I got bored, so I went through DAS quick tests on 5 2003 R230's to see which modules had been the least reliable. I am mostly basing this on hardware dates being newer than the production date. There were a few things of interest. I do have one car that does not find the BNS or the PSE on the quick test, so I didn't have those dates.

The most replaced module (5/5) was the ESM (shifter). All five have shifters with hardware dates of 11.2005 and software dates of 04.2003. I haven't heard of these being recalled, but it is interesting that they have all been replaced with the same hardware. This might be the final version, but it seems a bit unlikely that it didn't change after 2005. On the shifter, the hardware number refers to the module inside of the shifter and is not the shifter part number.

Also problematic was the SBC module with 3/5 being replaced. One is hardware date 35.2005, so there must have been an issue early on with that one. The other 2 replacements appear to be from cycle life exceeded, being higher mileage cars and hardware dates of 20.2013.

Another module that is not reliable is the BNS (battery module) with 3/4 being replacements. All of the replacements are hardware date 35.2011, software date 08.2004, so they were not early replacements. The original one is a hardware date of 44.2000, which seems pretty early since it carries a 230 p/n and that is a full year before the start of production.

I also think that 4/4 PSE pumps have been replaced. They are all hardware dates of 09.2002, but software date is 47.2006. While they could have been reflashed, I suspect that the hardware design was not revised after 2002, but the software was and these were replacement parts.

While I have heard of a fair number of EZS issues, only 1/5 had been replaced.

All of the ISM, System Diagnosis, and ABC modules appear to be original.

 

Whats your point? It was helpful to me, your post was not. Mike gives more informative information than most anyone here, and I found this good to know. Thanks Mike.

 

It's a good summary to help people quickly find their problems.

One thing missing is how/why each module fails & known fixes if any.

Knowledge is a great killer of chaos.
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I don't know exactly why these modules were replaced, but there are known issues on most of them. The shifter replacements were likely release lever related and not module issues, but we do know that there are solder issues on the optical pickups on the board. One of these cars had that issue, but the module was repaired instead of replaced a second time. PSE pumps suffer from broken impellers, cracks in the plastic manifold, and often times water damage from leaks and plugged drain holes in the trunk. I suspect that the BNS has one or two common problems as well, but I haven't really seen any documentation on that.

 

Were 3/4 and 4/4 typing errors?

 

No, I had one quick test that didn't show those two modules. Those numbers are from the four that did show the modules. I'm not sure what the problem is with that car, maybe the EZS? I can communicate with each module individually, but they aren't found when I run the quick test.