C280 Sport

Our 2002 E320 with 84,000 miles. Just tonight driving down to the beach the ABS Light comes on and tells me to visit shop. I parked the car at the beach and start it up and it comes on once again. Park the car at Target. Go in for 5 min and it went away. Drove 2 miles home and is still off. I am confused as anythng. The car stops on a dime thoue. Breaks feel great.

armaniE55

Start with the brake light switch (cheap fix)... Very, very Common issue for the W210

Easy DIY...

http://www.autohausaz.com/search/pro...Light%20Switch

Armani

C280 Sport

Thank you for your reply. I was thinking that and/or also I hear it could be a cause of dirty wheel sensors? Is that a possibiblity?

C280 Sport

So today I drove the car around for about a half hour and the light did not come on now. I took someones advice and they told me to turn the sterring wheel to the left and the right a couple times. I did that and it has not come on since. I hope that fixed it.

Hirnbeiss

That fix would only be needed if the battery had been disconnected. How old is the battery? Check the termainals for tight connections. I will still put money on your brake switch though (it is an intermittient gremlin).

davidholman

[quote=C280 Sport;3665684]Our 2002 E320 with 84,000 miles. Just tonight driving down to the beach the ABS Light comes on and tells me to visit shop. I parked the car at the beach and start it up and it comes on once again. Park the car at Target. Go in for 5 min and it went away. Drove 2 miles home and is still off. I am confused as anythng. The car stops on a dime thoue. Breaks feel great.



[Hi I had the same problem for some time (over a year), Mercedes Benz STAR diagnostics kept coming up with brake light switch problem. WRONG, I found the fix myself the fault was a simple dry joint.
Under the hood there is a black plastic cover where the plugin modules are (not the fuse box) there is a small module at one at one end, with fuses in the top, simply unplug this open it up and resolder the joints, my problem was a dry joint on a diode, if you are unsure, solder all joints, and that should be it... Simple eh!!]

RichardM98

[QUOTE=davidholman;3913165]No offense, David but

I wouldn't recommend taking out the soldering gun and starting in on MB electronic modules for most out here. If you don't solder regularly, you'll turn one cold solder joint into 5 or 6.

IIRC, doesn't the brake light switch have an adjustable contact shaft? It seems there is a procedure for adjusting it somewhere.

mi benz

i am having the same type of problem with the 98 e300 i have had for a week. replacing the brake switch made no difference. i checked resistance on new and old brake switch and they were the same. the plunger is self-adjusting. i set the new switch up like the old one and the behavior did not change. i then pulled the shaft all the way out and let it self adjust when i installed the switch. no diff.

i will post here with my final resolution.

mi benz

I have found that i can get the ABS/ESP/BAS functionality back temporarily by doing the following:
while car is in motion, put trans into neutral
shut off ignition while coasting
start engine back up while still moving
put back into D.

the lights stay out unless i come to a complete stop and change gears. Any clues? Thanks.

Red66GT

Dont think you should be turning off your car while moving!

Had a similar problem in mine with the ABS/ESP/BAS lights all coming on. One day the car left me stranded. It was the battery. Check your battery connections and clean them if needed. If that doesnt fix it, have your battery "load" tested to see if your battery is going bad. Have them check the alt while you're at it too.

mi benz

thanks. Yeah- i know its risky, but i only do it when there is no other traffic near me and i'm on a straight stretch of road with no chance for someone to pull out. I'm mainly curious as to why everything would function normally under the condition i described. Any ideas?

The battery was replaced by the previous owner in Nov. It's the size 49 monster. Terminal connections are clean and snug, and there are no other symptoms that would go with reduced voltage from the battery. Battery has been starting fine through the last few weeks of very cold weather, so i'm pretty confident in the alternator.

Semikolon

Safe or not, you will still break your transmission...

mi benz

As promised, here is the solution to my ESP/ABS/BAS problem.

After trying the brake light switch to no avail, I had the codes scanned at a local indy shop and the lateral acceleration sensor had thrown a code. This module is part of the ESP system and is located under the carpet beneath the driver's seat. Believe it or not Mercedes wants > $2K for this module! I found it on a German used parts website for < 50 Euros I finally got it replaced today and the annoying beeps and lights are gone

It's MB part number 000 542 65 18.

good luck!<!-- google_ad_section_end -->