Brakes came on by themselves
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 30
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ML 320
Brakes came on by themselves
I have a 2001 ML320 with 53K miles and (Long story short) the brakes came on all of a sudden and engine would not go above 1000 RPM and would apply the breaks and ABS when I would try to speed up above 1000 RPM's.
3 different scenarios: Rainy going down the hill slow with debris on the road, Sunny and hot going 25 MPH straight without breaking, and one time going 45 MPH into a curve on the freeway. Luckily I am still alive to tell this and I did not get involved in an accident. Took the car to a local shop and they replaced the brake light switch (code: C1200) and drove it for 100 miles and it hasn't done it anymore. I wasn't feeling confident driving the car anymore so I got all the codes from the local shop and took the car to the dealership. All the codes cleared by that shop were these:
ESP C1200 Break Light Switch
ESP C1120 (showed up 3 times) Yaw Rate Sensor
BAS C1025 Fault between ESP Control Unit and CAN and BAS Communication
AAM B1858
AAM B1040
AAM B1783 (showed up twice) Don't know what these codes stand for
The experience mechanics at the dealer told me that they didn't "see" the Yaw Rate Sensor causing the problem (even though it showed up 3 times from previous diagnostics) and they pretty much said: "drive it and see if it happens again"
The problem is, if it happens again I could have a bad accident... and I don't want to just sell the car because that is very unethical.
I won't drive the car until I hear from someone else who had the same problem and I'll go from there.
3 different scenarios: Rainy going down the hill slow with debris on the road, Sunny and hot going 25 MPH straight without breaking, and one time going 45 MPH into a curve on the freeway. Luckily I am still alive to tell this and I did not get involved in an accident. Took the car to a local shop and they replaced the brake light switch (code: C1200) and drove it for 100 miles and it hasn't done it anymore. I wasn't feeling confident driving the car anymore so I got all the codes from the local shop and took the car to the dealership. All the codes cleared by that shop were these:
ESP C1200 Break Light Switch
ESP C1120 (showed up 3 times) Yaw Rate Sensor
BAS C1025 Fault between ESP Control Unit and CAN and BAS Communication
AAM B1858
AAM B1040
AAM B1783 (showed up twice) Don't know what these codes stand for
The experience mechanics at the dealer told me that they didn't "see" the Yaw Rate Sensor causing the problem (even though it showed up 3 times from previous diagnostics) and they pretty much said: "drive it and see if it happens again"
The problem is, if it happens again I could have a bad accident... and I don't want to just sell the car because that is very unethical.
I won't drive the car until I hear from someone else who had the same problem and I'll go from there.
Last edited by Enrike; Mar 28, 2008 at 04:12 PM.
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Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 68
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99 CLK430
I would be looking into the yaw rate sensor, and/or wiring to it. If its sending a signal to esp that you're spinning out (even though you're not), its going to try and apply the brakes to counter act it.
