Is this the infamous SBC impending failure warning?
 

On my CDI, every time I turn on the ignition I get this warning. Does this mean an SBC unit replacement is in my future? If so, where can one be found that is the best value? Is rebuilt available or is new the only option? I dreaded this when I bought the car knowing that someday I would have to deal with it. I like everything about the CDI except this!

Are they any stored codes? Something is triggering that warning.

I have not checked for codes yet, so maybe it is just worn pads.

i know ill catch some flak for this, but when the time comes on my w211 i plan on getting the sbc reset tool.

also i dont think its your sbc, sbc warning is a bright red logo. Says reduced braking.

I thought this was the first warning, and later on the red warning comes with diminished or no braking. I hope it is just worn pads or something simple.

What is this tool you speak of? I know the STAR (Xentry) will handle this, but is there something less expensive? I have the Icarsoft MB II, will that reset the SBC? I will only reset the SBC after replacing the unit, but don't want to have to tow my car to the dealer and pay big bucks to have them do it.

No. I asked my MB service manager, that's not the one you speak of.

You can't reset the SBC counter with the ICarsoft unit. But there is some cheap unit out there that will do just that. It's marketed as solving a problem when in reality it's only masking it. Obviously the SBC unit will go beyond when we're told to replace it...but that's because there's a margin of safety built in. Extremely risky, in my opinion, simply to reset the actuation count. In effect what you're doing is preventing the car from telling you there's a problem when a problem arises.

Replacing the SBC unit is not a huge expense as car repairs go. I'm hoping to get to well over 200k before having to deal with mine.

Yes I plan to replace my SBC unit with probably a rebuilt one from ebay. I will then have to figure out the cheapest and easiest way to get it reset. My car has 201,000 miles on it.

That tool is out there and once the reset has been done i don't think you can tell its been used. I'm in a few mercedes fb groups and they are used often. Like i said if the light came up on my mine i'll use the $40 tool to reset the counter until i figure out what i want to do.

Once the reset is done, how would you know when the unit actually NEEDED to be replaced? What criteria would you use to determine when to replace it?

Interesting article about SBC
 

I believe it still runs system checks in addition to the cycle counting. From what i have read, most of the time the brushes wear out on the motor The cycle counter and alert is more relating to the brush life, nothing internally is damaged. But this is a do at your own risk repair.

the w211 has some bad issues to them and i don't know if i would buy another of this series again. Both the e350 e500 have a balance shaft issue. Mercedes fought the issue so long there was class action lawsuit. The problem wasn't fully mercedes fault. The supplier of the gears cheapened out after they started manufacturing. If you got the code during the lawsuit window mercedes would cover 70% of the cost of the 4k bill. Mine never was done, was fully dealer maintened( light never came on) so when the light comes on i get to decide if i'm going to run it until destruction of spend the time to pull the motor and heads to replace it.