Electrical woes. - W220 S500.

[Robbarr88]

Hi Guys.

New to the forum, and the world of Mercedes so hi to all members ... i have a question so here go's...

I recently bought a S500 2001 model from a local guy, the car was in a bit of a bad way has basically been stood for 5 years, however i saw it had potential so offered a cheeky offer and the guy accepted got the car back to my yard, put a new battery on and the car started and better still drove..if not a little sluggish, however the car had some issues which were to be expected it suffered from the dreaded instrument cluster failure however when we fault code read the car it came up with the following and il abbreviate were i can....

- B1859-004 DRIVER AIRBAG RESISTANCE TO HIGH.
- B1476-002 AIRBAG WARNING LAMP HAS SHORT CIRCUIT OR DISCONTINUITY.
- B1315-009 PASSENGER SEAT RECOGNITION DEFECTIVE.
- B1010 RESISTANT SYSTEM CONTROL UNIT UNDER VOLTAGE AT TERMINAL
- C1026-004 FAULT IN CAN COMMUNICATION A1 INSTRUMENT CLUSTER
- C1026 128 STEERING ANGLE SENSOR NOT INITIALISED
- C1517-001 CRITICAL LEVEL AT FRONT AXLE
- C1517-002 CRITICAL ANGLE AT REAR AXLE
- C1013 - TERMINAL 30 UNDER VOLTAGE
- C1014 TERMINAL 30 OVER VOLTAGE
- P20DC-002 ACCELERATOR PEDAL SHORT CIRCUIT
- P2003 MALFUNCTION OF SECONDARY AIR INJECTION
- P202E-008 THROTTLE VALVE ACTUATOR
- C1041 BAS AND ESP CONTROL UNIT ISD FAULTY.
- C1054-009 STEERING ANGLE SENSOR NOT INITIALISED.

Now all these faults are on a snap on fault code reader, and are all set as STORED as previously mentioned, iv got the car home put a battery on it started it and drove it round the yard, i wanted to get the instrument cluster repaired and it fully serviced before i started investigating further.

In my previous experience could all of these faults been stored from before? the cars just been left parked up to rot away but it starts drives and runs as it should (apart from the faults) is it worth while getting the car serviced and then the fault codes cleared? and checking the voltage to the battery etc.

is it common for Mercedes to throw up lots of errors when battery's are left to go flat? any positive input is appreciated.

Cheers....Rob.

 

[AMGeed]

is it common for Mercedes to throw up lots of errors when battery's are left to go flat? any positive input is appreciated.

.

Yes Rob. Mercedes do seem to throw sometimes random faults when voltage levels drop.
As those are stored codes, I'd clear the codes, restart the engine (making sure the battery is fully charged at 12.6V+) and see what returns.

Finding a good independant MB and getting the car serviced is where I'd start. An indy will also have Star, the MB diagnostics to interpret the current codes you may have.

 

[Robbarr88]

AMgeed, thats great information thanks im going to invest in a multimeter to check the voltage and il clear the codes! Thanks again

 

[paul73mt]

I didn’t use mine for 7weeks and mine give a couple of codes, put it on a trickle charger and left it had the battery tested and still running at 74% capacity. So far the EML light hasn’t come back and been 3 weeks. If your not gonna use regularly get a trickle charger for it

 

[Flyinspanner]

It may be an idea to go through the fuse boxes and just remove & reinsert them to break any corrosion which may have built up during its lay up.

Maybe an icarsoft MB code reader, which can diagnose to a deeper degree than a generic code reader.

Clear all the stored codes, get it warmed up and see if anything comes back.

Tyres may be old, and flatspotted.

Cartronix in Surrey can sort instrument clusters and guarantee it.

Check boot LHS where you will find the pneumatic pump (pse) which locks doors, lumbar support etc. And the 6 disc CD player and amplifier. If that area is/has suffered from water ingress it can burn out the pump and blow the amp.

 

[Uky]

The best investment together with a W220 or C215 is indeed a fault reader.

The second best thing is a trickle charger for the battery...

Know then that Mercedes never got the software stable in the W220 (or C215 - I owned one).
Every time there was an accidental battery discharge, there was pages and pages of error codes saved.
From the ones listed above, "Steering angle..." is a typical voltage drop thing. Normally there is also
the message "BAS ESP Failure - Visit Workshop" in the cluster. Easy to reset by slowly turning the steering weel
fully CCW, then CW, then CCW again after which the message goes away.
As a result of the software instabilities, Mercedes decided to make quite a few of the DTC's transient.
A sudden Check-Engine message can many times be reset by simply turning the engine off, wait a minute or
so and then restart. Having the vehicle connected to a diagnostic system might also trigger some peculiarities.
Mine did not turn on the audio booster aftewards. The remedy was to stop. Turn off the engine, lock the doors
wait a few minutes and the start again. Voila: I heard sound from the loudspeakers again!

 

[Robbarr88]

Thats great advice from all of you thanks again! Il be sure to get on it when im next back home and see if these remedy it.

Thanks again.
Rob.

 

[Robbarr88]

Update - So got to the car finally and put a new battery on, started the car with some temporary clocks ( the originals have the dreaded pixelated dash) anyway started the car did the resets that can be found on the forum, and no malfunctions, sent the car for MOT few minor issues before it passes however the car is running and driving well not bad considering it hasn't seen the road since 2013, so il get it motd and hopefully get some miles done and go from there, thanks everyone for the advice...Rob.

 

[Deleted member 149005]

Keep us updated - and some pics!

 

[Robbarr88]

Will do!! Its a work in progress so once its done il fire some up