xxaarraa

Within 5 miles of leaving my house on a 400 mile trip (all packed and car loaded), my 2000 E55 started acting up. The ABS/ESP lights came on and it said "ABS ESP Failure. Visit workshop" I hit the ESP switch a couple times and no response. I pulled over to the side and turned off the car and turned it back on again and it didnt come on. It said no malfunction. I am thinking it will come on once I start driving again.

Question: Is it safe to drive the car on a 6-7 hour trip with the malfunction light on? I have all my stuff loaded in the car and was moving from one state to another when this happened. I had to come back home to summon the wisdom of the forums.

Please help out with possible causes and estimated $$ to fix and whether it is safe to drive today. Thanks a lot, its urgent.

Cylinder Head

iTrader: (1)

I would never drive a car that was giving me a stability control/brake issue warning light that far, maybe to the gas station and back, but honestly you're better off renting a Chevy Aveo.

Ted Baldwin

............I don't want you to be unsafe, but that ABS warning lght is common. When you turn the car off and back on, it goes away. If I were you I will go on my trip without even thinking twice. But this is because my car does it all the time. You can make your own decision.

Ted

BlownV8

It's most likely a bad brake switch. Go to you local MB parts counter and tell them what you need. They will probably even have it in stock. The cost is around $20 and takes 15 minutes to replace.

dsc

I had that happen on my car and it turned out to be a bad speed sensor. The cruise control would not work either.

bfnnrgn

I had that once, it was an angle sensor in the steering column. Took them 20 min to fix.

husk323

its the brake switch

xxaarraa

Thanks everyone for the calming news. I read up on the forums and also benzworld forums and one person suggested it was a steering angle sensor or something. Basically turned the car off, turned on, swung wheel all the way to the right, swing all the way to the left, straightened, turned off. Turned on and the warning was gone.

Just finished the 400 mile trip and unloaded the car. Cruise worked fine the whole way and no more warnings. If it crops up again, Ill look into the brake light switch/abs pump. Thanks again.

Ted Baldwin

.............cool.

Ted