Removing Distronic Plus and Blind Spot assist

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I have a very rare S204 with all the options.

This includes the coveted distronic plus radar and radar blind spot detection.

These are fantastic, or rather were.

One by one, on my ten year old car the sensors are failing.

First the NSR radar quit, looking at the sensor water has got in and blown the cover off. I've just left this and now the OSR sensor has quit too.

That was OK, I can live without blind spot detection, but being pestered every time I start the car is annoying.

Now the front distronic plus radar has given up, pestering me again every time but more crucially leaving me without any cruise control.

Xentry shows the sensors are not working and physically you can see the blind spot ones are not in a good way.

Now the car is worth maybe £6k. Each sensor is around £600 from MB or £300 used, plus I may well need wiring looms. I can do it myself but it is simply not really economically viable to be dropping £2k in parts on something that is not core to the car.

If the car can be coded in some way to drop the options, stop pestering me and go back to a standard type cruise that would be fine.

I have an MB star / xentry clone but don't know where to start with coding. Is it even possible without online coding on these cars? I did do some coding on VAG cars previously, this is well documented but I can't find similar documentation for MB.

Any ideas?
 
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Worrying that poor design and engineering against water ingress is causing sensor failure
 
Hi
Put the Pt. No.'s into e bay and replace the sensors with second hand items would be the answer for me.
 
Worrying that poor design and engineering against water ingress is causing sensor failure

Hmm 10 years I suppose it par for the course for these delicate and exposed devices. The rears are very poorly protected (i.e. not at all) from road spray inside the bumper


Hi
Put the Pt. No.'s into e bay and replace the sensors with second hand items would be the answer for me.

Yes about half the price. But how long will they last? They are ten years old already. A week? 5 years? A new one should at least last 10 years.

You can turn all radar off - this has the effect of warning "pre safe functions disabled" every start which needs OKing and still no cruise.
 
Removing Distronic Plus and Blind Spot assist
Well that's a first.... we usually get queries asking if these can be retrofitted...

But I do see your point. I am assuming you would want them disabled/removed in such a way that when you come to sell the car they simply 'won't be there' i.e. so that it does not look like the car has loads of malfunctioning bits?
 
Someone well versed in STAR coding should be able to remove them from the car's set-up without physically removing them.
There's bound to be knock-on consequences which may not be immediately obvious, there are so many interrelated functions.
At 10yrs old it might be a requirement to have online STAR account?
 
Right OP here.

After extensive diagnosis involving my Xentry setup, checking CAN sensor bus resistances, checking sensor resistances, checking CAN sensor bus voltages and finding no fault, the good news is I've found the fault.

Its fuse 59 in the boot 🥴 the first thing I should have checked.

Looks like my left rear radar sensor failed nicely, i.e. didn't short when it failed, so everything else worked for a while. In the meantime the right rear radar sensor failed, now this shorted out taking fuse 59 out with it.

I was misled by Mercedes documents for the radar control unit n62/2 SCR because the pinout shows connection for a front sensor CAN bus and a rear sensor CAN bus. I always assumed they were separate busses and therefore my distronic+ / presafe fault would be a sensor up front. However on pulling the connector off, theres no wires in the front sensor CAN bus pins....so there must just be one bus and they connect in whats marked as rear on the pinout of n62/2.

Sooo.... when the right rear radar sensor failed, it took fuse 59 out and the whole Sensor CAN bus.

The good news is unplugging both faulty rear radar sensors and replacing fuse 59 has brought distronic plus back to life and removed the presafe warning. The bad news is I need TWO rear radœåçar sensors now!

If anyone is reading this with a blind spot assist car, drop the rear bumper and remove the sensors now, and liberally silicon sealant the joint in the unit, I should have done this when i first found fault with one.
 
Righto,

Finally got rid of the "active blind spot assist is inoperative" nag EVERY time I started the car.

Turns out I just needed another programme on my xentry laptop.

Vediamo is an engineer grade tool which can used to code the ecu modules. Its kinda kooky and over complicated as you'd expect software written by engineers to be.

I went in to code the central gateway (CGW). For my car it auto selected CGW_212 not CGW_204 as the ecu, this must be an S class ecu.

Basically just look for "Lateral Collision Migration system" in the lower window, and select "not available" and then "ECU coding".

1 minute of a job and no more nag now the bind spot sensors are disconnected. Everything else unaffected.
 

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I have a very rare S204 with all the options.

This includes the coveted distronic plus radar and radar blind spot detection.

These are fantastic, or rather were.

One by one, on my ten year old car the sensors are failing.

First the NSR radar quit, looking at the sensor water has got in and blown the cover off. I've just left this and now the OSR sensor has quit too.

That was OK, I can live without blind spot detection, but being pestered every time I start the car is annoying.

Now the front distronic plus radar has given up, pestering me again every time but more crucially leaving me without any cruise control.

Xentry shows the sensors are not working and physically you can see the blind spot ones are not in a good way.

Now the car is worth maybe £6k. Each sensor is around £600 from MB or £300 used, plus I may well need wiring looms. I can do it myself but it is simply not really economically viable to be dropping £2k in parts on something that is not core to the car.

If the car can be coded in some way to drop the options, stop pestering me and go back to a standard type cruise that would be fine.

I have an MB star / xentry clone but don't know where to start with coding. Is it even possible without online coding on these cars? I did do some coding on VAG cars previously, this is well documented but I can't find similar documentation for MB.

Any ideas?
I have the same issue with my 2016 R231 with 32K miles on the clock. The same messages suddenly came up one morning last week when we were touring. It's booked into my local Indie tomorrow but the costs you mention are scary!!!
 
I have the same issue with my 2016 R231 with 32K miles on the clock. The same messages suddenly came up one morning last week when we were touring. It's booked into my local Indie tomorrow but the costs you mention are scary!!!

Is the distronic+ out too? if so might just be a rear radar sensor has gone bad and taken out the fuse in the rear boot like mine.

If distronic+ still works and you just get blind spot message then it will 90% be a rear radar sensor. Sometimes the wiring loom goes bad but the sensor is in the line of fire from the rear wheel so gets moisture ingress.

If so you might have the same choice as me.... £500+ fitting for a rear radar sensor or have it coded out to remove the nag. If you opt for a new one, have them remove and re-seal the other old working one while the bumper is off.

If the indie has Vediamo or DTS Monaco software (they should if they are merc specialist) then it will be a 1 minute job to code them out. Probably in Central Gateway ECU -> Global coding -> Lateral collision (or maybe called "Totwinkel" on some cars).
 
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Is the distronic+ out too? if so might just be a rear radar sensor has gone bad and taken out the fuse in the rear boot like mine.

If distronic+ still works and you just get blind spot message then it will 90% be a rear radar sensor. Sometimes the wiring loom goes bad but the sensor is in the line of fire from the rear wheel so gets moisture ingress.

If so you might have the same choice as me.... £500+ fitting for a rear radar sensor or have it coded out to remove the nag. If you opt for a new one, have them remove and re-seal the other old working one while the bumper is off.

If the indie has Vediamo or DTS Monaco software (they should if they are merc specialist) then it will be a 1 minute job to code them out. Probably in Central Gateway ECU -> Global coding -> Lateral collision (or maybe called "Totwinkel" on some cars).
Many thanks for your knowledge (of which you have much) and advice! Star has found a fault in one of the front sensors so the bumper is coming off and I'll know more this afternoon. I'll definitely advise the Indie to reseal the other front sensor. MAny thanks again. KRs, Gareth
 
I think the fronts are better protected so no need to seal. On my 204 you can get the fronts out through the bumper grille, no need to remove whole bumper. I guess they will swap them and see if the fault follows, if so sensor is at fault, if not wiring may be at fault.
 
I think the fronts are better protected so no need to seal. On my 204 you can get the fronts out through the bumper grille, no need to remove whole bumper. I guess they will swap them and see if the fault follows, if so sensor is at fault, if not wiring may be at fault.
My local Indie just called. They swapped the sensors and proved that one is faulty and have ordered a replacement at £329 +VAT. It will be there on Friday with luck. I'll post again with the total cost since it may be of interest to others.
 
My local Indie just called. They swapped the sensors and proved that one is faulty and have ordered a replacement at £329 +VAT. It will be there on Friday with luck. I'll post again with the total cost since it may be of interest to others.
Which sensor is faulty? Price is high!
 
distronic+ works with a long range radar sensor in the middle (mine is behind the merc star), and a pair of short range radar sensors one each side of the bumper facing forwards tucked away.

I assume its one of the front short range sensors that has gone bad for V6GBJ.

The rear blind spot radar sensors are similar to the short range sensors but have a different part number, these are in each side of the rear bumper in the line of fire of water from the wheels.

At £329+VAT and probably a couple hours labour you have got away lucky!

My rear 204 sensors were £466+VAT each and I needed two of them, hence I coded it off. Not worth spending over a grand on a nice to have feature on a car worth maybe £7k. Any subsequent owner can easily code them back in or I might do it if I find some cheap used sensors.
 
distronic+ works with a long range radar sensor in the middle (mine is behind the merc star), and a pair of short range radar sensors one each side of the bumper facing forwards tucked away.

I assume its one of the front short range sensors that has gone bad for V6GBJ.

The rear blind spot radar sensors are similar to the short range sensors but have a different part number, these are in each side of the rear bumper in the line of fire of water from the wheels.

At £329+VAT and probably a couple hours labour you have got away lucky!

My rear 204 sensors were £466+VAT each and I needed two of them, hence I coded it off. Not worth spending over a grand on a nice to have feature on a car worth maybe £7k. Any subsequent owner can easily code them back in or I might do it if I find some cheap used sensors.
It's one of the front short range sensors that's failed - after less than 5 years and only 32 K miles.
 
distronic+ works with a long range radar sensor in the middle (mine is behind the merc star), and a pair of short range radar sensors one each side of the bumper facing forwards tucked away.

I assume its one of the front short range sensors that has gone bad for V6GBJ.

The rear blind spot radar sensors are similar to the short range sensors but have a different part number, these are in each side of the rear bumper in the line of fire of water from the wheels.

At £329+VAT and probably a couple hours labour you have got away lucky!

My rear 204 sensors were £466+VAT each and I needed two of them, hence I coded it off. Not worth spending over a grand on a nice to have feature on a car worth maybe £7k. Any subsequent owner can easily code them back in or I might do it if I find some cheap used sensors.
The sensor is out of stock at MB UK so ordered from Germany. Arrival in 5-7 working days - it used to take 2 days before Brexit !!
 
The sensor is out of stock at MB UK so ordered from Germany. Arrival in 5-7 working days - it used to take 2 days before Brexit !!
The new sensor finally arrived on Sept. 17th and fitted last week. The final cost was £620. Because of the slow arrival of the part my Indy had to remove and refit the front bumper twice, thus adding to the labour costs. Hey Ho!
 

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