SL/R230: Helping an old friend with ABC issue
06-17-2018, 09:18 AM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Helping an old friend with ABC issue
An old friend of mine from when I worked as a mechanic called me up yesterday with a question about his SL. Turns out he picked one up the same weekend I did! Anyhow, after going through the whole "great minds think alike" back and forth, he told me about the issue he's having. On startup, if he doesn't pause for a few seconds to let all the pumps and whatnot prime themselves the car will throw the red ABC "drive carefully" error. If he turns the car off, waits 10-15 minutes and tries again while pausing before hitting the starter, the error does not come up. He hasn't been able to take it by a shop yet to see if there's any Star info on the error itself. He also notes that there appears to be some kind of grinding noise, very similar to a wheel bearing about to go out, on startup. It's just for a second and then goes away. Revving the engine to the cold start RPMs doesn't make it come and and it's not present while driving. There is no whining or thumping noise that users have noted in other threads.
He usually comes to me first for any mechanical stuff as I live closer to him than any trustworthy shops, it usually works out in my favor because I can make a few bucks on small jobs here and there on the weekend. Basically his technological comfort zone ends after plugging in an OBD reader to read or clear codes, and his mechanical comfort zone ends at lifting the hood and checking fluid levels.
The troubleshooting we've done so far:
Checked the fluid level for ABC pump, within spec for hot and cold levels
Also verified engine oil level was good
ABC fluid was brand new, previous owner of the car claimed to have replaced it (I'm going to try bleeding one of the shocks just in case to see if there's a difference in color just in case)
Removed ground cable from battery for 30 minutes to try resetting everything
Checked OBD codes for kicks and giggles, nothing active or stored
What I'm going to try next:
Bleed rear shock to check on fluid color
Remove serp belt and check all pulleys for slop
Start motor without belt to see if it's purely engine noise
Any other suggestions for what to try other than hooking it up to a Star reader? I've told him about a Merc shop I've used in the past that did good work for me, he's going to try going there one day next week to get it looked at if my troubleshooting session with him tomorrow doesn't solve anything.
He usually comes to me first for any mechanical stuff as I live closer to him than any trustworthy shops, it usually works out in my favor because I can make a few bucks on small jobs here and there on the weekend. Basically his technological comfort zone ends after plugging in an OBD reader to read or clear codes, and his mechanical comfort zone ends at lifting the hood and checking fluid levels.
The troubleshooting we've done so far:
Checked the fluid level for ABC pump, within spec for hot and cold levels
Also verified engine oil level was good
ABC fluid was brand new, previous owner of the car claimed to have replaced it (I'm going to try bleeding one of the shocks just in case to see if there's a difference in color just in case)
Removed ground cable from battery for 30 minutes to try resetting everything
Checked OBD codes for kicks and giggles, nothing active or stored
What I'm going to try next:
Bleed rear shock to check on fluid color
Remove serp belt and check all pulleys for slop
Start motor without belt to see if it's purely engine noise
Any other suggestions for what to try other than hooking it up to a Star reader? I've told him about a Merc shop I've used in the past that did good work for me, he's going to try going there one day next week to get it looked at if my troubleshooting session with him tomorrow doesn't solve anything.
06-17-2018, 03:07 PM
#2
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Ok, so the plot thickens. He just called me up and said that in the few hours between him checking the fluid levels earlier this afternoon and now, the car pissed out a bunch of fluid onto the floor. It came directly from the reservoir dipstick plug as he saw it dripping when he popped the hood to investigate.
With that info in hand and a bit of research later, it would appear we're looking at some kind of an accumulator failure. That might explain why he sometimes gets the error right on startup since the system might not be seeing the correct pressure due to the collapsed accumulator. So it looks like this job might have to go to someone else since I don't have my SDS setup yet and I'm fairly positive replacing these would require a rodeo test afterwards.
With that info in hand and a bit of research later, it would appear we're looking at some kind of an accumulator failure. That might explain why he sometimes gets the error right on startup since the system might not be seeing the correct pressure due to the collapsed accumulator. So it looks like this job might have to go to someone else since I don't have my SDS setup yet and I'm fairly positive replacing these would require a rodeo test afterwards.
