AhMyGawd

OK - I had this message (ABC "Drive Carefully") appear on my dash. Anyone have this happen and what did it end up being?

Thanks

cal1

I have unfortunately had that message before. It means your ABC suspension system is off-line. My recall is the message was in red. Without the damping and hydraulic control of the ABC system, the car will bounce like a tuna boat. That is why you need to be very careful. I would not drive faster than about 25 MPH without ABC. I think the ABC system must look for a minimum amount of hyde pressure and if it is not there it throws the code and shuts down ABC.

I was able to get ABC to come back online after about eight restarts. I then drove the car straight to the dealer. In my case, the hydraulic pump was about 90% gone. Struts are another likely candidate, but usually give some warning before failing. The message is not red and is something like “ABC warning, see shop.” There are other sensors and components to the ABC system that could have failed. Unfortunately, all are expensive. I spent around $3,500 on my ABC issue.

Good Luck

Fantasm

you can also expect to spend near $8000 for an ABC issue if its the struts or something they can't find for sure.

there are signs like the car sagging to one side when turned off for a while

jOwaBelz

never happened that on me!....

photonut

trying to repair a "leaning" sl55 is a FRUSTRATING ordeal. mb tried and failed 8 times to fix my leaning sl55 under warranty. i eventually upgraded to an sl63 under a lemon law tort. so far the sl63 appears flawless.

veightkiller

just take it to your local dealer and they will take care of it.

bzliteyear

yep, i had new pump, new fluid, and now...2 new valve blocks.
if all out of pocket, probably $5-6k.
wish me luck as i'm picking up my 02 S55 tmrw.
PL

Sunir

I've seen "ABC Warning - go to workshop" before (not in red screen though (for me it was a left rear strut - pump was fine)....I've also seen the ABC "sagging" on my sl500 which ended up needing both valve blocks replaced under warranty (looking at approx $3500 for out of pocket on that one) but not "ABC Drive Carefully" ...what's that one about? The abc pump going bad?

cal1

There might be other causes, but pump failure for sure will cause the warning. When ABC is down, the car bounces like crazy. I drove my SL about ten miles an hour and it bounced to the point I thought it was going to bottom out. Luckily after a bunch of restarts, the pump must have made just enough pressure to bring ABC back online and I went straight to the shop.

AhMyGawd

Thanks everyone... Since that happened the warning has not gone on again. I am going to have the system flused and hope that clears up any future problems.

Thanks

danski

I had this warning come on a couple of months ago. First of all I had the blue "ABC Drive Carefully" warning, which turned to the red "ABC Visit Workshop" after about 1 mile of driving in a city, and then turned into the 'tuna boat' ride a little later on and finally "ABC Stop - car too low"

I checked the hydraulic fluid levels and they were very very low, so topped up (luckily I was outside an MB stealership) and continued my journey home (140 miles!). When I got home I checked the car into my local workshop, fearing the worst - leaky/faulty struts. Turned out to only be a cracked sensor housing, which was where the fluid was leaking from. 2 hours of labour to replace the sensor housing (they have to take off the front bumper/fender to get to it) and a total bill for $250.

Guess you can say I was lucky as I was mentally preparing myself for a $3K+ bill! No problems since (he says with crossed fingers!)

Sunir

When thos little beady demon eyes read "ABC ...xxx" anything I start to worry - yipes

NISMO240SSX

I just got the red light, and the tuna boat ride is starting. On my old 500 it was a small leak on the RH line cost about 250. This time I see no leak, what are the other possible problems? What's a pump R&R cost? Also where do I check/fill the hyd fluid?

chunter269

I have a 03 SL55 and when I hit a bump, I get intermittent red warnings on the dash "ABC. Drive Carefully". Sometimes on a huge bump and sometimes on the small bump. The red warning flashes and then it is gone in a few seconds.
I took it to my independant mechanic and he performed a ABC filter and fluid change. He also replaced three (3) accumulators. Two with part number 220 327 01 15 and one with part number 220 327 02 15.
I had three bumps that caused the red warning message and two of them does not cause the warning after the repair. The third bump is on a road that is under construction so I can't test it there anymore.
The accumulators seemed to have solved the problem.

cal1

Sounds like your mech got it handled for you and you avoided the dreaded strut or hyd pump replacement. I get the occasional warning when going over a large dip in the road and the message is gone is seconds just like yours. A true ABC failure is very very noticeable. The car bounces like crazy.

Thanks for posting the info and welcome to the forum.

bzliteyear

just took my 2005 S600 into MB dealer yday.
the ABC red light went on just as i was almost home.
i parked the car, and there was LOTS of smoke coming out from under the hood.
i knew that this was a possible issue w/ all ABC, so i'm glad i have warranty until 100k miles.
p.s. i've heard the ABC is much more reliable now w/ the W221 S-classes.
Patrick

hardeep007

How much did this cost?

cal1

^ you are obviously having ABC issues of some sort. I suggest that if you are told you have a bad strut, come back here and do a search on Arnott replacement struts. They seem to be excellent from what I have heard and they are much cheaper than direct OEM replacements.

hardeep007

I'm having the same ABC issue and it is really sounding like its the accumulators. I want to know how much it cost the above individual to replace all 3 (accumulators/reservoir). My indy has quoted me roughly $1600 and that includes a rodeo.

cal1

Hopefully chunter will respond. $1,600 for almost anything ABC related actually sounds inexpensive to me. Good thing the indy knows a rodeo is in order and apparently has Star diagnostics so he can do it.

hardeep007

The Indy is saying there are only one of each for my car (2203270115 and 2203270215).

In addition to the above, their is one filter and then several quarts for fluid.

Am I missing something here?

hardeep007

Btw, it's a 2004 sl500.

jagata

Arnott has a great warranty if you are the original purchaser, however if you are a buyer of the car that has Arnott installed by the previous owner then you are screwed they do not transfer warranty even if the part never left that same vehicle. I never keep my cars for life and I do not know anyone who does, so lifetime warranty can go only so far.