So I have this new to me Mercedes 2007 E-350 and I'm wondering what's the best way to go about fixing the ESP error seen in the picture. I posted pictures of possible frame damage due to an accident before I had bought the car just to show that, as I'm told it's maybe something up near the tire or the front end of the vehicle that's causing this light to go on. However the wheel (front drivers) is not bent at all and the suspension is perfectly fine the car drives great... it's really just I guess some frame damage that's causing the headlights and the bumper to Sag on the right side. I was also told it could be the steering wheel tilt sensor and when I have the car in park after just turning it on to turn the wheel all the way to the right all the way to the left and keep going back and forth for a few minutes and that should reset that. I did the whole steering wheel thing a couple times and it did not help. So I'm confused if it could be both accident damage and steering wheel or just one of those causing my ESP issues, or if I'm just reading everything wrong for my specific vehicle. Also it's a good thing to note that I don't get that error message and the yellow check engine triangle turn on until about maybe a half a mile out driving, meaning it doesn't turn on when I first start up the car or first start driving I have to drive a couple blocks and then that error comes on along with the light. The orher light that says check engine is always on and I'll post that in another post as I think that has to do with timing belt or something if I looked up the error codes right but I will post that in another post I want this just to be about the ESP and how to fix that please and is it something I could try and accomplish myself (being a little decent with stuff like oil changes and tire changes aka can wrench a little myself) or is it something that I would want to see a qualified professional or dealership for?



2007 E-350, 155k miles

 

Run a scan on it using STAR/Xentry or equivalent. You can also read the actual values of all of the sensors to identify the culprit.

 

Did that only got P0016 and P0017 codes - nothing to do with the ESP issue

 

ESP uses inputs from all four wheel speed sensors, steering angle sensor, yaw angle sensor, throttle position, and brake sensor. A failure or intermittent signal from any of those sensors will cause the ESP to go offline. IIRC, it also uses the ride height sensors each corner of the car but I will need to verify that by going into the workshop information system.
If the ESP is going offline, I would expect to see a current or stored trouble code using STAR/Xentry.

 

Turning the steering wheel to reset steering wheel angle sensor applies to pre-facelift cars, 2005 and older.
I had the same issue on my 2006 S211, fixed by changing the front wheel magnetic ring.

 

try to see if the brake light switch is faulty, it's located behind brake paddle. I had this part fail and gave me ESP error light.. brake function normally though.

 

Possible and an inexpensive and 15-minute replacement. Usually though, a bad switch will prevent the transmission from going into gear. Worth a try.

 

You didn't use a scanner that reads MB specific codes. What's the VIN of the car? Some early 2007 models still had balance shaft problems and those error codes are part of it. Look up balance shaft on this forum. But yours could just be the brake light switch for the ESP. Bad steering angle sensor and bad magnetic rings could also cause it. Get an Autel AP200 on Amazon, should be in the $50 range, will read all MB specific codes including the ones that cause ESP errors.

 

[QUOTE=bbirdwell;8876729]ESP uses inputs from all four wheel speed sensors, steering angle sensor, yaw angle sensor, throttle position, and brake sensor. A failure or intermittent signal from any of those sensors will cause the ESP to go offline. IIRC, it also uses the ride height sensors each corner of the car but I will need to verify that by going into the workshop information system.
If the ESP is going offline, I would expect to see a current or stored trouble code using STAR/Xentry.[/QUOTE


Sorry I posted this before seeing the amazon thing from you - this can be deleted

 

Ahhh, mine is 2007 - so much for that lol - thanks for the info

 

How would I know if it is faulty or not? Brakes work normal and turn on when I press brake pedal!!! Please advice how to check this switch

 

Thanks - is the transmission the only indicator said switch is bad and is it an AutoZone part I can get easy? I can look up youtube vids how to replace it.

My tranny does not have issues going into gear - but if I go above 5k rpm's it does get stuck as in if I let off the gas pedal totally it will stay high rpm's for a while before finally going down. Might this be a thing from that switch you all talk about being bad? And possibly causing the issue with esp?

Keep in mind I was told it could be a level sensor too see pics - the car was in an accident before I bought it and the front drivers side lights and such are lower due to sdaid accident - could this be an issue causing esp error too?

Thanks for the help!!! :-)

 

I will buy this scanner on amazon, thanks - I just have a $45 OBDII gps and scanner tool that bluetooths to my car. Prolly not reading "all" the codes..

Is this one cool?
THO, I was thinking before I saw your post of getting this - it seems even more advanced and user friendly - might it work too if I splurge and get it instead?
Here is the VIN as requested.....

 

You have to search all the Amazon vendors. There are multiple ones out there that sell the same thing for higher prices. Here's the one for $50. I'm not sure why you'd want to pay $100 for something that you can get for $50. They both do about the same thing which is read all MB subsystems.


There's no way to tell if the brake light switch is bad or not, it's a cheap fix though so doesn't really hurt to replace it, it will eventually go bad anyway. There seems to be two switches or more inside it as it's a 4 pin connector. Even though your brake light might go on, there must be some other switch that tells the computer that it's working and that one probably goes bad. Lots of youtube videos on how to swap it and it doesn't take long, unplug it, twist it out and twist in the new one and plug it in.

Also aside from the hanging up at 5k, it doesn't really sound like your transmission has that many issues, you'd get things like limp mode and not being able to shift out of a certain gear if you had real transmission issue. My only advice is don't rev it up to 5k and then let off the gas. Try a transmission reset and see if that helps.

 

Those are typically associated with the balance shaft. The sensors could be bad too but if you replace them and it doesn't go away, it's the balance shaft. There are some youtube videos where you can inspect the alignment of the cams to see if they're going or not.

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...nce-shaft.html

 

I had similar issues with my 2006 Battery had lost a cell. Still enough to crank but once all the electronics were fired up I had low voltage.