Hi,

I have a SL500 2005 7 speed, Australian.

A few days ago I got a red ‘ABC drive carefully’ error on the dash. I didn’t notice anything unusual about the car and it went away. Everything seemed fine.
This morning I started the car the red ‘ABC drive carefully’ error came up again. Then I could hear a quick succession tapping noise coming from the front left side (mine is right hand drive). The is white error appeared ‘ABC Visit Workshop’ I drove off gently and after about 30 seconds the tapping noise went away and everything seemed fine again. The car has not sagged down at any corner nor does there appear to be anything leaking.

if anybody has any ideas on what might be the issue. This forum is always my first port of call with an problem.

Appreciated, thank you.
Gerard

 

My SL55 was doing something similar. I'm still not sure what the clicking was, but it would sometimes not pressure up and when it did pressure up, pressure was still less than normal. I have replaced the pump and everything seems fine now.

 

It could be that. Thanks for the reply, mate.

 

It is possibly a faulty pressure relief valve, which controls the pump pressure. The only way to be sure is to use Star diagnosis; otherwise you will be replacing parts (e.g. the expensive tandem pump) without knowing the cause of the problem.

 

Ok mate, thank you.
I know the ABC is complex had problem before.

 

Thanks again for the advice.
Took car to a trusted Mechanic, turned out to be a badly clogged ABC filter and degraded hydraulic fluid. ABC pump not pressurising properly.
Flush system, replace filter and fluid. All good now.

 

I'm not sure what the clicking is, probably the valve block trying to do something to respond to low pressure. At any rate, it seems to be a sign of pressure issues.