InTheBenz0

Hey guys, randomly I will get these 3 malfunctions... one will say Display Defective for ESP, then it will say Service Brakes, and the Brakes will come on to the left, and then the ABS light goes orange, and it will say ABS on the speedometer.


Car is an 03 SL55 AMG with 33k miles now. I noticed it tends to do this MOSTLY but not all the time when the car is running on an incline (mini hill in park position) but does it randomly sometimes too. In the past 3 weeks it maybe came on 5-6 times. I turn car off and on and it wont come back on for a while. I have an aftermarket warranty (Fidelity) so I am not concerned if I have to take it in, but any ideas what it could be? Its not the brake pads I don't think. Feel still is good, and its only at 33k.


-Mike

CynCarvin32

It could be a bad steering angle sensor which is a common item. It will throw the ABS, ESP, and BAS systems into the not active mode. I had this happen on several cars. The fun part was that of course while it was on, I had some moron pull out in front of me from a parking space and I had no ABS. It was back to the early days of true threshold braking!

Could also be a wheel speed sensor gone on strike.

InTheBenz0

That's most likely what it is, a bad sensor, because the car is absolutely fine driving wise - the only thing that sucks is no cruise control either when its on. But like I said I turn it off and it goes away randomly. I am going to take it in soon. I just hate dealerships in general

AUS-E55

Brake light switch ???

mclarenm8d

Here's the hope for something simple play stuff that you can check into before you have to take the car into the shop - have you disconnected the battery and/or do you suspect the battery is weak?

In the owners manual there is a procedure to essentially recalibrate the system's sense of the range of the steering wheel in the event that one disconnected the battery. For me, disconnected also equals weak battery for these cars. Try giving steering wheel calibration a shot, I believe it is simply turn the steering wheel lock-to-lock while it is in park.

In general, a weak battery is havoc on my CL. For your SL, you essentially have an aggregation of all of the complex features from both the S/CL platform and the E.

SleepersRock

CHeck this first. Happend to me and a few other 210 guys. $20 part and DIY. The switch for the brake often get stuck in a closed position and that throws those 3 codes up at once. Pay attention when you braking to see if it occurs after the brake pedal is depressed even lightly.

DBrasco

Battery.

TopEndS62

Still new to the w211 e55, however when all 3 lights come on in BMWs the list of possibilities look something like this...

steering angle sensor
abs sensor
abs/traction control unit
.... interesting thread