SL/R230: Resetting the Car's Electronics
01-02-2004, 03:47 AM
#1
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Resetting the Car's Electronics
We've said here before that if you leave the car undriven for more than a couple of weeks, the accessory battery in the trunk goes flat. You can still start the car but you get the "electrical consumers offline" message until the battery is recharged. It's best to avoid this by trickle charging the battery but if the battery does goes flat, you may have a variety of electronic oddities.
My most recent was claiming that the tyre pressure monitoring had failed - "Display Faulty - Visit Dealer". Before you do so, it's worth disconnecting the battery ground cable, leaving it for a couple of minutes and then reconnecting. In my case, this cured the problem.
There are two important things you then need to do. With the engine running, turn the steering wheel lock-to-lock to reset the ESP and lower and raise all side windows to reset them - make sure that the door glass drops when you open the door AND rises when you close it. Otherwise there's a small gap through which rain can leak.
I'm sick of these various electronic gremlins, so I'm going to use one of the top up chargers for weeks when I'm away.
My most recent was claiming that the tyre pressure monitoring had failed - "Display Faulty - Visit Dealer". Before you do so, it's worth disconnecting the battery ground cable, leaving it for a couple of minutes and then reconnecting. In my case, this cured the problem.
There are two important things you then need to do. With the engine running, turn the steering wheel lock-to-lock to reset the ESP and lower and raise all side windows to reset them - make sure that the door glass drops when you open the door AND rises when you close it. Otherwise there's a small gap through which rain can leak.
I'm sick of these various electronic gremlins, so I'm going to use one of the top up chargers for weeks when I'm away.
01-02-2004, 09:17 AM
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gremlins
does MB not fix such stupid little problems.... i mean the SL looks hot and i know it drives great.. but why or why cant these germans learn something from the japanese about quality assurance and control....
01-02-2004, 03:33 PM
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Thanks for this advice blueSL. Havent been using my SL much lately and as a result the electric consumers message has come up 3 times in the last month.
First two times were ok and all systems returned to normal when secondary battery was recharged. Third time the heater just kept pumping hot air into the cabin - turning off the auto climate control or adjusting the temperature settings had no effect. In a short time the inside became unbearably hot and just had to stop the car. Fortunately on restart the climate control returned to normal.
Will buy a top up charger now!
First two times were ok and all systems returned to normal when secondary battery was recharged. Third time the heater just kept pumping hot air into the cabin - turning off the auto climate control or adjusting the temperature settings had no effect. In a short time the inside became unbearably hot and just had to stop the car. Fortunately on restart the climate control returned to normal.
Will buy a top up charger now!
01-02-2004, 04:08 PM
#4
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Yes, I've had the problem of the heater pumping out hot air too and like you, simply turning the ignition off and on has "re-booted" the control unit and all is well.
The problem is with the items that are on all the time and it looks like tyre pressure monitoring is one of them. the best solution is not to let the battery get flat in the first place - it can damage the batteries themselves if they are drained flat and left that way.
The problem is with the items that are on all the time and it looks like tyre pressure monitoring is one of them. the best solution is not to let the battery get flat in the first place - it can damage the batteries themselves if they are drained flat and left that way.
