veppe

I loaned my R500 to my brother, they are driving around Arizona, Nevada, California. Tonight he called me that (yellow) "check engine" light illuminates. Manual says "get the MB service check the problem as soon as possible".

They are currently somewhere between Dead Valley and Yosemite, heading to Yosemite & San Francisco. It seems nearest MB dealer is about 160 miles from where they are right now (but they would need to wait until Monday). I'm just wondering if it's still safe to drive the car there, or even back to So-Cal. Engine runs still well, only thing was it had almost shut off in traffic lights when they were in Vegas + just tonight when they stopped at motel. But all the power seems to be still with the engine, so not in "malfunction state" or what ever is this "reduced power" state called in English

Is there any way to get more info about the possible problem, without driving (with fear) to the nearest MB dealer? I guess it might be with the connected phone to the car system and call to MB roadside assistance(?), but the phone is not with them as it had dead battery so I thought I'll buy new one in the meanwhile.

He also needed to add some oil couple times already (2 qts so far); well they have driven over 3000 miles now, but I think it shouldn't ask that much. Of course I'm not sure what was the oil level when they left from us, and they are driving pretty heavy, much of mountains etc. so maybe that explains some oil consumption.

Warranty hopefully still covers the problem, (even driving so much with the light on). Only thing I'm sorry for them if they need to do shorter trip or cause much of delays for their trip Any quick help with the issue is really appreciated!

i_am_amused

2 quarts of oil in 3,000 miles is a LOT of oil.

Maybe they added too much oil?

Maybe there is a severe leak accompanied by a drop in pressure which is kicking off the warning?

I'd ask your brother to check the oil level carefully, and to look for an oil spill under the motor.

veppe

There's no any oil spills under the motor. Also when he first added oil, it was asking for 2 quarts, he added 1. Now it was asking for 1.5, he added another 1. So I think it's not actually 2 quarts in 3000 miles, but something between 0.5-1 Like I said, I didn't remember to check the oil level before they left, so I'm not sure what was the starting level (well, it was 5700 miles for next oil change so probably it was pretty low already).

One theory after reading some posts: They are driving in mountains, so the "thinner" air causes confusion to emission system (?). IF it's emission system, I guess they can still drive the car, no problem... I hope so. Anyway, I'm asking him to drive to MB service latest in San Francisco to get the fault code checked.

moparrbust

They can take the car to almost any autoparts store(Vato Zone/Pimp Boys) and get the code(s) read for free so you at least know what you're dealing with until they can make it to the stealership.

veppe

Problem solved. They took my R to Modesto MB in Monday morning (thanks for Modesto MB to arrange appointment so shortly!). The reason for "check engine" was air flow meter was gone. -> warranty. Oil consumption was (I guess mainly) caused by leaking valve/camshaft gasket -> warranty. I'll follow up the oil consumption, hopefully gone now

In addition I asked them to replace air filters in my cost (would have been due in 3 months anyway) just to protect the new air flow meter a little better

Actually it was not only "check engine" light illuminating, but the power was also decreased + sometimes engine almost died when they stopped to traffic lights (now I remember it did this to me couple times before their trip).

avlis

That leaking camshaft gasket seems to be fairly common. We looked at couple used R500's that had them replaced too.

davidbho

and no leaks or adding oil, ever...never ran into the check engine light, just a few rear automatic opener crapping out a few times...