Hi Everyone,

I've got a question / situation...

I normally drive my 2004 SL55 every day (live in northern California ... ).
Then one day, my car wouldn't start. The engine cranks, but no ignition.
I didn't have time to deal with it at the time, so I drove my other car...

(A few months ago, I had this problem, and according to the MB dealer, the fuel pump controller had died - Not sure they knew what they were doing, but $1.5K later, a new fuel pump controller, and a month wait for shipping from Germany, and I got a car that started.)

So, I went back a few days later, to see if the car would start, and was planning on scheduling a tow to the dealer...
... the remote wouldn't work. ... so I used the little key in the remote, and opened the door, got in and tried to start the car with the large mercedes electtronic key in the ignition.

That's when I got a message that said : consumer electrics offline - but the car started!
(drove it a little, but it said consumer electrics offline)

So, here's where I'd like to get your opinion / feedback ...

1 - Probably, I had a weak consumer battery in the trunk which needed replacing ? ...
2 - Do you think the weak consumer battery could have triggered some kind of fuel pump anti-theft lockout?
(the engine cranks but did not start the first time)


Thanks!

Tony

 

When the consumers battery is low the car starts normally but the "consumers" are inop until the battery recharges. If mine sits for a week I let the car idle for about 5 minutes, turn it off and restart, the consumers are then back online. If the consumers battery is dead the procedure to start is is what you did. Use the hard key to unlock the car, put the electronic key in the ignition and it will start using just the front battery. If the consumers battery was dead after a week or less there is either a bad cell in the battery or there is an electrical drain in the car from something not shutting down. I only had to use that procedure once, it was a failed consumers battery.

 

I had some funky issues with my 2005 SL55. I've equated them to the following circumstances:

- My consumer battery was replaced in late 2014 so, it's *reasonably* fresh.

- Sometimes I would drive my car one day and the next day I would start the car and I would receive the "consumers off line" message for a few miles. Sometimes my car would sit for days and no consumers message. I assumed I had a module that was intermittently not powering down and occasionally, randomly draining the consumer battery.

- my keyless go started acting up. It was rarely detecting the key and 9 out of 10 times keyless go would not start the car. "key not detected" so, I replaced the key battery. No dice. I just got used to starting the car using the key in the ignition switch which always works.

SO - my pioneer head unit bricks itself during a firmware update so I pull the head unit and send it in. The car sits for 5 weeks while the stereo is being repaired. I didn't start or drive the car during this time.

I finally get the head unit back and installed and my consumer battery is dead as a doornail. Completely dead. I disconnect it and buy a battery charger that charges AGM batteries (there is a specific charging sequence and thus a AGM specific charger is needed to properly charge a AMG battery, particularly one that is totally discharged). I charge the battery to 100%.

After charging the battery to 100% - no more consumer off line messages in the past three weeks. keyless go works much better (still not 100% but with 115,000 miles I'm assuming my key itself may be getting tired).

Bottom line: I make quite a few short trips with my car. I think that slowly, over time, making short trips my consumer battery charge was slowly falling off, giving me intermittent "consumer off line" messages, keyless go woes, etc.

Just a hunch but like I said since charging my consumer battery to 100% I haven't had the issues I was seeing before.

If you take short trips with your car, running errands and such it wouldn't hurt to throw a charger on your consumer battery once every month or two to top it off. It might well solve your issues. From researching here on the forum all sorts of weird things happen when the consumer battery looses charge (not just throwing the consumers off line message) particularly with the door lock/alarm system and keyless go.