I was leaving work the other day tired as heck after putting 10.5 and started my car a 3 codes popped up on my dash....the B.A.S., Airmatic and something else i cant remembered cause i almost fainted! I cut the car off...cussing to myself turned it back on and they were still there. I got out..looked all around the car...everything looked ok....thought to myself here we go...backed up and put it in drive and the codes were gone......so now im like what the hell. Now the parking garage were we have to park is on a slight incline/tilt. Do you thing the car "setteling" while im at work have something to do with this? Only time this happened was yesterday.

 

It sounds to me that your battery is weak.

 

is that what it means? every once in a while i get a check 3rd brake light on my dash and when i turn off the car and turn it back on it goes away. changeing out the battery will solve that?

 

You should check your Third brake light connections/plugs to make sure they are sitting properly and snugly.

 

Went to downtown Chicago and had to park in the parking garage...same thing!!! And the 3rd code was E.S.P. I drove for about 2 mins (didnt even make it out of the garage yet) b4 they disappeared......

So your saying its my batt? Well why do it only do it on steep inclines and not everyday

 

Most likely your battery. Here is a real sophisticated test Open all the doors and trunk without starting your car, leave them open for a while, then after all the interior lights have turned off shut all the doors and trunk and reopen them all right away and this time also move the drivers seat and passenger seat with the controls for a bit. Remember you are doing this with the the car off. You have now put a significant draw on your battery. Now close all doors and trunk get in the car and start it - I am willing to bet you will see the three messages of death. If you do let the car run for while to recharge the battery. Then check or have your battery checked it could be getting marginal.

 

They are I double checked, so it may be a battery?

 

the same rhing happened to me it wasnt the battery if u have the old style key it could send out bad signals change your key i did and i havent seen that problem since

 

I have the new 08 chrome key

 

I had very similar errors with my '99 S430 a few years back. (BAS, AIRMATIC and ESP) All 3 would happen at once, and when they did occur (around 1 in 4 times the car was started in the end) this was always on startup.

After they failed to diagnose (they tried a few things including swapping my battery for a new one for a few days) I was initially told by the dealer to just ignore them but found this frustrating so decided to make a fuss and insist that it was fixed.

Long story short the following 2 modules were changed and over 20,000 miles later the problem has not reoccurred:

The Steering Angle Sensor:
MA000 990 38 72 Distributor (£ 0.48)
MA220 542 02 18 208038/Sender Unit (£ 50.21)
MA220 464 00 18 208060/Spring (£ 70.27)

The Steering Control Module:
MA220 545 02 32 208060/Control Unit (£ 108.20)

All prices in GBP and ex-VAT (Sales Tax). In total I appear to have been charged £249.32 for the work associated with diagnosis and swap of the steering sensor (including the parts) £156.78 for the swap of the other control unit (inc part) and a further £133.32 for an electrical system check which seemed to include the replacement of a cable MS72 "Cable 14/030" and 12 cable loom ties MA005 997 62 90 (at 35p each).

This took 3 weeks for the dealer to diagnose and was eventually down to the guys trying different permutations of module swaps rather than any single fault being indicated by their diagnostic machine. (I think if either one of the modules were swapped in isolation the problem persisted, which initially indicated no fault with the swapped module. It was only when both were replaced together that the fault disappeared)

I hope this helps, and good luck with the fix - I remember how frustrating this was at the time!

Regards,
Barry