C63 AMG (W204) 2008 - 2015
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EBD, ABS and ESC Inoperative - Also no power steering

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Old Apr 4, 2019 | 02:25 PM
  #126  
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Semi bump jasonoff

I have power steering error and abs error coming on at the speed you mentioned, ~10mph.

My power steering works fine however.

I just did ESL replacement, do you think I could have done something to cause this?

Wiseass, you only need to swap out the brake light switch, easy fix. I'm thinking maybe I've mis-plugged mine when I did my ESL, but I don't have that error....

Thanks
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Old Apr 4, 2019 | 02:54 PM
  #127  
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What code is ESP module displaying?
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Old Apr 4, 2019 | 07:08 PM
  #128  
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I had 3, but after I cleared it was only one. I'll have to rescan when I get the chance. I only remember 2:

5944 & 5945
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Old Apr 4, 2019 | 10:24 PM
  #129  
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Those are internal faults. I've seen those happen if there's a rpm difference with one of the wheels. TPM not calibrated and one tire is 10+ psi lower in pressure. Makes the system freak out.
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Old Apr 8, 2019 | 08:25 PM
  #130  
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Dynamic Control Module

Originally Posted by Jasonoff
Those are internal faults. I've seen those happen if there's a rpm difference with one of the wheels. TPM not calibrated and one tire is 10+ psi lower in pressure. Makes the system freak out.
Hope this helps someone as many with this same failure have tried various things to correct it. For my 2010 C300 the warning lights would come on after driving about 5 miles per hour. Took it to a decent Indy shop and they diagnosed a 5001 code related to EBS/ESC module. The electronic component (and not the hydraulic portion) needed to be replaced.

Apparently this happens a lot as the local MB dealer had 3 in stock (for a 9 year old car...) they wanted $950 for it. The indy found a local salvage shop that had 3 C300s same year and found a part that closely matched the serial #. The used part was $215 and he charged me $100 to install it (and program it??). Said it did not need to be “coded “ to the car.

Seems that an aging battery can also trigger these codes/faults, so check that too, but in my case it was the module that failed.
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Old Apr 12, 2019 | 11:26 AM
  #131  
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Originally Posted by Jasonoff
I'm willing to bet it's probably repairable.
Would disconnecting the battery for 30 mins make any difference? I'm thinking a hard reset might work.

Some say disconnecting the battery is bad for Canbus. Thoughts?
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Old Apr 13, 2019 | 08:51 AM
  #132  
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I just disconnected it for about 2 or 3 hours yesterday, it didn't work.
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Old Apr 13, 2019 | 10:29 AM
  #133  
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I turn the car on with no faults. I push the ESP button and hold for 5 seconds thinking that might reset it.

That did not work.

Fault came on as soon as I reach 10 miles per hour.

So I can turn it off. That tells me it has to be something else.

In my case, I had a TPMS go out. I drove it for 2,000 miles until....

I'm going to buy the icarsoft i980 but I'm going to check all fuses before I do so.

Side Note: I do have a squeaky pedal. It just started acting up this past week.
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Old Apr 14, 2019 | 05:45 PM
  #134  
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Originally Posted by deadlyvt
It's 100% wheel speed sensor issue either the inner bearing seals with magnets need to be cleaned/repaired or the speed sensors need to be cleaned or repaired
I have this issue but no codes for the speed sensor.
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Old Apr 14, 2019 | 06:56 PM
  #135  
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Originally Posted by Nicholi2007
I have this issue but no codes for the speed sensor.
I have fixed this issue on 2 different cars I don’t think either had codes showing other than a wheel speed error for a certain wheel...the one was missing the magnet altogether no idea what happened to it the other I replace just out of having replaced and tried to troubleshoot everything else and it was the culprit as well.
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Old Apr 15, 2019 | 12:12 AM
  #136  
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I had this issue as well many months ago. It started with the warning and than the power steering was gone.
Usually 5 mins into the drive. Restart the car and it was OK.
Happened almost everyday for a week and suddenly the issue resolved itself.
After about 4 months of blissful driving, the problem came back.
Went to the mechanic and was told to change the ABS pump. After that this problem never came back.
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Old Jun 20, 2019 | 02:01 AM
  #137  
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I had this issue and was told it was caused by a build up of static electricity in the control module, given this fix.
Disconnect the battery
open the control module and EARTH IT,
worked for me
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Old Jun 20, 2019 | 07:30 AM
  #138  
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Originally Posted by Syd Harper
I had this issue and was told it was caused by a build up of static electricity in the control module, given this fix.
Disconnect the battery
open the control module and EARTH IT,
worked for me
How did you open it? Heat gun around the adhesive edges?
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Old Jun 26, 2019 | 05:28 PM
  #139  
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Like a lot of others on this thread, I started receiving the EBD, ABS, and ESC Inoperative error intermittently. At first, I would get it for a few days and then it would go away on it's own for about 3 or 4 months, then it would pop up here and there randomly. This last time it happened, it popped up and stayed that way for 2 weeks, so I took the control module off and tried to clean it out with pressurized air and isopropyl alcohol to no avail. During this time it was throwing internal faults on the module, specifically 5001 and 5944.

Someone earlier on here posted about Xemodex and their repair services, so I took a shot on them. This is the link for the w204 control module: https://xemodex.com/us/product/abs-e...-benz-c-class/

It took about 4 days total, including shipping (Chicago to Ontario), for me to get the repaired module back from them. They were able to completely repair it, and the invoice indicated that there were multiple cold solder joints that were repaired on the PCB. It looks like the module was cut open with a hot knife where the plastic seam is located. It's been about a month so far and I haven't had any errors or internal faults.
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Old Jun 26, 2019 | 07:17 PM
  #140  
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Originally Posted by royalmathmtcs
Like a lot of others on this thread, I started receiving the EBD, ABS, and ESC Inoperative error intermittently. At first, I would get it for a few days and then it would go away on it's own for about 3 or 4 months, then it would pop up here and there randomly. This last time it happened, it popped up and stayed that way for 2 weeks, so I took the control module off and tried to clean it out with pressurized air and isopropyl alcohol to no avail. During this time it was throwing internal faults on the module, specifically 5001 and 5944.

Someone earlier on here posted about Xemodex and their repair services, so I took a shot on them. This is the link for the w204 control module: https://xemodex.com/us/product/abs-e...-benz-c-class/

It took about 4 days total, including shipping (Chicago to Ontario), for me to get the repaired module back from them. They were able to completely repair it, and the invoice indicated that there were multiple cold solder joints that were repaired on the PCB. It looks like the module was cut open with a hot knife where the plastic seam is located. It's been about a month so far and I haven't had any errors or internal faults.
Thanks for posting.

https://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w...ml#post6913907

This was always my initial assumption given the inconsistant behaviour. It's in a very hostile envrionment, the left side header is pretty much inches away and the heat shield is not very thick.
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Old Jun 27, 2019 | 12:56 PM
  #141  
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For anyone looking to buy a new one the lowest price quote I got for a new OE control module was $1,003.00 plus about $35 for shipping.
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Old Jun 27, 2019 | 12:59 PM
  #142  
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Originally Posted by royalmathmtcs
Like a lot of others on this thread, I started receiving the EBD, ABS, and ESC Inoperative error intermittently. At first, I would get it for a few days and then it would go away on it's own for about 3 or 4 months, then it would pop up here and there randomly. This last time it happened, it popped up and stayed that way for 2 weeks, so I took the control module off and tried to clean it out with pressurized air and isopropyl alcohol to no avail. During this time it was throwing internal faults on the module, specifically 5001 and 5944.

Someone earlier on here posted about Xemodex and their repair services, so I took a shot on them. This is the link for the w204 control module: https://xemodex.com/us/product/abs-e...-benz-c-class/

It took about 4 days total, including shipping (Chicago to Ontario), for me to get the repaired module back from them. They were able to completely repair it, and the invoice indicated that there were multiple cold solder joints that were repaired on the PCB. It looks like the module was cut open with a hot knife where the plastic seam is located. It's been about a month so far and I haven't had any errors or internal faults.
I presume you drove the car, albeit carefully, until the repaired module came back? It's not inexpensive but it beats the price of a new one.

I'm starting to think the cover does not sufficiently keep heat away....
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Old Jun 27, 2019 | 01:35 PM
  #143  
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Originally Posted by Nicholi2007
I presume you drove the car, albeit carefully, until the repaired module came back? It's not inexpensive but it beats the price of a new one.

I'm starting to think the cover does not sufficiently keep heat away....
When you remove the module, the car won't let you shift out of park after you start it up. If you have keyless go, you have to physically insert the key to even get to the point of the engine starting. It throws a warning message about not being able to complete all of the safety checks or something along those lines. You will also get a couple of permanent codes stored if you start up without the module installed.
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Old Jul 30, 2019 | 02:26 PM
  #144  
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Ok, so what is the order of attack for someone who is getting this warning? I just started getting it yesterday after a 3k mile cross-country that ate up a lot of brakes... I am getting EBD, ABS, and ESC.

Where do I start?
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Old Jul 31, 2019 | 05:11 AM
  #145  
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Mine has been giving grief for a while, Replaced a speed sensor as it was giving a fault code and it settled but the warnings returned and got worse. I can clear the faults and get a day or two but it returns. Taking it to my service centre for a scan this morning every known warning light on but had power steering and speedo - half way there no power steering and no speedo - two thirds of the way there power steetring and speedo back (but no ABS/ESP etc). Service centre confirm ABS/ESP control unit faulty which is what I expected and was seeking confirmation of before I got mine repaired. They are talking costs of up to $5K to fix (time to find someone else to service the C63) but I am only going to pay the $150.00 diagnostic fee and have my controller repaired for $500.00 and do it all my self.
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Old Jul 31, 2019 | 02:44 PM
  #146  
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Originally Posted by Vader27
Ok, so what is the order of attack for someone who is getting this warning? I just started getting it yesterday after a 3k mile cross-country that ate up a lot of brakes... I am getting EBD, ABS, and ESC.

Where do I start?
Yeah, literally just had this error pop on me for the first time Monday after a 20-30min highway run downtown (my normal daily commute is about 1mi), but unlike the thread title, I DO have power steering, at least for now (*KNOCK ON WOOD*), and the error pops right when I start the car up, before I even put it in drive. Oh, and my display looks like this:



Reading through a butt load of threads over the last couple days, apparently, the issue can be caused by low battery voltage, a bad wheel speed sensor, low tire pressure, or even using the spare key fob or one with low battery. Some folks have fixed it (at least temporarily) by addressing some or all of those issues, and for some people the issue just resolves itself after a while, only to come back again a certain number of months/year/miles down the road. Ultimately the issue appears to be related to faulty soldered connections in the ESP module, as those that had their dealership replace the ESP module, or have sent it in for repair to companies like XeModEx, seem to have fixed the issue permanently, so I guess it just depends on your luck.

Having come from other platforms I know these germans cars get finicky when the battery gets low and will have you chasing sensor after sensor when it's really just a voltage issue... So in my case, that was the first thing I checked, and sure as ****, by OEM battery was reading 12.25v at rest, which means it's basically on its last leg (car still starts, but pissing off all the electronics in the meantime). So I tried a deep-cycle charge only to find it holding the same charge the next day, so I bought a Bosch AGM batteries online with PepBoys (they're on sale for $146 BTW) and talked the guy into running a battery/alternator test for free. Confirmed, battery voltage too low, but alternator pushing 14.6-14.8v, which is normal, so happy with that.

So I replaced the battery last night and hoped for the best, only to find the same lights on my dash this morning. Tried the steering wheel lock-2-lock trick that someone mentioned a couple of times, but nothing... Same display. So swung by Advanced Autoparts and had the dude run his scanner (already assuming he probably wouldn't find anything, but wanted to try anyway) and sure enough: no error codes.

Based on what I've read, I could probably start pulling and cleaning wheel sensors, which may or may not fix the issue, so it looks like the next logical step is to make an appointment at my local dealer to have a diagnostic check using their STAR scanner, read/print the codes to see if it's the ESP module or one of the wheel sensors, clear the codes, and in the case of the former, hope it was just stored codes from a low battery situation and the error doesn't come back again. If it's a wheel/speed sensor I'll obviously change that cause it looks like they're relatively cheap and easy to do, but if it's the module, just wait to see if comes back and if so, then pull it and send up to the XeModeX guys for a repair...

That's my plan anyway... For those that have resolved the issue, did I miss anything?
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Old Jul 31, 2019 | 05:05 PM
  #147  
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First step is to scan the module and see what codes you get.
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Old Aug 1, 2019 | 04:52 PM
  #148  
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Originally Posted by Jasonoff
First step is to scan the module and see what codes you get.
Sorry if I missed it (did I mention there are a butt-load of threads on this topic), but I thought only the dealer's STAR scanner could read the codes AND clear them... Or will a Carsoft or Autel do it too? Cause this is what they have at Advanced Autoparts / Autozone and it doesn't do sh*t:




So either way, you're spending $150-200 to buy a decent scanner (that I'm not even sure will do everything you need) or paying the dealer (or an indy shop) to do it for you... That about right?
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Old Aug 1, 2019 | 07:39 PM
  #149  
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In my experience - yes.
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Old Aug 1, 2019 | 07:43 PM
  #150  
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A basic bluetooth dongle will give you the basic errors and will often clear the codes - worked for me.

I also have Launch CRP 129 handheld diagnostic that does more than the basic dongle readers. After a couple months of returning issues (I do not do big milegage) the CRP129 would regularly report that it could do not read the ESP module due to CANBUS errors with the ESP module and it was taking me a few goes to clear the codes. I determined the problem as being the ABS ESP controller module but took it to a service centre (non dealer) for their diagnosis which confirmed my own view as to the issue.The service centre diagnostic equipment had no issue reading and clearing.

Going to send my controller unit off for repair AUS$545.00.
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