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Please help! I have a 2010 C300 manual transmission. The brake hold (rear calipers) keeps engaging, there is no dash light, I do not brake hard. It engages all the time and I have to push the brake pedal hard to disengage. It engages while driving without hard braking. Rotors were glowing a few times on highway. I don't know what to replace or calibrate.
Please help! I have a 2010 C300 manual transmission. The brake hold (rear calipers) keeps engaging, there is no dash light, I do not brake hard. It engages all the time and I have to push the brake pedal hard to disengage. It engages while driving without hard braking. Rotors were glowing a few times on highway. I don't know what to replace or calibrate.
Dude. Seriously. You have glowing brakes while driving? And you think that you need to "calibrate" something ? This is dangerous in an apocalyptic fashion. You have a car that is of marginal value and you have an issue that threatens the safety of all road users around you. Take it to a reputable car repair shop, hand your keys over and say "Fix this". If they cannot do this then scrap the car. Literally ...... walk away, and consign your Mercedes experience into the category of "wish I had more disposable income". Trust me you'll be doing all around you a favor. Glowing brakes...... really?
2015 SL400 (M276 Turbo), 2014 C350 Sport (M276 NA), 2004 SL500 (M113), 2004 Audi TT225 (BEA)
I remember being stationed in West Germany in the early 80s and saw a car driving along the boulevard with glowing brakes. I thought at the time the driver was riding the brake. But Germans don't do that.
Dude. Seriously. You have glowing brakes while driving? And you think that you need to "calibrate" something ? This is dangerous in an apocalyptic fashion. You have a car that is of marginal value and you have an issue that threatens the safety of all road users around you. Take it to a reputable car repair shop, hand your keys over and say "Fix this". If they cannot do this then scrap the car. Literally ...... walk away, and consign your Mercedes experience into the category of "wish I had more disposable income". Trust me you'll be doing all around you a favor. Glowing brakes...... really?
Wow, thank you for that condescending douchy response. First of all, the rear calipers were glowing before I knew me brakes were hanging up. I disengage the brake hold function before driving anywhere. So I have temporarily put a band aid on the issue and nobody is at risk. Thank you for the genius advice of potentially scrapping a car because it has a brake issue. Second, my "marginally valuable" car is not up for discussion any more than the fatness or ugliness of your wife or girlfriend. Thank you again for your assistance.
2015 SL400 (M276 Turbo), 2014 C350 Sport (M276 NA), 2004 SL500 (M113), 2004 Audi TT225 (BEA)
There is an iCarsoft MB V3.0 which is a little faster and does automatic scanning of all modules, but I don't know if it detects any more than the MB II version. Ideally, you want XENTRY, but if you don't want to go through setting up a Star Diagnosis System (SDS), most people here recomment the LAUNCH Creader Elite 2.0 BENZ. iCarsoft has been surpassed by the LAUNCH tool, which is often a little cheaper.
That said, the BEST service for diagnosing the problem is @BenzNinja . Peter (BenzNinja) adds years of experience to what the XENTRY tool exposes to properly diagnose and solve your problem. It would start with understanding how the HOLD feature works. It may be something like a grounding issue or corrupted module. Have you suffered any water leaking into the passenger compartment? Has the carpet gotten wet? You may need to pull up the carpet a bit to check. The W204 (and other models) have been known for clogged drain channels for the sunroof, leading to water intrusion and corroded control modules.
Im curious what brake hold feature you are talking about. Im not finding any info about it, unless its specific to manual transmission models? How do you deactivate it?
Im not entirely sure how the car works the brakes on its own so tried to search around for the various functions. Im seeing a hill start assist feature, but that even specifically mentions it is not a hold feature. Im guessing it works by keeping the brake pressure at all 4 calipers, not just the rears.
I have a Foxwell scanner and was playing around to see what I can check with it. Maybe its because my W204 doesnt have many additional features there isnt much to check. I noticed it reads off the brake pressure. I checked that and I checked the functioning of the brake pedal switch, both seemed to be working. Maybe check those things with your scanner, look for any abnormal readings. Wonder if you can drive around and check to see how they are functioning, see if the brake pressure isnt being released all the way. Though I noticed when i went into the esp settings a message on the dash popped up, I think it turned everything off.
What exactly happens, both rotors over heat at the same time?
Thank you for your reply and the relevant information. I may be referring to the hill start assist function which may be different on the manual version. When the calipers were binding in the past, it was only the rear ones heating up. There has been no incident with the front calipers. When I'm on a hill, after hitting the brake pedal hard, the brakes hold for a few seconds before rolling back. I can feel that there is some kind of brake binding the happens intermittently. When I push the brakes hard at a stop then they release and the car rolls normally.
2015 SL400 (M276 Turbo), 2014 C350 Sport (M276 NA), 2004 SL500 (M113), 2004 Audi TT225 (BEA)
@TimC300 good catch with the manual vs. automatic transmission. The HOLD function applies the main service brakes (not the parking brake) when activated with the automatic transmission in gear. The brake light is lit while HOLD is activated, and is released when the slightest gas is given (accelerator pedal depressed). With a manual transmission, HOLD would not work without stalling the engine.
When was the last time you have the rear brakes serviced? Since its a manual im assuming you are always using the parking brake. Wonder if those pads are rubbing and heating up the rotors. Or even the calipers, maybe the pads are not moving freely in there. I would pull everything and give it a good inspection and cleaning.
I do think if there were an issue with the hill assist function there would be a fault code. I dont even know if that feature works in my car, i have never noticed it. The only thing I have noticed is the car seems to maintain its speed going down hills if I tap the brake as i start going down the hill. Theres a large hill i drive alot, speed limit on the road is 30mph. If I go down the hill coasting foot off the accelerator the car will easily get up to 40mph, but if i tap the brake as im going down then foot off the accelerator it will stay at 30mph. I like doing this when people are behind me tail gating.
Has a qualified technician actually taken a look at your brakes yet? Just checking as @TimC300 has correctly raised this point. It does read like you need to deploy some actual mechanical expertise here, and you really shouldn't touch your brakes unless you know what you are doing. They are kind of important after all.
Has a qualified technician actually taken a look at your brakes yet? Just checking as @TimC300 has correctly raised this point. It does read like you need to deploy some actual mechanical expertise here, and you really shouldn't touch your brakes unless you know what you are doing. They are kind of important after all.
I mean in decades of repairing cars, I've seen glowing rotors at race events, but never actual calipers. I'm literally on the edge of my seat on this.
Thank you for your response. I took the C300 to a reputable mechanic shop, they they think the ABS system is malfunctioning thinking the car is on an incline triggering the Hill Assist. They recommended a Mercedes specialist because they would have the necessary software. I will give an update after the next appointment, I am scheduled on Wednesday with the Mercedes technician.
2015 SL400 (M276 Turbo), 2014 C350 Sport (M276 NA), 2004 SL500 (M113), 2004 Audi TT225 (BEA)
Originally Posted by bodybyeldon
Thank you for your response. I took the C300 to a reputable mechanic shop, they they think the ABS system is malfunctioning thinking the car is on an incline triggering the Hill Assist. They recommended a Mercedes specialist because they would have the necessary software. I will give an update after the next appointment, I am scheduled on Wednesday with the Mercedes technician.
That sounds like something @BenzNinja could help with if it is only a matter of software.
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Brake Hold Malfunction Glowing Calipers
Super Douche
