ABS/ESP/BAS Problems
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Junior Member
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 43
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1999 W220 s320
ABS/ESP/BAS Problems
Hello I recently had some problems with ABS/ESP/BAS as I've read is a normal problem with Mercedes and other cars.
When I turn the ignition to "on" and dont start the car.. It says No malfuctions, as soon as I start the engine the abs/esp/bas warnings go on.
After I drive the car for 50meters the steering wheel becomes stiff and harder to turn. Anyone had problems with this? The car also goes in to some kind of limp mode now and then... Sometimes It drives perfectly.. sometimes after I've driven a little bit the car starts in a higher gear when I stop to accelerate and when I'm on the highway I've to put it in N natural and then back to drive to shift the gear. These problems came around the same time...
Anyone got some ideas?
When I turn the ignition to "on" and dont start the car.. It says No malfuctions, as soon as I start the engine the abs/esp/bas warnings go on.
After I drive the car for 50meters the steering wheel becomes stiff and harder to turn. Anyone had problems with this? The car also goes in to some kind of limp mode now and then... Sometimes It drives perfectly.. sometimes after I've driven a little bit the car starts in a higher gear when I stop to accelerate and when I'm on the highway I've to put it in N natural and then back to drive to shift the gear. These problems came around the same time...
Anyone got some ideas?
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 43
Likes: 0
1999 W220 s320
Ok so I did some research and I've come down to one of the wheel speed sensors may be causing this problem and showing "0". Read a lot of people having this issue. I'll try to read this off with my OBD2 If that's possible.
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From: Ball Ground, GA (N of Atlanta)
2003 S500 2007 GL450
Many folks are reluctant to pay for diagnostics, but that is the only practical way do find the problem.
If an independent shop is able to diagnose the problem, you are asking them to hook up an expensive piece of kit and spend time diagnosing the problem.
It takes months and months for an experienced tech to become familiar with the W220. It takes hours and hours just to learn to use the STAR system. (Doing that now...) The absolute minimum cost to keep the doors open on a minimal one-man shop in my area is perhaps $75/hour, and a more reasonable cost is $100/hour. A high-level shop's cost will be $125 - $150.
The total time to talk to a customer, get the car in the shop, dig out and hook up the STAR system, do a minimal diagnosis, report to the customer, prepare a bill, get the car out of the shop, and put everything away can't possibly be less than an hour.
If the car is new to you, it makes sense to do a complete diagnosis and reset on the car. The W220 stores every trouble code that has popped up on the car since the last total reset. The first time that I ran the diagnosis, there were somewhere around 40-50 codes. You need to look at each and decide whether to just clear it, or whether you need to use the system to do further diagnosis. After you clear everything, then you need to drive the car to see what codes reappear, and decide what action to take on each.
All this made my decision to buy my own STAR system a lot easier.
If an independent shop is able to diagnose the problem, you are asking them to hook up an expensive piece of kit and spend time diagnosing the problem.
It takes months and months for an experienced tech to become familiar with the W220. It takes hours and hours just to learn to use the STAR system. (Doing that now...) The absolute minimum cost to keep the doors open on a minimal one-man shop in my area is perhaps $75/hour, and a more reasonable cost is $100/hour. A high-level shop's cost will be $125 - $150.
The total time to talk to a customer, get the car in the shop, dig out and hook up the STAR system, do a minimal diagnosis, report to the customer, prepare a bill, get the car out of the shop, and put everything away can't possibly be less than an hour.
If the car is new to you, it makes sense to do a complete diagnosis and reset on the car. The W220 stores every trouble code that has popped up on the car since the last total reset. The first time that I ran the diagnosis, there were somewhere around 40-50 codes. You need to look at each and decide whether to just clear it, or whether you need to use the system to do further diagnosis. After you clear everything, then you need to drive the car to see what codes reappear, and decide what action to take on each.
All this made my decision to buy my own STAR system a lot easier.
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2009 E350 4M Avantgarde;mistress 2002 S600; wife 2014 C300 4M
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2019 G70 6MT & 2022 Ford Maverick XL
You could also consider picking up something like the iCarsoft MBII system, which can do diagnostics on basically all systems for Mercedes but not as deeply as Xentry, of course. However, it should suit any needs you have. I've seen them sell for about $150-160
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