Mackhack

As I explained to you in my PM answer to your question: this message is a generic message and can be triggered by different underplaying issues. Why guessing and replacing parts which don't need to be replaced when it could be as simple as a quick readout with Star Diagnosis. It will tell what's wrong. Bring them a 6 pack and a pack of salty pretzels and they will do it for free most likely.

MBtech987

YES DEACTIVATE SBC, otherwise seriously injury can happen. SBC is an electronic brake by wire system and must be deactivated when working on rotors. And when taking apart your caliper the 4 torx bolts, you ruined this caliper. those are factory set and to never be removed.

kenchen

So I bit the bullet and took my E500 to the dealer to have it diagnosed. This after replacing the brake light switch but to no avail. The dealer told me there was nothing wrong with the SBC and just re-programmed it to remove the error message. It's been a couple days and the error message hasn't reappeared since.

So what could've caused the error message to appear in the first place? A bug in the SBC software?

Mackhack

No!

What you should have done was telling your SA to get a printout from the mechanic when he read out the error message. It's no secret and you would have known the answer to your question. We won't be able to answer it since we weren't there looking at the mechanic's laptop screen while he ran the quick test in DAS.

And he didn't re-program anything. He hit 2 simple buttons, turned the ignition off after about 12 seconds and turned the ignition back on and the error messages were all erased in your car's different control modules. Now that's how it's been done nowadays

Sir, we got your car washed and cleaned as a complimentary service. The register is over there. Your car will be out here shortly. Your bill is going to be $140 for a quick 5 minute check! Thank you for your business. See you again sooner than you think! Haha!!!

kenchen

Well it could've been worse. They could've replaced the SBC anyway and charged me $1000+ for it.

Anyway, can I erase the error messages myself? What are the two buttons I need to push?

Mackhack

You cannot without a SD.

E5 driver

After a recent visit to the car wash. My brake light came on along with a loud beeping noise. I turned the car off and began to restart when I noticed would wouldn't gear into drive. I since manually put the car into drive and notice the car wouldn't get out of 1st gear. The speedometer is frozen as well. Someone help me understand what's going on.

Mackhack

I suggest you open a new thread with an appropriate title for this and go to the dealerahip with it. I think this has nothing to do with the initial brake light switch to do what you're encounter.

Merc4Fun

I also have the "Brake Service Visit Workshop" message. If it is the brake switch, would the brake lights still come on?
I bought the car used, is there a way I can find out the original in-service date to see if the SBC pump is still under warrantee?

Mackhack

Ask your wife to stand behind the car and you press the brake pedal. She tells you yay or nay???????? Just giving you a common sense hint how to check lights in a car!

Yes you can ask your dealerahip. They have a centralized database (VMI) showing all work done on a car even at different dealerships. Not showing work done by Indy shops not connected to MBUSA though.

cetialpha5

If you take it to the dealer, you would ask for the VMI which I believe stands for Vehicle Master Inquiry. Another way to tell would be to look up the carfax, it usually has the date of when the car was first registered which would tell you the in service date. For a 2005, it's borderline. You could also look at the date on the car which is on a plate in the driver's door, but that's just the date the car was made, not when the warranty started.

Boston_MB_tuner

Sometimes it can also be air in the system. If someone worked on the car before. I recently pulled brake sadlles and cylinders off of '08 E350 - sanded & painted them yellow (came out really nice with drilled and slotted rotors) -- after work was all done the message came on. Hooked up my DAS and it did an automatic brake test (nice huh...!) and after the test DAS announced that "most likely there is some air in the front right brake system". From that point on it was easy as apple pie ...
I took some pictures of the end product can post those here if someone is interested in seeing them.

jrc

When this was occurring, were the brake lights on car still working when pedal was depressed? Have a 2006 E350 and this same warning is appearing on my control system.

Mackhack

***Pissed off quality guaranteed if read any further***

Why in the world would you ask such a dumb question and wait until someone might tell you the answer when your car can give you the answer right there????

Back into a parking stall at a strip mall and press the brake pedal and watch in the mirror if you see the lights come on in the storefront window or ask someone to stand behind your car while you press the brake pedal! Old enough to drive a car, immature enough to disconnect the obvious!

jrc

Hey ?*&hole
I was asking the guy who posted the solution (change brake light switch) as to his frikin car, not mine. I already did your friking recommendation.

Mackhack

Your reaction shows -Bulls Eye! Hahahaha

Boston_MB_tuner

Brake lights were working as they should. If your brake lights are not working it is most likely the module or switch.


Good luck!

Mackhack

If his brake lights are really out out he would get a message about each light bulb not working. It could be the bulbs, SAM Fond.

Boston_MB_tuner

Good point. sometimes grounding will also give strange issues.

Mackhack

He would still get a message in his cluster. SAMs are very sophisticated and detect these things through various checks. With these issues best thing is always to get the fault memories read out with a Star Diagnosis System. We can guess all day long when the solution lies most likely at his finger tips.

vaccin

This thread has been helpfull thanks everyone

GOGOSONS

I also have the same problem brake stay on and it's red and also the emergency brake light stay on. Is it the brake light switch or the sbc. Thanks

Sphinx144

I just replaced the switch but the message(in white letters) is still there. I will have to wait to get a diagnostic done, I just spent money on new struts this week.

cal1

You want to be careful that you do not wait until your car has been in service longer than 10 years. If the warning turns out to be "Check operating time of component A7/3 (SBC hydraulic unit), service threshold reached" then your SBC unit has ran its life of actuations set by Bosch. Mercedes dealers are replacing these units free of charge on all vehicles that have been in service no longer than 10 years.

If you want to share with the boards where you are located, you might convince someone with Xentry/STAR DAS to read the codes for you. I would certainly do it for you if you were nearby. Otherwise, have the dealer read codes for you and request a printout. Don't let them tell you everything is fine and not tell you the codes. If they give you codes only come back here and someone will help you.

You might want to check this thread out

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...reached-2.html

Replacing SBC is not cheap. The alternative is to consider various ways to reset the counters which at least to me creates one hell of a dilemma. On one hand, there is no doubt a significant margin was built in between the predicted life of the SBC unit and actual failure times. I can easily argue that resetting the unit back by 25% would most likely be safe. I have seen adds from repair shops in the UK advertising this as a service. On the other hand, I have read when SBC does fail, braking power is reduced by 90%. Then I think about the HP our cars are making and the notion of setting back the counter makes my butt pucker.

Mackhack

Good write up and I can tell you it is safe to reset it. I have done so for customers before and no complaints at all. It is a myth that SBC could fail and you're out of a working brake system if it's been reset. You will always have a brake. The only think that could happen is that you don't have power braking but at this point you would have to go in and get it replaced anyway. And this CAN happen even if your SBC unit has NOT reached the threshold!