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Mercedes-Benz R-Class Electrical Problems

23 messages,  Last post on Jan 15, 2009 at 4:46 AM

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What is this discussion about? Mercedes-Benz R-Class, Electrical, Wagon


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#10 of 23
Re: Mercedes-Benz R-Class Electrical Problems [pf_flyer] by nicky2244
May 18, 2008 (3:09 pm)
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Replying to: pf_flyer (Aug 28, 2006 6:21 am)

Have a 2006 R-350 with about 13500 miles. Car won't start, changed battery all the lights cut on but the car still won't start. Jump it off and finally Now a red battery light cut on saying I need to take my car to the dealership. My car is in the garage now tomorrow I have to call Mercedes and waist another day of electrical problems. This is a 2006 why won't my car start. I check my car remote batteries, replaced them. Still won't start. I should have waited and bought the 2006 GMC Acadia. Has anyone have anything happen like this let me know. I might just trade it in on the GMC. Never had a problem with a gmc never and i still have one gmc Denila
#11 of 23
Re: Mercedes-Benz R-Class Electrical Problems [hockeyhopes] by hockeyhopes
May 20, 2008 (8:47 am)
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Replying to: hockeyhopes (Apr 03, 2008 10:18 am)

Well, i have a bit of good news to report. About 3+ weeks ago the dealership got tired of servicing our car (read my previous message on this forum). Also the lemon law kicked in as it had been there for 14 days. The service dept could not figure out how a new car with 450 odd miles on it was being drained/ would not start after a full charge evry couple days. Told me car has 3+ miles of wiring & rather than tinker with it, they replaced our 'old' R350 with a brand new one with 9 miles on it. Exact same with identical package & they threw in the Xenon lighting as a courtesy for all the trouble. They will be sending the old one back to Mercedes in Alabama to lok at. Been driving our new car close to a month now & it is a dream.. the reason we bought this yacht in the first place. Well, that's our story so far. I hope Benz can resolve the wiring/battery issues in future models to alleviate trouble some of us have been experiencing. All the best.
#12 of 23
Re: Mercedes-Benz R-Class Electrical Problems [hockeyhopes] by caliberchic
May 22, 2008 (4:01 am)
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Replying to: hockeyhopes (May 20, 2008 8:47 am)

Congrats on the replacement!!
#13 of 23
Constant electrical problems by soundermn
Jul 03, 2008 (8:20 am)
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We've got 18k miles on the car. Lease is up next month and it's going back. Electrical problems we've had:
- electric tailgate fail, adjusted twice.
- rear windows stopped working.
- SRS red warning light. Dealer replaced airbag module. Light is on again, six months later
- battery light comes on periodically. Dealer has fixed it three times, and its on again now
- low antifreeze light comes on periodically. Dealer has fixed it twice, it's fine now.
- installed tow package, and it took the dealer 7.5 hours to connect the harness. After discount, it cost me $500 to install the wiring harness (which is the same as ML harness)
- non-xenon headlights. Had to return to dealer twice to adjust headlight aim
 
All these are minor problems, and were fixed without question, and without drama at the dealer. However, for a car that cost $60,000 with tax, I should not have to take it back to the dealer every three months for some other goofy problem. We aren't happy owners. Yes, its comfortable, drives great, looks good. But, it's big, can be hard to park, and has to visit the dealer far too often.
#14 of 23
Several minor odd problems by ctdan
Nov 10, 2008 (1:40 pm)
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I've had my 2008 R350 for a few months and it has just over 5k miles, until a few days ago everything was great. Within the last week or so the check engine light has come on and stayed on. Not that big of a deal in and of itself, but then oddly the outside temperature display on the dash started jumping up and down randomly. Two days ago I watched it go from +8 to -4 to +185 all in the span of about 5 minutes. Then when I filled up the tank from 1/4 full and the needle on the gas gauge did not move from 1/4 to full position for about 30 minutes, I thought maybe the tank had a leak or something was wrong with the pump. On top of all of that the key fob remote has become very unreliable - but only with one of the key fobs??
 
Independently I would not be too worried, but collectively all of these happening within a few days of each other gives me some concern. Took it to the deal this morning and of course the check engine light is no longer illuminated, the temp gauge seemed to be working normally and haven't filled up the tank again. Just had a call from the MB Svc Mgr and he told me they had were able to diagnose some of the issues and replace a few sensors, that should take care of the check engine light & external temp readings and he was going to send the car home with a tech and fill up the tank to see if they could reproduce the fuel level reading. If he can then they would have to take out the gas tank and then replace some additional sensors for that as well.
 
I am hoping that all of these are not representative of a larger issue...any thoughts?
#15 of 23
Lighting problems by james3686
Nov 16, 2008 (2:10 pm)
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I have 06 R 350, at times the tail lights don't light and I get a read out " left substitute light on" other times it will be " right substitute light on" and sometimes I get a readout that both "left & right substitute light on" will be displayed. Running lights never light. Could it be the head light switch? Car has 50,000 K
#16 of 23
Now more then minor problems by ctdan
Nov 18, 2008 (7:27 am)
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My post from 11/10 listed some minor problems which were "fixed" by replacing a few sensors, now a week later it looks like I am now in the club of the low voltage, power drain. When I went out to the car yesterday morning there was a constant beeping with a message on the dash saying something to the effect of "return to workshop, do not put in gear". When I put the key in, the car started sluggishly (low power) and then starting with all sorts of flashing waring lights. Also oddly the wipers went on by themselves - although they were in the off position. The car would not go into gear, either fwd or reverse. Called the dealer, they dispatched a tow truck to bring my R350 back to the svc dept. Not a good feeling watching a 2008 that was a few months old being hauled out on a flatbed.
 
The dealer told me that there were too many codes coming up to clearly identify the source of the problem, but they did isolate the fact that underlying issue was low voltage. They initially replaced the battery and ran some overnight diagnostics to check the battery drain in the morning. This morning they told me that there is definitely a drain coming from somewhere, but not sure of primary source. They think it may be coming from the fuel pump since my last gas gauge issue identified in my 11/10 post. I find it interesting though that last week that was nothing to worry about and now they think it is the cause of the problem.
 
After reading some of the other posts I do not get a level of comfort that they will be able to isolate and fix this issue as clearly there seems to be some kind of MB mfg default with no known resolution.
 
Has anyone that has experienced this low voltage/electrical problem been supplied with an actual resolution, other then a new vehicle?
#17 of 23
Re: Now more then minor problems [ctdan] by lcjd
Nov 18, 2008 (9:51 am)
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Replying to: ctdan (Nov 18, 2008 7:27 am)

MB replaced our steering control unit 7 months ago and ,knock on wood, it seems to have resolved our battery drain issue. Make sure the steering control unit is from a previous year, though. Not a 2008.
 
I agree, watching the flatbed tow our 2008 - 3 times!- was no fun!
#18 of 23
Re: Now more then minor problems [lcjd] by ctdan
Nov 18, 2008 (10:23 am)
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Replying to: lcjd (Nov 18, 2008 9:51 am)

Thanks for the response lcjd.
 
Interesting, my dealer never mentioned a steering control unit as a potential problem. What he did tell me though when I my car was dropped off yesterday with this low voltage issue is that he had another R350 in the shop w/a similar problem.
#19 of 23
Low Voltage problem update by ctdan
Nov 18, 2008 (1:59 pm)
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Just had an update from my Svc Tech and he confirmed that they found the source of the problem and it is the ISM Motor of the Control Unit.
 
A quick google of "MB ISM Motor" revealed the exact same problem resulting in the “DRIVE DIRECTLY TO GARAGE WITHOUT CHANGING GEAR” message that I received.
 
They told me that basically what happened is that the ISM Motor is defective - this is the part that controls the paddle to shift from park to drive & reverse. The faulty ISM was preventing the car from shifting gears, hence the message above about driving without changing gears (a physical impossibility, but let's not split hairs). The drain came from the fact that problem with the ISM Motor prevented the car from recognizing that it was in park and therefore resulted in the repeated beeping and the dome light to be illuminated with no way to shut either off - causing the battery to drain.
 
He is replacing the ISM Motor tomorrow, hopefully that will do the trick. I'll post an update if it worked... or didn't.

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