Hello All,
I currently have a 2007 Mercedes Benz s550. I got out of my car outside yesterday, and came back later to this error ("Visit workshop without shifting gear"; attached) after I tried turning on the car. It started flashing all the lights on the dashboard and my steering wheel locked in place. I had to tow the car because I couldn't shift gears, and it was stuck in Park. I scanned the car and got about 30-35 errors regarding undervoltage (report here). The ISM, TCU, and ECU all gave the same message that they were unable to communicate with my tool. I also noticed that the battery voltage would slowly decrease over time (fluctuating between two numbers before decreasing) and it would only come back after I completely turned the car off for a few minutes. There would also be this ominous red battery symbol that would appear on my dashboard for a few seconds (attached).
As of today, the car is completely unable to activate its ignition (engine doesn't start, no starting sound, etc.) as if it's stuck in Position 2 or something. My key fob is completely unresponsive; I need to use the manual key to get inside the car. I had a mechanic come over, but the battery looks just fine, and so do the fuses. When I turn on the car (or at least try to), the dashboard screen just shuts off on its own after a few seconds and comes back to the initial screen. Practically nothing in the interior car works properly or as intended, except for AC.
Would replacing the ISM be the best way to go about this? Wanted some other opinions before I contact a shop or dealership.
The error.
The red battery symbol that appears on the dashboard.
The clock spinning on its own. The hazard lights also turned on by themselves, didn't catch it on video.
these cars will not play nice if the batteries are low voltage
you can't diagnose anything with bad batteries and you should NEVER expect to leave the ignition on for 15 mins without a battery charger or the engine running (even if you just fitted two brand new fully charged batteries)
Its likely this had a dead 25kg 95 amp/hr battery in the boot that's given up and a smaller one 35 amp/hr one under the bonnet that starts the car - later some moved to just one larger one at the front
disconnect the batteries (probably replace), reconnect and with battery support clear faults and see if it stars up - when you confuse the CGW enough it can throw the gearbox disaster on the cluster - sort voltage - clear - restart - recheck - report back
This might be totally off, but that happened on my 07 S550 when I installed CarPlay. I must say, when I pre-installed it without hiding the wiring, it worked just fine!
In my attempt to pull the carpets back, hide the harness, made proper connections and all. I then turned it on and all hell broke loose. Dash lit up with lights and warnings I’ve never seen! Saw the same “take to shop” message.
At which point I immediately decided to take everything out and all went back to normal without skipping a beat, literally, didn’t even lose my settings and presets.
This was back in August, till this day, no car play 🥴.
Hello All,
I currently have a 2007 Mercedes Benz s550. I got out of my car outside yesterday, and came back later to this error ("Visit workshop without shifting gear"; attached) after I tried turning on the car. It started flashing all the lights on the dashboard and my steering wheel locked in place. I had to tow the car because I couldn't shift gears, and it was stuck in Park. I scanned the car and got about 30-35 errors regarding undervoltage (report here). The ISM, TCU, and ECU all gave the same message that they were unable to communicate with my tool. I also noticed that the battery voltage would slowly decrease over time (fluctuating between two numbers before decreasing) and it would only come back after I completely turned the car off for a few minutes. There would also be this ominous red battery symbol that would appear on my dashboard for a few seconds (attached).
As of today, the car is completely unable to activate its ignition (engine doesn't start, no starting sound, etc.) as if it's stuck in Position 2 or something. My key fob is completely unresponsive; I need to use the manual key to get inside the car. I had a mechanic come over, but the battery looks just fine, and so do the fuses. When I turn on the car (or at least try to), the dashboard screen just shuts off on its own after a few seconds and comes back to the initial screen. Practically nothing in the interior car works properly or as intended, except for AC.
Would replacing the ISM be the best way to go about this? Wanted some other opinions before I contact a shop or dealership.
The error.
The red battery symbol that appears on the dashboard.
The clock spinning on its own. The hazard lights also turned on by themselves, didn't catch it on video.
At first , sorry for my english.
i have same problem with my S500. I think the problem is bad ECU. ECU, ISM ,VGS are on the same CAN ( drive train can ) . All data what is comming from Drive train CAN are going to ECU. Other CAN ( chassis, interior…) have connections to central gateway and next to diagnostic but drive train can is connected only to ecu. I gradually tried to disconnect all module ( on drive train can ) but nothing was happened. Still no communication with diagnostic , no gears is show on the dasboard . I have changed drive train can, front sam , front prefuse box , batteries , power supply unit but nothing. Next i have check the voltage on the pins(12V and CAN pins ) to ECU but all pins have voltage , ground is ok.
I think the battery light shows on dashboard because bad ECU wont read LIN ( from alternator).
the usual cause of the gearbox fun is a normal fault - most of us will get it one day - its the ISM, the noisy bit of junk slapped on the side of the gearbox that makes the most awful noise when you move the selector on the steering column
they have a software kill switch built in - once x uses arrives it goes silly waiting to extort $1200
but you have so much other fun - low volts and other stuff make be also playing up
