CSilverfish

I have a few things I'm going to go over, from beginning to end, what issues I had to issues I have. Any help would be greatly appreciated. But before all that, I would like to know if there is a way to get a modules variant coding default settings status information of any specific vehicle, even if by VIN. Preforming a copy and paste of coding is something I can and do. Come the end of this thread you will know why I ask. First, I'd like to mention that I am a caregiver and work on cars when I have the time. The Mercedes has been my main project given I couldn't figure out the problem but have worked on other vehicles throughout. This Started in May....

- Newly acquired, ran a diagnostic. Low voltage in most modules, blinker issue(recall), restraint issue(recall), and thermostat issue (not reaching optimal temp). I was told that the car will be worked on, well it wasn't.
- While driving at highway speeds, temp needles climbed above highway point. I, being in the Jeep, am asked to pull over for this reason. I check out the coolant, the revisor is full of what I like to call Creamy Coolant Butter. I said to myself "Adam, weren't you told this was going to be taken care of, BS"
- After a friend did a test, there was no trace of combustion byproduct in the Butter and so it was determined the issue stems from the oil cooler and its gasket. Though, I had thought the transmission oil would be the culprit because I was able to see a lite red hue within the Butter, not black or brown, but red. But I only work here lol.
- Preformed a coolant system flus with a pneumatic fluid exchange pressure gauged system. Took about 6 flushes before anything more serious started to show face. Which included chunks of Butter, not only creamy. And what ended up being chunks of the rubber from the original thermostat. Which I changed given I was doing a flush of the system, seems logical. Not only that, but it was also needed. The thermostat was stuck, I had about 3 dudes pulling all at once to remove the SOB. Stuck closed but with the rubber gasket missing, chucked and found inside the oil cooler and the coolant which I sucked out.
- I flushed until there was little to no trace of oil, about 15 total flushes. It was a long day.
- Put everything back together. It ran fine, temp climbed to about mark 90 but never over, mark 80 is where it sat before.
- When checking my work every night when car returned, Coolant Butter was still being churned. But the oil level in the engine was not reducing at all. Boom, again I feel it to be transmission oil.
HERE IS WHERE THE FUN BEGINS
- Just about 2 weeks after the flush and talks of having me redo the gasket to the oil cooler, I took the car to local grocer, about 1.2 miles from home. Parked when I returned, the next morning, it was a no crank no start scenario, the dash has an ABS and ESP malfunction error, and there was a parasitic drain.
- When inspecting the vehicle, there was no indicator of selected gear on the dash or the gear selector module (PRND).
This is when I decided to get an advanced diagnostics machine, given that Mercedes isn't the only vehicle I work on, I decided to go with the Topdon Phoenix Lite 2, low the low end of their professional grade diag machines, it is able to utilize the advanced module for key programming and access the anti-theft system (infrared signal) Which jumps 2 devices in their product line before that ability is again available.
- Some time goes by, during which I check just about every damn wire the car has. That includes fuses, and relays. I get a breakout box, I get an oscilloscope, and a stethoscope. Drive Authorization System checks out. Literally just about everything is good to go accept I hear a little ticking from the ESP system and the motor relay, top center of SAM unit, continuously opens and closes.
- I'm thinking something to do with ignition switch given the key got stuck, but that was temporary and was due to the cable that triggers the release pin once in P, it had been slightly tweaked when moving everything around.
- I had the opportunity to scavenge a junkyard, it was a 2012 C300, the only thing it had was the SAM unit which was the upgraded version of my current. I took it and copied over data and attached the jumper wire. The original had the M18 and M20 in a horrible corroding state. Everything is a lot brighter now lol.
- Another junkyard opportunity came. This time it was a 2008 C350, I pulled from that in about 3 hours the following.

• Driver SAM
• Rear SAM
• Ignition Switch
• Prefuse Box
• Alternator
• Starter
• integrated TCM

- Of all that, I only installed the Prefuse Box. I did this one because, the fuse within the Prefuse Box that is associated with the blower motor in the grill front is also associated to fuse 27 within the SAM unit. Fuse 27 when pulled, would keep the relay from clicking but has the blower motor start, increase in speed with no peak, it just keeps climbing. And so, the Fuse within the Prefuse Box associated with all that was showing a noticeable delay and a higher resistance then all the rest but was still within the safe zone. But I had the unit to i changed it out. Relay Clicking stopped.....
- Still no start, not even when jumping the starter at the relay or the solenoid on the starter itself, but it would crank.

This is where I almost gave up. I decided to look deep in the ECM, somewhere I had never gone and was reluctant to do given how changes can really strand a vehicle... Well, I am looking over things, making sure not to write code to the unit. This is where it happened, the noticing of things askew. The obvious, the transmission was set to manual, the vehicle model was set to 221, and the gear selector module was not fitted. nor was the ECM personalized. I made those 3 changes, putting them to what I assume normal, 4Matic, W204, and FITTED. Wow, everything is so much better, like brand new.

I check my fluid and get it ready to test drive. and for the parasitic drain, I unplugged and plugged in again the alternator. Everything seemingly is okay. I go for a test drive, and got it up to 70, when I return, coolant is jutting out the overflow overfill spout. I then decide to redo my oil cooler, and gasket fix, with the assumption that the thermostat isn't opening, and my fix didn't hold given the fact that there was Butter still being churned after said fix. Well, it happened again how's it coolant spilled over when the engine became warm now it's the weird thing is when I was doing the flush just last time out of the four, I did there was very little oil mind you but also been never overflowed even when I filled it to its brim.

So now I'm here wondering if and what maybe going on with the coolant overflowing to such a great degree to that it's now below level, near empty. I'm here wondering if there is anyone can tell me in terms of what movie checked and if there's a way, I can do reference of what every variant should be set to within an ECU slash ECM for preferably every module within the car just to make sure things are as they should.

if you've taken the time to read this that is awesome, and I can't wait to hear from you.

Thanks,
Adam