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Was this on the G 63??? My 2021 G wagon has been nothing but trouble. Purchased in 2020. Brake recall. Battery/electrical errors. Screen errors. Got the "Fording unavailable" code today.
Interesting. My 2019 G550 (same generation as yours) has been perfect. Two years and ~28k km.
only issue just popped up, a likely malfunctioning PARKTRONIC sensor. Parked outdoors 24-7 through snow, rain, summer heat….
Hi everyone. I see there hasn't been any activity recently here regarding the fording not possible issue. I have this same problem and am planning to have it fixed in the near future, taking into account the speed of the dealership service department. Hopefully once this is resolved i will provide more info on the issue and how they solved it.
I have the same problem i see a lot of other people have been having. I had this come up for the first time about a year ago after the car was washed. After driving it for around 30min and parking and restarting it the error cleared and was not memorized in the messages page. The day after this happened i stopped by the dealer to see if they could diagnose the problem, and after hooking it up to the diagnostics no errors could be seen. They then went to recalibrate the air intake, because there is a valve apparently which regulates where the engine breathes from, in order to hopefully fix the issue. After this i drove the car for a whole year through winter and summer and many washes with it not happening again up until now. This week I am planning to visit the dealer again as they told me last time that if the issue came back they would replace the "water depth sensors" and the valve.
I had the same thing pop up on my new 2021 G550. I asked the dealership and this was their response:"I spoke with my diagnostic technician and we actually were notified of this issue in our last shop foreman meeting. The message means that the flaps which close the intakes when fording the vehicle ( i.e. driving through a river ) are not closing. Mercedes is aware of the issue and a software update is in development. They have advised is not to replace any parts at this time as it will not fix the problem. I will let you know as soon as they software becomes available so the warning does not come up anymore.
Hope this clarifies what is going on"
That being said, I've yet to be contacted saying the software is available. The warning light has not come back on since that time however.
I was at the dealer this morning. They scanned for codes and found nothing (as expected) and asked if i could leave the car for a day or two so they can remove and test the water sensor in the grill and replace it if necessary.
No mention of a software update. I guess cause the US is a bigger market hence there are many more G wagons, this problem is alot more common and would push them to develop a fix. Hopefully if this update does come out our EU cars get it.
I dont mind them changing parts because the costs are covered by the dealer as i alerted them to this fault while the car was still under warranty and they said they would cover it now because of that.
Anyway after my next service visit I will give an update.
I was at the dealer this morning. They scanned for codes and found nothing (as expected) and asked if i could leave the car for a day or two so they can remove and test the water sensor in the grill and replace it if necessary.
No mention of a software update. I guess cause the US is a bigger market hence there are many more G wagons, this problem is alot more common and would push them to develop a fix. Hopefully if this update does come out our EU cars get it.
I dont mind them changing parts because the costs are covered by the dealer as i alerted them to this fault while the car was still under warranty and they said they would cover it now because of that.
Anyway after my next service visit I will give an update.
Next time you see the error code, take it to the dealership without shutting off the engine. I’ve had active brake assist inoperable a few times. If I shut the vehicle off, the fault goes away and they have no way of knowing what’s going on. I filled up with fuel once, left it running because of the error, reset the trip odometer and the error message went away.
My 2020 showed this alert 5-6 times when i first got it. It eventually resolved. I wasn't that bothered by it, figuring the likelihood of fording streams was small. But I agree my sense of humor would likely subside if the problem had persisted.
I just got my car back from the dealer after spending two whole weeks there. The car was in due to a check engine light and a bad thermostat which caused the engine to over cool. While waiting for thermostat housing parts (some of which i had to source myself due to massive delays in production in Germany) to arrive from Germany i was told by the chief technician at the dealership that the air intake parts i had ordered to fix the fording issue had arrived but that a new software remedy was just released regarding this issue. We decided to not touch any of the components on the intake but instead to see if the software fixes the problem. After getting the car back i pressure washed it and left it to sit overnight outside in almost freezing conditions in order to try and stimulate the fault to come back up. After doing this for two nights in a row i could not get it to fault even though conditions are similar to those that caused the fault to appear before.
What i can conclude for now is that the software update did fix the issue and can recommend that whoever has the issue visits the dealer for this update, I am not sure if its made it to the US yet.
I just got my car back from the dealer after spending two whole weeks there. The car was in due to a check engine light and a bad thermostat which caused the engine to over cool. While waiting for thermostat housing parts (some of which i had to source myself due to massive delays in production in Germany) to arrive from Germany i was told by the chief technician at the dealership that the air intake parts i had ordered to fix the fording issue had arrived but that a new software remedy was just released regarding this issue. We decided to not touch any of the components on the intake but instead to see if the software fixes the problem. After getting the car back i pressure washed it and left it to sit overnight outside in almost freezing conditions in order to try and stimulate the fault to come back up. After doing this for two nights in a row i could not get it to fault even though conditions are similar to those that caused the fault to appear before.
What i can conclude for now is that the software update did fix the issue and can recommend that whoever has the issue visits the dealer for this update, I am not sure if its made it to the US yet.
Glad you got it sorted out, I haven’t had that issue. I’ve had automatic brake assist inoperable about 4 times. If you shut down the vehicle, the message goes away. They’ve reprogrammed the sensors 3 times. It hasn’t come back since the last reprogramming.
I have a different water fording error - the car thinks it is fording through water and alerts you that the max fording speed is 10kph. This occurs only when there is a lot of freezing rain - so the water sensors must be fooled into thinking the car is going through deep water.
It's quite annoying, as there is an alert warning every time you exceed 10 kph, with no way to disable the alarm. In stop and go city driving this gets old and annoying, fast!
Anyone else have this issue? My tech is trying to diagnose it. Said it's the flaps, but I don't think so...
I have a different water fording error - the car thinks it is fording through water and alerts you that the max fording speed is 10kph. This occurs only when there is a lot of freezing rain - so the water sensors must be fooled into thinking the car is going through deep water.
It's quite annoying, as there is an alert warning every time you exceed 10 kph, with no way to disable the alarm. In stop and go city driving this gets old and annoying, fast!
Anyone else have this issue? My tech is trying to diagnose it. Said it's the flaps, but I don't think so...
Did you ever experience the other fording error mentioned in this thread? I would think it’s plausible that they are interrelated.
Have you had the software update that others (myself included) had done that remedied the other water error?
No, I didn’t have the other fording error. I don’t think they are interrelated, but I have no idea. “Fording not possible” is related to the air intake flaps, which it actually says on the display. “Max fording speed reached” is probably related to the water sensor.
I did get a software update; but have no idea if it fixed it. Unfortunately or fortunately, this only happens once or twice a year when we get a large amount of freezing rain/wet snow.
After more research this is not a software update fix. If you have the "fording unavailable" red message, then you likely have two issues:
- water fording sensor malfunction - it thinks you're fording when you're not
- flaps that move when fording, so engine intakes air from a higher point, are not working
If you have the "max fording speed" yellow warning when you exceed 10 kph, it's the water fording sensor that has malfunctioned.
I think this sensor is a poor design and may not really be malfunctioning. Most owners probably don't leave their cars outside in freezing rain or wet snow, so never see this error. Will get mine replaced and see if it reoccurs.
As you can see the sensor is a simple affair, a resistive moisture sensor:
I just got my car back from the dealer after spending two whole weeks there. The car was in due to a check engine light and a bad thermostat which caused the engine to over cool. While waiting for thermostat housing parts (some of which i had to source myself due to massive delays in production in Germany) to arrive from Germany i was told by the chief technician at the dealership that the air intake parts i had ordered to fix the fording issue had arrived but that a new software remedy was just released regarding this issue. We decided to not touch any of the components on the intake but instead to see if the software fixes the problem. After getting the car back i pressure washed it and left it to sit overnight outside in almost freezing conditions in order to try and stimulate the fault to come back up. After doing this for two nights in a row i could not get it to fault even though conditions are similar to those that caused the fault to appear before.
What i can conclude for now is that the software update did fix the issue and can recommend that whoever has the issue visits the dealer for this update, I am not sure if its made it to the US yet.
I have got the forging not possible warning pop up on my G63 2020 twice in the past one year I have owned it, it just clears by itself.
Can u please elaborate on your thermostat issue ? I was driving normal on highway 9th gear going about 55mph and suddenly I got a check engine light. CODE P0128. My engine takes forever to heat up , never matches coolant temp (always colder engine then coolant) and cools down very fast. The car sounds “diffrent” at cold start, louder and rougher within minutes of driving it calms down once a little warm. I am sure my car is burning a lot more gas aswell. I hear a tic tic tic sound from the left side of engine (I hope it’s not timing belt) I also hear occasional winning sounds maybe from fuel pump at cold start and sometimes while driving random. Sooooo many issues with my G63. Kinda not happy about it. I just finished warranty period.
When i had this thermostat issue back in March 2022 i noticed it when driving back from a long trip. The car sounded and behaved normal but the water temperature would walk from about 70-80 degrees celsius and never reach the proper operating temperature. The oil temperature would sit at around 80 degrees C and not go much higher. The day after this trip on my way to work the car turned on the check engine light. The dealer changed the thermostat and thermostat housing, the repair amounted to about 900$ in total.
In the photo you can see what the temperatures looked like after a good drive in which it should have reached operating temperature easily.
My 2020 showed this alert 5-6 times when i first got it. It eventually resolved. I wasn't that bothered by it, figuring the likelihood of fording streams was small. But I agree my sense of humor would likely subside if the problem had persisted.
This falls squarely in the 'Almost-but-not-quite-completely-Unrelated' category: Since we are talking about Fording, has anyone seen any sort of aftermarket Fording Snorkel kit that runs up the A pillar to increase fording depth? I see someone makes them for Range Rover now.
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