I've been researching this issue and have seen a handful of people who have had the same combination of codes. Other than an ECU swap, I haven't seen any resolution yet.

Background: 2012 Mercedes GL450 throwing multiple codes as soon as you turn the key. CEL on

Codes

1337 – Alternator Serial Interface
P0638 – Throttle valve actuator. Throttle valve is stuck (iced up)
P0030 – Open circuit on right oxygen sensor heater circuit before cat
P0050 - Open circuit on left oxygen sensor heater circuit before cat

Stuff I’ve tried

• Replaced O2 sensors (upstream) - All four were replaced in the last year
• Checked O2 heater circuit with multimeter. Both sides of circuit seem checked out okay. When key is turned, getting 14V+ at the connector
• Visual inspection of signal wire from alternator. Re-seated connector and connection seems okay
• Checked oxygen sensor fuse in Engine Compartment. Fuse is good.
• Tested alternator output with scan tool. Alternator output steady between 14.1 – 14.5V
• Smoked the intake. It is tight as a drum. No leaks anywhere

I feel like the alternator signal error (1337) is causing the other codes. Bad voltage regulator? Rather than continue to throw parts at it, I thought I’d check this forum and see if anyone has had a similar experience. I've got an appointment at the end of the week, but would love to know if anyone else has seen this.

I replaced the tumble flap actuator with aluminum replacement, new intake manifold gaskets, etc. It's possible that bent a pin on the ECU when doing that, but unlikely. The car had no CEL for 6 months or more, then showed up.

 

Need a new engine control module. 100%. It is a common problem with these ECU's. I replace these ECU's all the time in the shop. If I am not mistaken, your part number should be A2731535579. New/Reman from dealer is $1506 (list price). Some dealer will charge more depending on how their pricing is set up.

 

Thanks MBENZTECH. I was afraid of that! Merry Christmas to me!

 

You have two more options
1) Buy a refurbished one from ebay, send yours out, they send a programmed repaired unit back (500$)
2) Get my setup and services, buy a used virgin unit, and I will program it for you by remote, and all you future programmings and customization will be also free as included

 

Thanks for the advice/offer BenzNinja. I was having a little trouble finding an ECU that would get to me before the end of the year and was running out of time for my emissions (I already had a 30-day extension). Luckily, I was able to find a local company that tested my old ECU, determined it was toast and "gave" me a plug and play ECU. Plugged it in and all is good. I hate when my worst fears are realized!

 

Great to read this
there are tons of companies doing this all over internet
always use the search engine to ask prices, lookup reputation
find the best price

Happy Holidays !

 

Hi everyone, I am having a similar problem with a 2007 CLS550 with ~100,000 miles on it. I am getting error codes P0030 (Heater Control Circuit -Bank 1/Sensor 1), P0050 (Heater Control Circuit -Bank 2/Sensor 2), P0300, P0301, P0302, P0303 and P0304 (Misfires on cylinders 1 - 4).

All fuses are good. The car has new plugs, new upstream 02 sensors and new ignition coils for cylinders 1 - 4. I have had the ECM tested by this place called G2 computers and they claim it tested good

The car runs very rough and lots of black sooth coming of the tailpipes

Can anyone let me know your thoughts and how I may need to proceed on this problem? Thanks.

 

Hey MBENZTECH, a couple of places offers to check the ECU and see if they are repairable first.

Do you have knowledge in regards to that?

 

The only place I would buy a remanufactured ECU from is the dealer. Otherwise, I would try to find the latest part number and go from there.

 

hgoodwiniii; do you have oil in the ECU plugs? Seems like 100k would be about the time it would, and cause all kinds of misc issues.

dubaiS550; your M278 engine ecu is different than the OP's. What issue do you have? If I recall correctly, I asked around years ago and nobody could check that ecu.
Seems you're limited to replacing and/or reloading it? I did both btw, which did nothing for me, but I do have a spare ecu to play with which was worth the price.

 

I actually have a m273 engine 07' S550 with a ME9.7 ECU. Since they place it on top the motor, after a 190k miles it was cooked !!!!

In addition, these ME 9.7 units are known to have this issue, although when looking at buyers guides or anything kind of similar info before buying the car, it is nowhere to be found??! Odd

I learnt a bit from this post from this other website *******.com. I'll link it at the end, they have pics of opened ECUs and trying to repair it on your own, which is beyond my skill level and frankly I would never have the time.

From my research what happens is inside the ECU some capacitors start leaking fluid onto the PCB, at this point it is repairable by replacing said leaking capacitors and cleaning it up.

Unfortunately, the PCB has holes in it and what happens quite often is that the fluid gets into the deeper layers through the holes. Further, separating the layers to clean it up well, is just not an option.

With my luck, even after realizing the issue almost immediately after it began and sent it off for repair to this Canadian company called XemodeX I had no luck.

Moreover, XemodeX then told me that they had no ME 9.7 units in stock to clone it onto and that to source it would take a month or more (((

That would not work because my mom's birthday was in a week and I had a whole cabin for my entire family and wanted to go in comfort because my mom had back surgery recently.

Finally, luck smiled on me, I found this Mercedes tuner based in Georgia called PRESSERTECH.

They have ECUs in stock and unbelievably they do testing for free!! I could not find another place that would do testing for free. I wish I sent it to them to start with and saved a 100$.

Anyways, they cloned it within a day and saved the day, they're the true heroes

Two months later, and about 2k miles later, I have no issues whatsoever, it was a great plug n play option.

Even their cloning price was the most reasonable I could find 1k$ plus warranty for a year or two, not sure.

Other places were like 1.5k$ + and would take like 3-4 weeks because they were back logged or some other bs. Plus, they would charge like 150$ for just testing, then 500$ if it is repairable and finally 1,600$+ for the cloning but they would take previous payments towards that.

If your ECU is going bad and you have these codes call PRESSERTECH and they will help you out.

XemodeX, were quite professional and very helpful they went out of their way to send it to PRESSERTECH directly and did so late after hours, instead of the next day because they understood the urgency. What I realized is that they have more Volvo experience and not so much with Benz.

Lastly, in my opinion the only foolproof long term solution would be to relocate the ECU, if you look at the S63 M156 engine bay, they ECU is a bit more isolated from the rest.

Damn long post, but hope this helps.

https://*******.com/Thread-Chinese-M...-chinese-clone
https://*******.com/Thread-ME-9-7-Vi...0-0.0.1.1-1685