GregMB

Anyone ever seen this message before?



I had my rear battery replaced today, but that may be unrelated. I've had the ELM turned off "Factory Height" for months now, and I haven't bothered to check the display in ages, so I don't know how long it's been like this....

The buttons won't clear the error. If I pull the cable out of the back of the controller and reinsert it, the error will temporarily go away but then returns again after a couple of seconds.


Ideas?

-G

ginger55k

We had a group buy on the UK forum last year directly from Programa the guy who organised it had a contact, Samantha 001 561 961 2422 in Florida, they have tech support there and may be able to help.

GregMB

Thanks! I stumbled across that thread yesterday when I was practicing my search-fu.

It sounds like a defective ELM to me, but I'll give them a call and see if there is anything they can do for me.

BTW ->. Looks like Programa did a VERY nice price reduction on the E55 ELMs..... They used to sell for $850, but are now priced at $599. And that seems to be their normal price, not a promotional sale.

-G

ginger55k

I think one of the guys over here had the same fault showing on his unit, not sure what happened to his unit or if it was exchanged as there was no further comment in the group buy thread.

I wonder if it was the battery change you mention, how about disconnecting the main battery again, leaving for 15 minutes reconnect but after starting raise the car using the button on the car then lower to normal factory height then try to turn the module back on, the fault looks like a communication issue.

3BNick

Wow. I haven't seen that yet. Mine has been performing flawlessly for over a year now.

dbworld4k

The instruction manual and installation schematic looks identical to the Renntech parts. Is Programa the OE supplier for Renntech ELMs?

edit: Looks like it's the same http://www.renntechmercedes.com/www/...iles/mb_lm.pdf (Programa stamping on the bottom left of Renntech's Installation Manual)

ginger55k

yes

emoving

Greg, that is a fault in the remote. I had to jump my CLS and it did the same thing. It worked fine but when I jumped the car it must have sent a pulse to the elm and jacked my remote up. Mine was still under warranty so they replaced it for free. Not sure about yours.

dchl21

same with this man

3BNick

So if he disconects the remote and uses it by only adjusting the pots in the module it should still work? A pain in the *** but glad to hear the whole unit isn't toast.

GregMB

I don't think it works like that.

I recall disconnecting the remote when I had the stance the way I liked it (so that I wouldn't have to worry about accidentally changing them)..... The ELM didn't like that. The suspension dropped all the way the bottom and sat there until I plugged the display back in.

Hopefully buying a new display isn't going to be too expensive.....

-G

emoving

I think the remote itself is only $150.

JDoggery

On a related note, for those that have this unit when the car is off is the remote still on or is the screen blank? Do you know what caused your battery to go, or just old?

GregMB

The ELM shuts off with the car.


The rear trunk battery was only two years old, I had it replaced with a Genuine MBZ unit when the original one (which lasted 3 times longer) finally died.... unfortunately the "prorating" for factory batteries is only 2 years, so I got stuck with the entire replacement cost (AGAIN). Next time, I'm putting in an Interstate battery myself and saving the aggravation.


The ELM itself was a brand new install, and has only been in the car for about 8 months. I spoke with Programa, and they are solid people there. They are sending me a new display unit to fix the issue. In turn, I will send them the defective unit and have asked them to do a root-cause failure analysis on it. It will be good to understand if there is something fundamentally weak/vulnerable with the design. Perhaps there is something that can be done to prevent issues in the future (ie. Disconnect the ELM display before swapping batteries, jumpstarting the car, etc)


Just speculation on my part, but it will be good to have the car back at normal ride height again soon. I'm driving around in "Raised Mode" just to keep it at something closer to normal these days....




-G

Roverron

ELM will drain your battery if
you let the car sit. It has a low
amp draw. One of the reasons renntech went with another design. At least that is what I was told.

gab5

Came across this thread searching for possible reasons my battery keeps draining. I too have the ELM V2 installed in the glove box from previous owner and the display stays on even after the car is shut off...after a couple days of not driving the car I have to jump start as battery has been drained too low (by this ELM I'm assuming).

I'll be taking the car in today to Buckhead Imports to see if they can sort it out, but I wonder if anyone has had any luck with a switched power source so that this can be shut off when car is switched off? Wonder if that would cause the ELM to forget settings and require to be set every time

simon1966

Greg

Did you manage to sort this problem out as my ELM seems to have same issue. For some reason I can't see the pic on your first post but mine is displaying

!!! Error !!! UART COMM ERROR PRESS ENTER.

I can't get this to clear and when I press enter it only displays the other screen for a second and returns to the error display. This happened when my battery was disconnected whilst my car was jacked up having some work done. I have had a few issues in the past after the battery was replaced or went flat but was then just a simple case of re-entering my vehicle details and I didn't get this error message. I'm also having to drive in the raised setting but of course that gets cancelled out when at motorway speeds so I am having to restrict my speeds as the car isn't really drivable slammed!!

Any info greatly appreciated.

Cheers Simon

GregMB

Yes, that was the message.

I got a replacement display from ProGrama which fixed the issue.... For a while.

Recently I had my car serviced and they disconnected the battery. Sure enough, I got the error message again....

The biggest problem is that who you get that message, the car will sit low and there is no way to turn off the module to get it back to stock ride height. Disconnecting the display module completely won't work either.... Without it the car will sit super low.

To drive the car at all, I used the "raise" button near the gear selector. That at least makes the car driveable.

So here is where it gets weird:

When I had this most recent ELM issue, I tried disconnecting the display....reconnecting the display, turning on keyless go, turning off keyless go..... Swapping in the old "defective" ELM display instead. I also tried putting the actual key in the ignition. (Instead of using Keyless Go) and power cycling that way....

At some point the combination of things I tried actually caused the display error to clear. I have a feeling that it was a combination of the key in the ignition and power cycling with the module unplugged, and then replugged. I can't really be sure, but it IS working now... And more importantly, it appears the the UART COMM ERROR is not an actual hardware fault, but some sort of software bug caused by the disconnected battery cable.

My only suggestion is to systematically experiment with the physical key, and turning the ignition on and off with the display module either connected or disconnected. Some combination of those events should eventually clear the error and get you back to normal.

Good luck! Please post up your findings if you figure out a procedure that works.


-G

simon1966

Hi Greg

Thanks for the input - much appreciated.

That is the exact problem I have in that the car is sitting on it's very lowest setting of -2" front and rear. I can only raise it and drive it as you have said on the button near the gear selector, but as said that cancels out at motorway speeds so I have to really restrict my driving.

I will try disconnecting the actual display as you have said and try a combination of keyless and key in the ignition then to see if I can clear it. It's clearly an issue with battery disconnection.

Cheers Simon

simon1966

Right I think I tried every permutation I could think of unplugging the display and plugging back in with the ignition on off etc...... Via keyless and with the key in ignition all to no avail.

I then got totally pis*ed off, had a few beers, watched a bit of tennis, dosed off and then thought I would have a look at it again. I disconnected the display again and traced the cable from the display to the main unit, which in my case is located under the passenger footwell. I disconnected the main yellow multi-pin connector from the main unit whilst the ignition was off. I then turned the ignition on and visit workshop was displayed on the dash. I then turned the ignition off and reconnected the yellow multi-pin plug and the display and it seems to have worked!

Fingers crossed it will remain ok.