Air Marshall Eldritch

I give up.

Pulling out of a gas station the other day, all of a sudden the abovementioned warning messages come up on the center display, and the two warning lights on the left side of the dash go on.

I get to work, then go home that night. Message warnings come up, but then the lights on the side come on, then go back off. I drive the 30 miles home with no more warnings.

Next day, same thing. All Klaxons blaring on the way to work, then all quiet on the way home.

Any clue what the problem is?

mbtech208

Survey says: Stop-lamp switch

Air Marshall Eldritch

How much labor will it take to replace that?

mbtech208

Including diagnosis time and actual replacement, around 1.5 hours.

EddieGTP

Had the same trouble yesterday.

wookiehoth2

My old man's 2001MY E320 also had a similar problem. In his case, the causes are both (1) bad stop lamp switch, and (2) really, the brake pads and sensors were worn out.

Too mad MB's warranty/maintenance program does not cover brake pads....

wookiehoth2

Total cost was somewhere between $200 and $300.

kicker

It happens to me today when I try to backup and park the car. I just get out the car, check the parking then re-insert the key, then it happend. I guessed it's the brake Switch like you guys said. The light will not come on when the engine is idle, it only happens when you hit the brake SW and shifting to Drive and from that point on, it will stay on forever, until next key cycles. Good thing I still have warranty, otherwise it will be horriable. my ride is 2000 E320, 38,000 miles. I think when car reaches the warranty period 50,000, the extended warranty might be worth it. Does anybody know how much that would cost to carry the warranty to 50k miles? thanks

kicker

yeap! Just got my car back today, it was the brake sw problem, can believe it, they said there are two wires from that sw. one goes to the brake light the other wire goes to the cluster warning light?

carman123

Hello - I just joined the board this evening, but have read many of the post out here prior.

I have a 99 E320, and the same thing happened to me. It was the brake switch that had to be replaced.

Air Marshall Eldritch

Just as a follow-up, After I had my brakes and sensors replaced, the car was fine for 3 days, then the warning lights came on for a few days.

Then, I parked the car for a couple of weeks while overseas, and everything is fine now that I'm back.

So maybe my brake switch is going out periodically. Who knows.

kicker

yeap,

Hopefully after my warranty is up, this brake sw stuff will not happen again. If it does, I don't know how much it would cost to fix by ourselves. I have no idea if this is the factory defact parts or it would just go out every 2 or 3 years!

Whitey

I too had the same experience and all the brake lights failed. Scanned the car's computer - "faulty brake switch". However, after digging through all the circuit breakers, my mechanic found a faulty fuse in the fuse box next to the steering wheel (right hand drive car - I assume MB'd put it in the same position for LHD cars!). After that was replaced, the correct lights lit up and the warning lights off. Moral of this story = check you fuses before spending money on a new brake switch!

s810

Did you check to make sure the gas cap is tight?

victorylap

This is an old thread!