Today I took my trailer to the local dairy farmer to pick up some cow manure for the vegetable garden. With heaped full 5'x8' trailer ( about a ton) I became stuck when the trailer wheel entered a hole in the slippery wet dirt track. The dairyfarmer was very amused to see the 220CDI bogged but was impressed when I pulled out the towing eye bolt & screwed it into the front chassis.It came out easily with his 4 wheel drive utility.I would like to have the facility to disengage the traction control in these circumstances.
John

 

Isn't there a switch by the hazard lights to turn off the traction control temporarily. I've used it when driving in snow, just to get more traction.
I've only seen on YouTube, a video of how you can turn it off permanently.

 

Hello Mercster,I have found that turning off the ESP button does not disengage the traction control. The book confirms this. John.

 

Does this help:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KURqzKHJ4k

What's the difference between ESP and traction control then? I thought ESP included TC. Somebody care to explain the different technologies here

 

Traction control is to prevent wheels from spinning and Stability Programme operates the system in event of emergency situations i.e spinning the car.
See the link it explains it better than I can

http://www.securitydriver.com/aic/st...ticle-111.html

 

Thanks ManchesterMerc for the link. Was informative.
I just checked the manual for the c-class, and traction control (ETS) is part of the ESP, although it's never disabled, even when one disables ESP. Not sure if the secret menu access to disable ESP shown on that YouTube video link actually disables traction control as well.

This is an extract from the manual:

ETS (Electronic Traction Support)
Traction control is part of ESP®.

Traction control brakes the drive wheels individually if they spin. This enables you to pull away and accelerate on slippery surfaces, for example if the road surface is slippery on one side.

Traction control remains active when you deactivate ESP®.

 

I have nothing to say. I just wanted to be the first American to post in this thread. Carsy, you are brave my friend.

 

Question: Where's the "towing eye bolt" that you speak of? Regrettably, I have yet to explore the full details of my own car in my near 3 months of ownership (accident already, in and out of the shop ).

 

It's in the tools pack in the spare wheel, I believe.

 

Hello Derspeed,

Yes, I did notice a shortage of American comment!! To my mind a car is to fullfil the owners requirements. I have a stone sump guard & vinyl seats.Towing a trailer is less than 5% of its use. I bought a diesel rear wheel drive to save me buying a gas guzzling 4X4. My last two vehicles ( Peugeots) have pulled trailers & been used as farm utes have both lasted 15 years & then were passed on to our daughters. I wonder with your comment whether the MB will be as capable

There is a well know story that some Australian farmers ( cockies) in good drought free times in the past have carried sheep in the boot of their Mercedes Benz. A hole to allow air in the top was made by a pick axe.

A neighbour who was stressed during a bushfire was seen actually forcing a cow through a fence with his MB.

They must stand up to the conditions !!!!

 

The access menu in the MFD is called "dyno mode". This shuts down traction control, ESP, ABS, etc. ALL safety nannies are shut off and you MUST manually exit dyno mode once you're done with it.

 

+1

You and those other M-B owners are freakin' AWESOME.

I reject the notion that M-B cars are somehow "special" and that they must thus be treated with more care and respect than any other marque's cars. Cars are just cars; they work for ME. I've noticed that many members on this forum feel similarly.

Except Rolls-Royce, Bentley and the like. I just can't see myself pushing a cow through a fence with manure splashing all over the place while behind the wheels of a $300K+ USD piece of equipment. Simple economics?

 

Plenty of people have asked me "you actually drive that Mercedes?" They know of several friends who own Mercedes, and keep them garaged. They might get wet, dirty, or damaged in traffic.

Um, if you bought the car to display at a car show, then why did you buy a new one? There's plenty of older "classics" to buy for garaging ;0)

 

Your story was humorous to me, because, I for one, would never think to use a Merc sedan that way. I was thinking...hmmm 51 views and not one comment form an American member. We were all probably looking at the story and thinking, I can't relate, so I can't post a comment. It's quite an interesting cultural difference to me.

 

The ESP off button on the dash is very mis-informatively labeled. When you press that and "turn esp off" what it's actually doing is preventing ESP from engaging as quickly as normal. Under certain conditions it will STILL engage.
To TRULY turn ESP OFF you have to be in dyno mode, or as they now call it roller test. As you probably noticed already, this also disables ABS and electronic brake force distribution. I'm not sure about the W204 but I think it also disables brake assist.