Short Circuit?
 

Hello everybody

I own a 2005 S500 with about 65k on it. I took the car to the dealership recently to have a service B done on it and other misc items. While i was driving it back I used the highway and was going about 80-100 max and once I got off I noticed smoke coming from the hood so I pulled over to check it out. As I open the hood i see a small fire by the left rear where the transmission is. I called the fire department to have the fire put out before it got bigger. I had the car towed back to the dealer and they promised to reimburse me. They told me that the wires got so hot that it melted the piece that was holding the wire harness and suggest a short circuit had occurred.

Now they need to charge me to do further diagnoses. So my question is has anybody ever encountered or heard about this issue?

Any advice would be great thanks. :confused:

Sort of sounds like the same problem I had on a earlier (2001 S500). The picture shows the final results of the fire. My car had also previously been serviced by the dealer. About a month after my car fire MB came out with a recall on one of the cables that get this "could potentially cause the car to catch on fire". Needless to say this car was totaled.

https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...-up-smoke.html

Wow thanks for the info I will definitely bring this up to the dealer when I go back.

So did the dealer ever cover you for anything or did your insurance cover everything?

And do you have that recall number by any chance?

Thanks again for your help.

The recall number that I have is 2007-060002

"DaimlerChrysler AG (DCAG), the manufacturer of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, has decided that a defect which relates to motor vehicle safety exists in certain Model Year 2000-2004 S-Class and CL-Class vehicles with regard to the Active Body Control high pressure distribution hose. Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC(MBUSA) therefore has initiated a recall of thes vehicles. Our records indicate that your vehicle is included in the affected population of vehicles."

Don't know if this applies to your car but asking can't hurt.

Good luck.

Sorry I overlooked your other question. To answer your other question the dealer covered absolutely nothing. The car was totaled and my insurance company paid.

Because the dealer really pissed me off I walked through the showroom showing customers 8X10 color photos what an S-500 looks like after it catches on fire. To make matters worse my car had been in the shop for a B-Service about 3 weeks before the incident happened.

Sorry to hear that ibeforreal those dealers really do suck. They told me my car is weird and they didn't know what caused the fire. So what I had to replace was

1. the power line that runs from the battery through the engine.
2. the oxygen sensor because it got melted apparently.
3. the part that held that wire in place.
4. the coolant container because they found a leak the second time they checked my car even tho I had already asked them to thoroughly check the first time.

Been driving it for a couple days now and no smoke just the fear that it might happen again. It ran me about 1300 bucks for everything. All I need to fix now is my instrument cluster and I should be good for a while.:zoom:

Did you check to see if your instrument cluster is under the recall they had a while back. Also, there are threads on here that talk about instrument cluster repair for less than $250. A new one from the dealer is going to cost at least $1500 with labor.

That did cross my mind but I feel as though MB wouldn't cover anything that has had a recall on this vehicle because it has a selvedge title. And I'm not getting the usual back light going off issue. Mine just keeps showing I have low coolant when I don't and it says a lot of my lights are out (tail lights only). You think this instrument cluster is fixable? :stick:

Doesn't sound like the typical instrument cluster problem. My cluster would flicker on occasion until it eventually died. Seems to me that when your car was at the dealership they should have ran the Star diagnostics to see if any faults showed up that would cause the false readings from the cluster.

You mentioned that your car has a salvage title. Was it possibly a flood car? Could be a short somewhere causing the false readings.

This happen back in 2006, my Range Rover was next to it. I've seen this happen to two other CL500's and this guys S AMG. I've noticed this only happens to ABC Mercedes, anyone want to chime in, another reason I only ride airmatic....

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...urn2copy-1.jpg

Well according to the car facts I have this car has not been in any flood or water damage. It was rear ended which resulted in front right bumper as well. The only thing the dealer recommended was replacing it (no surprise there) :hammer: .

It also states that the instrument cluster was repaired/replaced back in 2007. I feel as though my only option is to replace it because of this. I'll just wait till those warning signs annoy me a little bit more :report::wall:.

As for that ABC issue I'm just glad I don't own one of those seeing how everybody has had to repair or replaced them.