socalsounds

Hello all, and Happy New Year! Odd little problem today, and it reset itself after a start-restart. After going through a no-touch, fairly high pressure car wash, the BAS ESP Visit Workshop warning came on after my first start (I had gone to Wallyworld, got some goodies, and got the warning on restart).

The ABS module is new according to my VMI, as are most of the brake components. I would assume that one of the ABS sensors got wet, but is this common? Rather odd... Anyway, I keyed off and re-keyed it, after turning the wheel full travel, and no warning...

I don't mind when stuff breaks, because that means its fun time in the garage for me, but intermittant stuff? Grrrrr.

Anyone else?

Skylaw

How is your battery? A weakening battery can cause all kinds of problems with electronics and with warnings that are easy to reset or go away on restart.

alkemist

These warnings will also come up if Transmission Control Module is malfunctioning. In addition to those two, sometimes my transmission computer gave me Airmatic warnings and ESP messages.

Turned out it was oxidation on the computer's circuit board that turned up all those messages. Once I took it out, dried it and put it back, everything went away.

Since you don't mind looking in, you may want to open the passenger side fuse box under the hood and inspect the transmission computer.

My issue occurred also after a car wash, I was sorry that I did not open and dried the computer until a week after this happened, as by then, half of the board was oxidized. I had to clean it with alcohol and dry it up, after which everything went back to normal, my car went out of limp mode, all messages disappeared for good.

At the time this happened, I already made some phone calls and found used computers on several junkyards ranging from 130-250 USD.

Good luck,
Alex.

socalsounds

No issues with TCM. Skylaw, on the battery, which I'm pretty sure is close to new (a 1000+ CCA AAA Battery), do you remember the button sequence to go to diagnostic mode and read the battery voltage on the display?

Skylaw

See http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220...ic-choke.html; I use a fairly decent battery charger with some diagnostic functions, though. It takes more than a voltage readout to test a battery. See http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220...ttery-die.html for some techniques.

Alkemist had some very good suggestions that may be more likely than the battery.

bamberger_1

In your post you mentioned BAS and ABS failure after car wash, but in the text you referred BAS and ESP. What was it finally? I had this for months BAS&ESP very sporadically. No clue what caused it. But as already said one cause for ESP and BAS fault to show, is a low (or no) battery voltage <10V for a short time. But to reset this warning you only need to turn the wheel 1-2 time from far right to far left, and the warning goes away. You need to recalibrate after a battery swap the same way. If the warning remains and only goes away (for some time) if you restart the engine, there are two more possibilities, one is the brake switch gives wrong signals or the so called "membrane Travel Sensor" (it is a sensor attached to the power brake modul). This sensor measures the travel of the power brake membrane over time, and activates the BAS (brake assist) if required. Both the causes can be read out by the Star Diagnosis of the MB-dealer. After 4 months personally fiddling with the ABS sensors, the ESP/ABS control block connectors, newly insulating the harnesses........I went to MB and in no time the "membrane Travel Sensor" was identified as the culprit. 1 hour and $200 later everything worked fine.

socalsounds

No issues- I had my Indy look at it, and it looks like I had some interference with a wheel sensor. He told me that a very high pressure jet of water, sideways into the wheel, can sometimes cause issues, but who knows... No problems now.

Singularity

I had exactly the same problem and not just once. Good thing for you is mild climate. I've got all of the above mentioned errors, BAS, ESP, ABS and Pre-Safe turned down after high pressure car wash. That was last winter with temperatures around -20'C It all came down to replacing the ABS sensor at the front right wheel. This year - same thing happening, rear right sensor got wet and frozen at -25'C so I had ESP first killing the engine then It turned all the safety features OFF, ABS, BAS, ESP, Pre-Safe because of just one faulty sensor. I can tell you that on my way to dealership my vehicle was off the road because my right wheels got stuck in snow at speed of around 60 MPH and I lost control of the car, trying to get it back on course and straight on the highway I ended up thrown off road due to road being pure ice with lots of snow on it. 4matic was no help. I'm thankful for being alone on that road with no traffic whatsoever.

So YES these sensors have terrible design. They malfunction once every year and kill all the security and safety of your vehicle.

hheiduck

Nada on both links Skylaw posted, one doesn't exist and the other is a blank...HH

Skylaw

The first link included the semicolon after it as part of the URL. The correct link is http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220...nic-choke.html

The second link - http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220...ttery-die.html - works just fine.

tusabes

wow all these carwash horror stories make me not want to take my w220 to the high pressure touchless car wash!

All these damn sensors....