clk 230 w208 electrical "event"

[kentplums]

Hi
as above 1999 w208 cabrio ....wife driving back from shops and...no electric windows, no wipers, no lights etc etc. 5 minutes later another call saying all is ok again. Apperently when she pulled up at home, the triangle with exclamation mark (traction warning?) was lit. I got home and took it out for a thrash and absolutely no problems. No warning lights, all functioning as it should.
Any thoughts? The battery is old but no starting problems of any kind.
Thanks
R

 

[DSM10000]

The battery or alternator are the most likely candidates, possibly alternator or battery earth connections.

Have you measured battery Voltage engine off no load and engine running at a fast idle with no load?

You should have around 12.6V and 14.4V respectively.

 

[kentplums]

Thanks for that - i will check tomorrow. Multimeter across battery terminals right?
If the battery is suspect, is it a question of just buying a new one and bunging it in or are there issues re onboard stuff?
R

 

[rifiki]

Had similar problem with my CLK 209, it always started, no instruments etc. New battery solved the problem. The old battery has been in my Ponton for over 2 years and still works.

 

[kentplums]

I've got 12.1v on the battery,no load, after being left overnight, 13.9v at 2000 revs and 12.6v switched off after 3 minutes of running.
New battery I think
Thanks again
R

 

[DSM10000]

I've got 12.1v on the battery,no load, after being left overnight, 13.9v at 2000 revs and 12.6v switched off after 3 minutes of running.
New battery I think
Thanks again
R

Looks like the culprit. The car will detect a lower than normal battery voltage and cause some functions to operate erratically or not at all.

You may need to re-set the automatic function on the windows after the battery change, normally running them up and down manually with the switch a couple of times re-sets them.

 

[kentplums]

Just to finish off, I changed the battery, failing miserably to keep some power in the system in order to save radio codes, window and seat memory etcs and , amazingly , I have had to reset nothing at all - all seems fine.
Cheers
R