a malfunction. The message is missing, C11187 Communication with control unit "Battery" has a malfunction. The message
is missing, C12800 Communication with the electric parking brake has a malfunction, C14187 Communication with the front signal acquisition
and actuation module has a malfunction. The message is missing, C15587 Communication with the instrument cluster has a malfunction. The
message is missing, C10F87 Communication with control unit 'Electric A/C compressor' has a malfunction. The message is missing, C25687
Communication with the control unit 'AMG DRIVE UNIT' has a malfunction. The message is missing C28787 Communication with control unit
"Electric cooling pump" has a malfunction. The message is missing, and 260007 The output for the circulation pump 'Coolant' has an electrical
fault or an open circuit. There is a mechanical fault were present. 2.8 time-spent to perform CAN network testing. Exposed Chassis CAN E1
potential distributor X30/30 at right front floor. Tested terminating resistance with no communication on the network. While moving wires around
measured 59.4 ohms, within the 58.0-62.0 specification. Measured CAN voltage, CAN high to ground and CAN low to ground. Measurements
were 2.7 and 2.3 respectivly. Chassis CAN E1 voltage ok. Exposed Drivetrain CAN potential distributor X30/21 at lest rear of trunk area. Tested
terminating resistance with no communication on the network. While moving wires around measuring resistance, the resistance measurement
would drop to 0.0 ohm momentarily on both CAN high and low. Determined there was a short circuit to ground on Drivetrain CAN. Removed
electrical connectors one by one until short circuit was eliminated. Determined N3/43 (AMG suspension) lost communication. Traced wire and found wire chafing on bracketry in the left rear of trunk 0.4 time-spent to perform wiring repair of the CAN wiring for N3/43. After repair the vehicle functioned as designed.""

 

Sounds like a really good mechanic. While the problems were screaming "electrical," still, finding a chafed wire that quickly is damn impressive IMHO.

Harrowing situation even if it was a first world problem. Glad you and car are otherwise unscathed.

 

One of my friends sent me a link to this post. Thanks for the kind words. Here's exactly what happened. The Drivetrain CAN connector is located in the left rear of the trunk behind the first aid cover. It's hard to see in the pictures but the one CAN line that was chafed is longer than the other leads and was run around the bracket is was rubbing on. After I repaired the wires I rerouted the wire and made sure it was on the other side of the bracket. In my opinion this was an isolated incident.

 

Damn thats crazy--- "O ring like"

 

Glad to see things were sorted out. Amazing how 10 cents worth of wiring can cause so havoc on the entire system.

 

 

 

 

When I made and came out of the U-turn is precisely when the error message: "Electronic Rear Differential Lock Inoperative" followed by the other error messages. My theory is the ever so slight G-force of the U-turn caused the wire to momentarily make contact and thus started the sequence of events. As the wire was no longer grounding out against the bracket after the turn was completed. This is what allowed the codes to be cleared without returning and the restart at the valet. This theory seems plausible as the car was driven that evening and the 8.7 miles to Fletcher Jones the next morning. Being very careful not to make a U or sharp turns. A good question would be for the tech to chime back in and see what he did to duplicate the problem - or did he have to? Did he test drive it and do some U-turns and it came back? I don't know. It is a good question and would add some final closure to this thread.

 

 

Wow, small world. I was actually at Aria/Vdara and was walking down to grab our rental car and saw your car at the Aria valet. Was hoping to run into the owner as I eagerly wait mine to be built. Didn't know you were having such and ordeal. Glad it got sorted out.

Chip-

 

Small World is right - that's crazy. You probably missed me as I was on another run to Javier's for a Jalapeno Margarita to ease the pain. Lol.

 

mmm Javier's. Missed it this trip, but did hit up Julian Serrano - another one of our favorites.