hi, i found this forum and was wondering if you guys could help.
i have a 1999 E320, and a week ago, the check engine light turned on. i drove it another ~120 miles and nothing was wrong, so my dad and i disconnected the battery to reset the system. everything went fine, and the light turned off and didn't come back on.
immediately after this, we took the car out for dinner, and got about 5 miles before the car stopped accelerating and the power steering died, and the BAS/ASR light turned on. all the lights and everything were fine, so it wasn't an issue with the battery. anyway, we stopped the car, and it wouldn't start again (though we could hear the ignition; it was fine).
we got the car towed to my house, and after towing, we tried starting the car again. it worked and ran like there was never any problems. we're kinda scared to take it on any long trips at this point though. my question is whether or not there are security features i don't know about that only allows the car to travel a certain distance before shutting down after a battery disconnect. otherwise, i'm not sure how to explain the car suddenly working again.
i have a 1999 E320, and a week ago, the check engine light turned on. i drove it another ~120 miles and nothing was wrong, so my dad and i disconnected the battery to reset the system. everything went fine, and the light turned off and didn't come back on.
immediately after this, we took the car out for dinner, and got about 5 miles before the car stopped accelerating and the power steering died, and the BAS/ASR light turned on. all the lights and everything were fine, so it wasn't an issue with the battery. anyway, we stopped the car, and it wouldn't start again (though we could hear the ignition; it was fine).
we got the car towed to my house, and after towing, we tried starting the car again. it worked and ran like there was never any problems. we're kinda scared to take it on any long trips at this point though. my question is whether or not there are security features i don't know about that only allows the car to travel a certain distance before shutting down after a battery disconnect. otherwise, i'm not sure how to explain the car suddenly working again.
MBWorld Fanatic!
First of all, you should always read the code that turned on the CEL in the first place before resetting it. A code reader will also let you clear the code without disconnecting the battery. Places like Autozone will read your codes for free or you can buy a code reader off of ebay or at Sears. It is good information to know what turned the light on in the first place.
Without knowing the code, you are shooting in the dark for a diagnostic but if it died but would still crank over, you need to tell if it was not getting spark or fuel or if it was a timing issue caused by a sensor problem. The CEL is turned on by a plug misfire, an O2 sensor problem or a bad MAF sensor for example. These are emmission related faults. There could also be pending codes stored that have not yet turned on the CEL. Things that might make the car die, stall or not start might be a fuel pump relay or a crank shaft position sensor.
Go through and reset everything after the battery was reconnected. The BAS/ASR light could have come on because the system doesn't know the steering position. You need to follow the reset in the owners manual where you turn the steering wheel from lock to lock. After the battery is reconnected it takes several drive cycles or a prolonged trip for the computer to adjust to the best way to run again. It may have just had a glitch and now all is reset.
I would avoid any long trips to see if this is going to happen again and see if the CEL come on again. Then read the codes.
Without knowing the code, you are shooting in the dark for a diagnostic but if it died but would still crank over, you need to tell if it was not getting spark or fuel or if it was a timing issue caused by a sensor problem. The CEL is turned on by a plug misfire, an O2 sensor problem or a bad MAF sensor for example. These are emmission related faults. There could also be pending codes stored that have not yet turned on the CEL. Things that might make the car die, stall or not start might be a fuel pump relay or a crank shaft position sensor.
Go through and reset everything after the battery was reconnected. The BAS/ASR light could have come on because the system doesn't know the steering position. You need to follow the reset in the owners manual where you turn the steering wheel from lock to lock. After the battery is reconnected it takes several drive cycles or a prolonged trip for the computer to adjust to the best way to run again. It may have just had a glitch and now all is reset.
I would avoid any long trips to see if this is going to happen again and see if the CEL come on again. Then read the codes.
