It's been a month now since acquiring the 06 CL55 AMG and still learning which button does what.... Though now a mature and responsible driver...Since the beginning I've been trying to get it to perform as the animal its purported to be when stomping on the gas from a dig expecting a Cheetah like launch. This always resulted in a disappointing hesitation and the ABS grabbing clamping down on the rear wheels. Somethings wrong with this car...dirty fuel injectors, coils, supercharger belt slipping...? Then a few days ago a miraculous thing happened...Hay, what's this "ESP" button all about? Pushed it, then a large orange triangle shows up on the message screen. Uggh, now more problems...? The light turned and I chose to stab the pedal. What happened next took me by surprise. This thing can lay rubber while the tail jumps and stays to the left for approx. 100 ft before the ABS finally reels in the poor tortured and roasted rear meats. Well before a 1/4 mile is up the dash reads 90 mph and still charging hard. Smile went back on and in love again. Aside from the virtues of ESP...Though no longer in to looking for prey and not an advocate of reckless driving; yesterday on a near empty highway, a four door pre-V10 BMW M5 (V8 400 hp, 2002-2006?) comes up behind me hard, sniffs my butt then pulls along side. We went at it for approx. 100 yards...Poor BMW M5. Question: with ESP on; does the orange triangle remain lit?

 

 

With engine running in park or drive the ESP warning light comes on and stays on when the ESP button is pushed. When enabled the traction control definitely works and is disabled when ESP is depressed but the large orange triangle on message screen remains constantly on. The battery was replaced shortly before purchase. If I performed a hard reset of the ECU by removing the negative cable from the battery will the radio lock down and if so wheres the security code?

 

Yes, the orange ESP warning triangle is on whenever the traction control is engaging and the entire time when you have it turned off. It's there as a warning so you know a stab of the loud pedal can get wheelspin. It does not fully disable traction control but does allow some wheelspin and a little drifting.

I've disconnected my battery multiple times and never had the radio lock down. You will have to reset the clock, windows, and sunroof though.

 

Thx doc!