2008 E350 ESP inop
 

Hi, I have a 2008 E350, drove find this morning, went shopping and unable to start after I got back into the car. The instrument shows "ESP Inoperative" . Car will not start. Friend of mine took me home and retrieved the scanner and we did not see any error code. With the scanner attached, I was able to start the car. After the car started, I removed the scanner (ODB2) connection, the engine dies. With it attached again, car started and was able to drive it home.

Later on, trying to rescan codes, still no error can be found. The interesting thing is, to get the car started and keep running, all I need is the ODB2 cable connected and scanner doesn't even need to be present for the car to run. Just the cable.

Has anyone come across this and know what is wrong and how to fix this?

thanks for your time.

Very strange problem. You probably need a scanner that does MB specific codes and not just a basic one that just does OBDII codes. You could probably just leave the cable plugged in, you don't want to leave the OBDII scanner plugged in because some of them draw power even when the car is off so it could kill your battery.

I am using an iCarSoft MBII scanner, tailor just for MBZ.

The interesting part is that all I need to start the car is connect the OBD2 cable, the scanner don't even need to be connected.

I think cetialpha5 meant scanning your car for codes by using MB Star SD Connect C4 + Xentry.
IE something like these:


https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk...entry&_sacat=0


Good indy shop specializing working on Mercedes (or a dealer) will have it or better, as do many members here!

I believe icarsoft is one of the half dozen or so scanners out there that will do MB specific codes. But it's a strange problem, no real idea. Could be electrical or grounding problem and those are the hardest to track down. ESP is usually steering angle, speed sensor or brake light switch, but if that's on top of everything else, could just be some other electrical glitch, especially if you're not getting any MB specific codes.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...833d9de2b2.jpg
“May” be a central gateway problem (N93) as suggested MB DAS should provide definitive diagnose.

thanks.. where is this central gateway located? is there a fuse infront of it? I try to locate where it goes to in the fuse pull out, did not see that listed at both fuse location. I pulled every fuse I can find, they all look good.

Should be f41 @ interior fuse panel.

I lower the panel to see if I can locate the gateway control unit. There is a green connector coming off the wire harness but does not connect to anything. There is no empty slot on anything near by where this may connected to. Can you tell me what that is for?

Since I have the panel down, I took a good look at the ODB2 connector and it looks clean, no short.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...e4ba14cb2f.jpg

just a quick status of this issue incase someone come across this in the future.

I took the car to an inde shop and was able to witness the process this certified master tech trouble shoot the problem. Immediately he say this is a power issue and proceed to check fuses. There are two other places where fuse are located and not listed in the owner's manual. One is inside the engine compartment and the other is under the dash on the passenger side. He discovered power to the ECU was lost and after testing the cable harness to be good, the problem turns out to be a relay supply voltage to circuit 87, located inside the engine compartment.

There are a number of things that could cause that.
brake light switch even when your brake lights are working. I had similar issues and it was just a $12 problem, although i went hell trying to narrow down d cause. Icarsoft i980 scanner ($120) helped me in diagnosing.
also it could be your speed sensors. Probably one of them is faulty. Scan to check.
dont be alarmed, the fault is not as grave as you may think but just hv it scanned