Hi guys,
I have a mercedes s class w221 from 2008 and I have had an issue with this car for a while, my DTR is not working. I have the distronic plus (the one with the non visible sensor behind the bumpers and the front one is round not square). I have no error message either on DTR/ABR/SDR no curent fault codes on non of the modules on the car I have a clone MB starr and no fault codes are active.The message I get when I drive the car above 50 mph and attempt to set the distronic is a blinking (---) now this lasts for a few second then it says distronic unavailable check owners manual, stop the car turn off ignition the restart repeat same a temp same message, car is clean no other interference nothing. Now looking into DTR complaints and symptoms on xentry it sais that the car needs to learn steering angle sensor, that has been happening for months,although is no error and the car is driving well.
I have been to a mercedes dealer and the engineer there said that it will cost me over 1000 just to diagnose the car as it will need to investigate it deep and that is just the labour so it doesn't really worth the money as the car now worth no more then 2000£ on the market,bit before anyone suggest to scrap/sel/burn the car I have attached to it, it's a good car and I've had it for 6 years and since I've bought it I had this issue with it.
​​​​​Please please if we have a mercedes specialist who could help me it will very much appreciated maybe togheder we can get to the bottom of the issue.
Thanks in advance for anyone who could guide me.

 

because active cruise has some autonomy it must have some understanding of whats going on - if any of the ABS system is not happy it will disable the cruise control

you should be able with fake xentry to run a quick test on all the modules on the car - this may list a load of old rubbish - if you just delete the lot - then go for a 10 min drive anything that maters will pop back up - if any ABS or ESP stuff is playing up cruise will not activate

it should NOT be possible the ESP road test needs to be completed - without the quick test showing a fault... but if you have replaced ABS sensors and not completed the test cruise will not work till you do....

 

Hi Botus,
Thank you very much for your answer, unfortunately I have changed all speed sensors along with pads discs and brake fluid, I have done the calibration and everything it runs smooth, no fault codes on the scanner on any of the modules DTR, SGR, ABR, no faults only when attempt to start distronic first on the midle of the cluster appears a blinking (---) and then disappears after that when attempt second time to activate the distronic the a yellow message appears saying distronic unavailable then Re scan and no fault codes, on xentry when go to symptoms and complains says that when
(---) ABR should not have fault code 6205 now going to ABR no fauld codes curent or stored although going to shadow memory it is a fault code 6205 try to delete and not possible although it is in shadow memory and that is probably why I don't know. Now I have another enigma I have my steering wheel sensor who has no error on it dicing and then rescan then drive and red scan no error although it shows 999 then looking with xentry it sais that the sensor is in learning point and I should drive to various spped and it will automatically learn, I have driven the than car for 600miles and still. The same value, no error /fault code nothing, car been scam with MB star, I car soft, snap on good known how fed up I'm with this car it's like a wife that makes your life hard although you still can't leave her🤣🤣🤣.
If anyone could guide me what to do and where to start I'll be very much grateful.

 

I'm not following anything you have written after you say you are scanning the entire car and getting no codes

the blinking display as you try to set the cruise seems interesting - I only get that if trying to enable below 20mph
when I first read that I had a few thoughts
1) in the cluster menus you can disable the radar - check this is On
2) check and ensure the stupid and pointless speed limiter feature on the end of the cruise stalk is Off and never enable it

The Steering angle sensor calibration / errors you have twice mentioned is also confusing me - how are you reporting issues to us if the diagnostic scan is clear ?
For active cruise to operate the ESP must be fully functional and if triggered must go through a silly road test calibration that frequently refuses to get over itself - it involves full lock to full lock and back and forward till the steering wheel angles and the ABS report back matching data that coincides with what the cars brain believes makes sense. Even a car with no faults and fully aligned steering angle sensor and fully aligned with all 4 wheels steering geometry correct can repeatedly struggle to compete. You instigated it with xentry connected and follow what it asks you to do.

Changing the ABS sensors themselves should not trigger the Road test mode - but it MIGHT have been triggered with the original fault.
If people have been playing as much as they have might be a good idea to disconnect the battery for 20 mins and go at things afresh - do not attempt to scan the car without a power supply keeping volts up

 

Thank you again for your support, I'm sorry I havent been clear I'll take some pics and video exactly what the symptoms are and what I'm doing.
Your help is much appreciated.

 

Hi guys, I'm afraid that now I'm more confused then I was before I take the car to an automatic gearbox specialist for diagnostic and hope to give me an answer of what is causing my car having hard shift in 2-3 gear.
Sooo on top of my distronic issue of not working and giving me the (---) when try to activate on the motorway at a speed above 50 miles that I don't know what is wrong in that perspective I have had an issue with the car having hard shifting between 2-3 gear so despite me having a mb star (clone) and not getting any fault codes I have decided to go to a specialist in automatic gearbox as I needed to change the gearbox oil anyway.
So I have just took the car from the garage this morning and been told that they are not sure what is the issue or how it should be managed although they have scan the car and they found an issue of communication between transmission and module N-47-5 apparently. Anyway I have stop hoping and I feel that this is my last attempt of fixing the car as I can't afford to take it to Mercedes as they the mechanic at Mercedes before looking at the car said to give up as just to find out what the issue exactly is it will cost me @1000-2000£ and that is just the labour because apparently it can be a lot of labour to identify the issue,anyway my last hopes are here in this group. So the mechanic that I just took the car from has given me a print of the code that he found and the codes are:
Engine 2274 no cam message from control unit N47-5(esp control unit).
Transmission D408 No can message was received from control unit N47-5(ESP control unit).
Again I have no check engine light on, no other symptoms then car having hard shift 2-3 and the distronic not working. I will attach a picture with the paper the guy gived me.
PS when I asked him OK to sort my problem what ever it is he said that they can repair it as they don't do that.





Please please advise me what should I do, 🙏🙏🙏

 

these cars are forever inventing doom - I presume the vast majority helped extort very large wads of cash from naive owners - delete the lot

you can have 5 years of fake gearbox code it drives the same - mines stopped handing them out for the last 3 years ???

the gearbox needs a 37k fluid and filter change (that merc left out of the service schedule - deliberately) its helps get all the worn clutch and metal out so it has a chance of operating
if its has never been done you could spend £200 on that and see how it behaves afterwards - note early cars get BLUE antifreeze and Blue trans fluid - later cars get non-backwards compatible red / pink stuff - I still think clear the rubbish and complete the ESP road test sequence

before panicking - don't forget these boxes change like a disaster zone on the best of days....

 

Hi Botu, thank you so much for your reply.
The guy where I took took the car this morning said that he has changed the oil and filter for the gearbox. And I have changed the antifreeze last month along with the water pump and auxiliary belt and pulleys.

Tommorow I'll try to figure out how to engage the esp Road test sequence.
Good help me.