Alternate/Battery Visit Workshop (2002 C240)

"Tiger" <tiger0002.RemoveThis@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:484949bd$0$25713$607ed4bc@cv.net...
>I would say don't worry about it. I think it is the battery too. On modern
>Mercedes, we get random errors that comes and goes and majority of the
>reason is the battery.
>
> When the voltage dip in the entire system, the computer thinks something
> is wrong as the voltage reading is out of specification.
>
> It is a good thing, you only replaced the battery because I think that is
> all you need.
>
> My folk's 2001 spit out randome errors... SRS, BAS, and something else...
> turns out to be the battery. Sometime it appears... usually first thing in
> morning and then the rest of the day is 50/50 chance of popping up.
I concur. I have had these same sorts of random faults in a '99 e430. New
battery solved it. Curiously my 2001 SLK320 did not have this problem (no
warning) and the battery just died.
 >> Stay informed about: Alternate/Battery Visit Workshop (2002 C240) 

me schrieb:
> "Tiger" <tiger0002.TakeThisOut@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:484949bd$0$25713$607ed4bc@cv.net...
>> I would say don't worry about it. I think it is the battery too. On modern
>> Mercedes, we get random errors that comes and goes and majority of the
>> reason is the battery.
>>
>> When the voltage dip in the entire system, the computer thinks something
>> is wrong as the voltage reading is out of specification.
>>
>> It is a good thing, you only replaced the battery because I think that is
>> all you need.
>>
>> My folk's 2001 spit out randome errors... SRS, BAS, and something else...
>> turns out to be the battery. Sometime it appears... usually first thing in
>> morning and then the rest of the day is 50/50 chance of popping up.
> I concur. I have had these same sorts of random faults in a '99 e430. New
> battery solved it. Curiously my 2001 SLK320 did not have this problem (no
> warning) and the battery just died.
>

Five years ago, with a five year old battery and permanent problems with
sunroof position and fuel gauge zero at full tank I bought a battery
with the largest available capacity for diesels fitting into the
compartment of the gas C240.

Never had a problem of this kind since. Now once a year I check the acid
levels and after journeys in hot countries the battery definitely needs
purified water.

Service free lead batteries are a mythos.

--

Roland Franzius
 >> Stay informed about: Alternate/Battery Visit Workshop (2002 C240) 

On Jun 7, 4:31 am, Roland Franzius <roland.franz... RemoveThis @uos.de> wrote:
> me schrieb:
>
>
>
> > "Tiger" <tiger0... RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message
> >news:484949bd$0$25713$607ed4bc@cv.net...
> >> I would say don't worry about it. I think it is the battery too. On modern
> >> Mercedes, we get random errors that comes and goes and majority of the
> >> reason is the battery.
>
> >> When the voltage dip in the entire system, the computer thinks something
> >> is wrong as the voltage reading is out of specification.
>
> >> It is a good thing, you only replaced the battery because I think that is
> >> all you need.
>
> >> My folk's 2001 spit out randome errors... SRS, BAS, and something else...
> >> turns out to be the battery. Sometime it appears... usually first thing in
> >> morning and then the rest of the day is 50/50 chance of popping up.
> > I concur. I have had these same sorts of random faults in a '99 e430. New
> > battery solved it. Curiously my 2001 SLK320 did not have this problem (no
> > warning) and the battery just died.
>
> Five years ago, with a five year old battery and permanent problems with
> sunroof position and fuel gauge zero at full tank I bought a battery
> with the largest available capacity for diesels fitting into the
> compartment of the gas C240.
>
> Never had a problem of this kind since. Now once a year I check the acid
> levels and after journeys in hot countries the battery definitely needs
> purified water.
>
> Service free lead batteries are a mythos.
>
> --
>
> Roland Franzius

Thank you for the replies. Anyway, here is what happened,

As I bought this car used in December (6 months ago), the battery was
changed at that time. I looked in the records and called the MB
dealership from where I bought the car and they confirmed that the new
battery was installed on December 28th. (I bought the car from dealer
on December 28th itself). Dealer said if the battery is causing the
problem then it is still under warranty and they will change it for
me.

Now the car has another brand new battery and the same error appeared
again. "Alternator/Battery, visit workshop". This happens after
driving 10-15 minutes. I kept ignoring this error today and now the
error is something like "Low voltage consumer appliance".

Any ideas what can be wrong? I will be heading back to dealer but just
thought to ask. Seems like dealer work will be very expensive this
time.

Thank you again.
 >> Stay informed about: Alternate/Battery Visit Workshop (2002 C240) 

Mmm... then it is most likely the alternator. Measure the voltage... it
should be 13.6 or higher... The best is 14.4V.
 >> Stay informed about: Alternate/Battery Visit Workshop (2002 C240) 

yassir schrieb:
> On Jun 7, 4:31 am, Roland Franzius <roland.franz... RemoveThis @uos.de> wrote:
>> me schrieb:
>>
>>
>>
>>> "Tiger" <tiger0... RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>> news:484949bd$0$25713$607ed4bc@cv.net...
>>>> I would say don't worry about it. I think it is the battery too. On modern
>>>> Mercedes, we get random errors that comes and goes and majority of the
>>>> reason is the battery.
>>>> When the voltage dip in the entire system, the computer thinks something
>>>> is wrong as the voltage reading is out of specification.
>>>> It is a good thing, you only replaced the battery because I think that is
>>>> all you need.
>>>> My folk's 2001 spit out randome errors... SRS, BAS, and something else...
>>>> turns out to be the battery. Sometime it appears... usually first thing in
>>>> morning and then the rest of the day is 50/50 chance of popping up.
>>> I concur. I have had these same sorts of random faults in a '99 e430. New
>>> battery solved it. Curiously my 2001 SLK320 did not have this problem (no
>>> warning) and the battery just died.
>> Five years ago, with a five year old battery and permanent problems with
>> sunroof position and fuel gauge zero at full tank I bought a battery
>> with the largest available capacity for diesels fitting into the
>> compartment of the gas C240.
>>
>> Never had a problem of this kind since. Now once a year I check the acid
>> levels and after journeys in hot countries the battery definitely needs
>> purified water.
>>
>> Service free lead batteries are a mythos.
>>
>> --
>>
>> Roland Franzius
>
> Thank you for the replies. Anyway, here is what happened,
>
> As I bought this car used in December (6 months ago), the battery was
> changed at that time. I looked in the records and called the MB
> dealership from where I bought the car and they confirmed that the new
> battery was installed on December 28th. (I bought the car from dealer
> on December 28th itself). Dealer said if the battery is causing the
> problem then it is still under warranty and they will change it for
> me.
>
> Now the car has another brand new battery and the same error appeared
> again. "Alternator/Battery, visit workshop". This happens after
> driving 10-15 minutes. I kept ignoring this error today and now the
> error is something like "Low voltage consumer appliance".
>

Low battery voltage is of course an possible error in each of the many
sensors and computer units ranging from motor, train drive, brake
management to radio and rain sensor.

Let them read out the error complete code. It tells you wich consumer
unit is complaining. Then as a first guess check the fuses leg contact
for this unit.

> Any ideas what can be wrong? I will be heading back to dealer but just
> thought to ask. Seems like dealer work will be very expensive this
> time.

You can pull all fuses in/out three times to reduce fuse contact
corrosion resistance and then look for things not to happen.


--

Roland Franzius
 >> Stay informed about: Alternate/Battery Visit Workshop (2002 C240) 

"Tiger" <tiger0002 RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:484be11b$0$17972$607ed4bc@cv.net...
> Mmm... then it is most likely the alternator. Measure the voltage... it
> should be 13.6 or higher... The best is 14.4V.

At some point MB put two (count em') batteries in the car, one for starting
and a smaller one for accessories. I do not know if they stared this in MY
2002, but your owners manual may say something about it?
 >> Stay informed about: Alternate/Battery Visit Workshop (2002 C240) 

Oh... that' right... for 2003 cars like W211... the current style E class
has two batteries.
 >> Stay informed about: Alternate/Battery Visit Workshop (2002 C240) 

On Jun 8, 11:36 pm, "Tiger" <tiger0... RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote:
> Oh... that' right... for 2003 cars like W211... the current style E class
> has two batteries.

Today on my way to dealership, the car died on the road.

These error sequences happened
- Alternate/Battery, visit workshop
- undervoltage consumer appliance
- ESP failure
- Brake assist failure

then the hazards lights came on and car turned off automatically.

I towed the car to dealer and now waiting for the bad news
 >> Stay informed about: Alternate/Battery Visit Workshop (2002 C240) 

On Jun 10, 4:21 am, Cordy <stefano.cord....DeleteThis@tiscali.it> wrote:
> yassir ha scritto:
>
>
>
> > On Jun 8, 11:36 pm, "Tiger" <tiger0....DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >> Oh... that' right... for 2003 cars like W211... the current style E class
> >> has two batteries.
>
> > Today on my way to dealership, the car died on the road.
>
> > These error sequences happened
> > - Alternate/Battery, visit workshop
> > - undervoltage consumer appliance
> > - ESP failure
> > - Brake assist failure
>
> > then the hazards lights came on and car turned off automatically.
>
> > I towed the car to dealer and now waiting for the bad news
>
> Sorry, I'm here too late... BUT:
> your story is about undervoltage. It looks like the cpu controlling ESP
> and BAF have been confused by several low voltage conditions. What's
> happened, as a matter of fact, is very simple. The car has some very
> sensitive electronic circuits controlling functions that are safety
> critical:
> - ESP
> - ABS
> - Airbags
> - Brake assist
> and so on... Can you imagine what could happen if the airbags inflate in
> the wrong moment?
> So, in order to avoid that this can happen, if the cpu's can't work
> correctly due to low voltage conditions, the car "shuts down". Of
> course, not immediately: there's a memory and a counter and as soon as
> the counter steps above a certain number of failures, there's the first
> signal, than the second, than the system shuts down the car...
> Most probably you have a failing alternator or an old cpu (as far as I
> can remember, some models have been recalled to install an improved
> cpu.... mmm... rev. Q as far as I can remember, but I'm unsure).
> In the first case, the alternator is quite expensive but the problem is
> solved. In the second, you might try to ask for some kind of factory
> warranty. I'm writing from Italy, so I don't know the local laws, but my
> suggestion is to try to understand exactly where the failure is and
> which kind of diagnosis has been carried out by the dealer.
>
> Good luck.
> Stefano

Thank you for the detailed reply. I just got the call from the
dealership. They were not able to start the car initially as couple of
fuses had blew away. I think this happened when I was trying to start
the car on the road when it died on me. The actual culprit is
alternator indeed.

The total cost to fix this came to $1650 + taxes. However, MB dealer
has agreed to pay for the parts (as a good will customer) that are
about $1000 and I will be paying labor of $650 + taxes. At least they
are taking care of some of the things.

Thank you all of you guys who replied.
 >> Stay informed about: Alternate/Battery Visit Workshop (2002 C240) 

yassir ha scritto:
> On Jun 8, 11:36 pm, "Tiger" <tiger0... RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Oh... that' right... for 2003 cars like W211... the current style E class
>> has two batteries.
>
> Today on my way to dealership, the car died on the road.
>
> These error sequences happened
> - Alternate/Battery, visit workshop
> - undervoltage consumer appliance
> - ESP failure
> - Brake assist failure
>
> then the hazards lights came on and car turned off automatically.
>
> I towed the car to dealer and now waiting for the bad news
>

Sorry, I'm here too late... BUT:
your story is about undervoltage. It looks like the cpu controlling ESP
and BAF have been confused by several low voltage conditions. What's
happened, as a matter of fact, is very simple. The car has some very
sensitive electronic circuits controlling functions that are safety
critical:
- ESP
- ABS
- Airbags
- Brake assist
and so on... Can you imagine what could happen if the airbags inflate in
the wrong moment?
So, in order to avoid that this can happen, if the cpu's can't work
correctly due to low voltage conditions, the car "shuts down". Of
course, not immediately: there's a memory and a counter and as soon as
the counter steps above a certain number of failures, there's the first
signal, than the second, than the system shuts down the car...
Most probably you have a failing alternator or an old cpu (as far as I
can remember, some models have been recalled to install an improved
cpu.... mmm... rev. Q as far as I can remember, but I'm unsure).
In the first case, the alternator is quite expensive but the problem is
solved. In the second, you might try to ask for some kind of factory
warranty. I'm writing from Italy, so I don't know the local laws, but my
suggestion is to try to understand exactly where the failure is and
which kind of diagnosis has been carried out by the dealer.

Good luck.
Stefano
 >> Stay informed about: Alternate/Battery Visit Workshop (2002 C240) 

yassir ha scritto:
> Thank you for the detailed reply. I just got the call from the
> dealership. They were not able to start the car initially as couple of
> fuses had blew away. I think this happened when I was trying to start
> the car on the road when it died on me. The actual culprit is
> alternator indeed.
>
> The total cost to fix this came to $1650 + taxes. However, MB dealer
> has agreed to pay for the parts (as a good will customer) that are
> about $1000 and I will be paying labor of $650 + taxes. At least they
> are taking care of some of the things.
>
> Thank you all of you guys who replied.
>
>
>

Maybe you're even more lucky and it's just an old and slippery belt. Or
the regulator of the alternator and not the whole alternator. But if
they change it as a whole for free... than ok, it's the alternator!
 >> Stay informed about: Alternate/Battery Visit Workshop (2002 C240)