I made a post in the R231 section (no replies yet), but this looks like a good place to also ask. I have an R231 SL63.

About 2 months ago, the issue started ... I was driving down a local road at about 50mph when I felt the car downshift (or something similar) and all the lights on the dash pretty much went on - the main check engine light was on as well as notifications for distronic not working, traction control not working, blind spot assist not working, etc. The car went in some kind of limp mode where it wouldn't go over about 10mph. After turning the car off and back on, I was able to drive it, but the check engine light was still on.

Running codes through iCarSoft showed things like:

• a bunch of chassis CAN BUS errors
• u012187 (communication with ESP has a malfunction)
• u010087 (communication with the engine control unit has a malfunction)
• u016887 (communication with the electrical ignition lock has a malfunction)
• u015587 (communication with the instrument cluster has a malfunction)
• etc.

Clearing the codes with iCarSoft resulted in the car running normally. However, it happened again about 3 weeks after the first time, and it has begun happening more frequently.

I did see this https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...35646-9999.pdf ... although my car isn't listed in the models, it sounds exactly like what happens to my car. That TSB has as a cause damage to the engine wiring harness.

I have some modifications done to my car, and have two different ECUs, and the car has the issue with either swapped in (both used to run fine) ... so it doesn't seem like it's an ECU issue.

Any ideas?

 

Do you know what on-board voltage the car is running on when the ECU/Tranny go in limp-mode after driving a while ?

I am not a Benz tech but I think only CAN-C modules can messup the powertrain... That's the whole purpose of separated bus coms for cluster, seats, SRS, etc
How can you rull out your dual ECU custom setup?

 

I haven't noticed low voltage during the limp-modes, although I haven't specifically checked that. I do have my radar detector set up to monitor battery voltage and it gives an audio warning if voltage falls below 10V or so, and that never happened during one of the incidents. I have had extended cranking a few times recently (maybe only 1% or 2% of the time though), where right after the cranking I'll get the low voltage warning and then it'll increase back to normal.

I meant that I have two different ECUs, and I have tried them both and it does the same regardless of which ECU is being used. Each ECU was used before for the past year or so without issue.

 

What year is the car? When did you last change the battery(ies)?

 

It's a 2013, and both batteries have been changed within the past 2 years.

 

Doesn't mean there isn't an issue. Have a "conductive" test on both and confirm they are still in top condition as all MB require that. All of those comm faults seems to point to possible low voltage issues.

 

• u016887 (....the electrical ignition lock has a malfunction)... is a CAN-C member, right? - See edits!

After you get your car voltage situation well sorted out, if the pb is not resolved you may want to consider your ignition lock DTC for pairing issues with double ECU.

+++++
The IGN Switch module runs on both CAN-B and CAN-E1, so not drivetrain CAN-C... The "Gear shift selector lever" is the module on CAN-C besides engine/tranny.

 

good luck with Icarsoft
maybe a good idea to get a real system instead of that toy, you would solve this faster then guessing

 

I am curious, can your system installation perform SCN online, offline or both for this sort of DIY application?

What does it take to update the firmware in control modules?

Txs.

 

yes of course online and offline and tons of functions you don't have with Icarsoft like custom coding reflashing with different firmwares and updating modules
what does it take, nothing, with my system you just go to update offline and done
my custom database has all the new software attached to Xentry offline