PLEASE HELP !!! 98 ML 320 ABS/ETS problem
 

Hi there to all of you Mercedes enthusiasts and specialists !
First of all let me say that I am a huge Mercedes "freak" and even after this bad experience I will still love Mercedes cars more than any other car out there PERIOD !!!. My first car was a 190 E, my second was a 500 SEC (the best car I have ever driven). A month ago I bought my third - a 1998 ML 320 with 145 K miles on it. After two weeks of driving it, I started to hear some rough noise comming from bellow the engine which very soon became very loud every time I would press the gas pedal. Just by where it was comming from I immediatelly suspected that there must be a hole in the exhaust pipe and I was very close to have it checked at a local Meineke muffler shop which now I regret so much I didn't do. Instead, I decided that as the new owner of the car I owe at least one visit to the Mercedes dealer to get an "expert oppinion" about all the possible problems I may expect to deal with in the future. BIG, BIG, BIG, MISTAKE !!!! I hope I won't insult any of you Mercedes technicians out there but one thing I know for sure is that I will never ever ever ever ... take my car to this Mercedes dealer again and I will make sure all my friends or any person I will come in contact with from now on will find out about my bad experience. I never had such a problem when I was living in Germany(Landstuhl) - I would always go to the Mercedes repair shop for any problem I had. The parts and labor rate are not cheap over there either but they never tried to rip me off or, even worse, to inflict additional problems on the car. Yes, this is exactelly the type of treatment I was offered here ( I am not sure yet if I should give the name of this dealer). They checked the car and came to me with a big list of parts I had to change "immediately". I don't know what made them think I look like someone who knows nothing about cars but when they told me that one of the biggest priority was to change the water pump I started to get suspicious because I knew that the temperature gauge never indicated such a problem and plus I never noticed any leak. Sure enough, there was no problem with the water pump - (I am still driving the car today and no overheating or coolant leak) and neither were all the other crap they were trying to sell me, necessary. About my problem with the rough noise, they told me they will have to replace both front catalytic converters - $2,300 job. Even though I belived them, I was determined to find a place where they would do it for a lot less. I went home, and the very next day in the morning I headed to the muffler place I initially had in mind for my problem.They first inspected it on the computer and told me that there was nothing wrong whith the cats. They found a leak and once that was welded, the problem was GOOONE : No more rough sound !!! The problem I am stuck with right now appeared after I ran over the first pot-hole, on the way back from the Mercedes dealer. The ABS, ETS, Brake lights and an annoying beeping sound immediatelly came on. I stopped, turned off the engine and restarted it few minutes later and the problem seemed to have dissapeared. Few days later, the same problem and the same fix only that the third time it happened the problem wouldn't go away by shutting off and restarting. This time it went into the "limp home mode" and I had to drive home with 15-20 mph. I took it to Mercedes dealer for a computer diagnosis and they told me that the ETS/ABS unit(pump) is bad and it needs to be replaced - another $ 2,000 job. Needless to say that I have the feeling they are trying to rip me off again. Leaving apart everything else they told me to replace and was not necessary, this is the reason I think the pump itself may not be bad : First of all, it happened every time I went over a pot-hole so my intuitive logic tells me it has to be a bad contact somewhere. Second, every time it rains outside, the problem is gone - no lights no beeping sound, nothing ( everything works fine) When it gets dry outside,the problem reapears and it drives me nuts because each time it goes into limp mode again. Once again, these are the symptoms : when dry, turn engine on and three lights come on -ETS, ABS, BRAKE ! When I start driving, immediatelly after I reach aprox.10mph , the beeping sound comes on and stays on until the vehicle comes to complete stop. Every once and then the car goes into limp mode( the speedometer is showing zero all the time and the transmission is not upshifting.
Any information will be highly appreciated.
Thanks!

I'm not sure why you're pi$$ed at the dealer? It sounds like your "new" ML needs some work. If you told the SA at the dealer that you just bought it, they probably gave it a look-over and found some things that need attention! Did the dealer tell you the water pump was leaking? Just because it's not over-heating, or leaking, doesn't mean it's OK. Maybe the pulley is wobbling due to a worn bearing. I see this happen frequently, in fact it's one of the things we check for while we're under the hood. And there's no way they'd weld your 'cats back together either. It's a liability issue. That's why Meineke is in business. As far as your traction system problem is concerned, maybe you should just drive it on rainy days? :D Don't be so quick to bash your dealer. It's possible that they were just trying to let you know that you have a few things that need to be attended to.

ABS/ETS et al
 

First of all, I don't know why your ML is going into the limp home mode for the ABS/ETS problems, mine never did. Furthermore, the brakes continue to work fine, just lacking the pulsing effect of ABS.

You should read what I did to fix the above problem, and at least troubleshoot the pump as I did. Did the dealer blame the pump failure on leakage from the windshield washer fluid reservoir? patch this line into the search to see what I posted on this forum:

ABS and ETS lights on/ I found the problem/LONG

I have more pictures if you feel you would like to see them, contact me directly.

Good luck,

Jim in Phoenix

Thanks a lot !
 

Jim, thank you very much for the info. After I read your prevous post I am almost 100% convinced that my problem with the ABS/ETS has a very similar cause. Also,taking time to explain how you rationalized the whole diagnosis and fixing process for your car I think is really outstanding and exactelly the type of info people who sing up on these kind of forums are looking for.
Mr. who loves MILS, ( please excuse me I call you that but I just don't see any name next to your messages) I understand your reaction but now, let me see if you can understand how I feel about your ironic reply. Instead of just saying it, let me give you a simple scenario from an area in which you may not be quite an expert but I think is a good analogy : Say you are in vacation somwhere in Mexico or whatever your favorite place might be. You and your beloved ones are having a great time when all of the sudden (God forbids !) you start having stomach cramps, fever, chills, and overall feel you are about to die. Half an hour later, after you took some antacid you start feeling a lot better but you decide to go to the hospital anyway just to check it up and the doctor who is evaluating you, after running some quick tests, hands you some papers to sign saying that if you don't agree on having a stomach surgery immediatelly you may possiblly risk your life next time it happens. You were thinking all the time before you got to the hospital that you were having a simple indigestion or at the worst a food poisoning but nevertheless,you start to worry and immediatelly begin to associate it in your mind whith some ulcers in the past that appeared to fix themselves over the time. You call your personal doctor to ask his expert oppinion on this matter and he says he would have to take a look and run some tests himself before he gave you an answer. Meanwhile you feel perfectly well and still have one week left from your vacation. Someone tells you he/she recently heard of a new alternative to the surgery that however,is still being looked at with some skepticism by most of the doctors. You decide to check out this great forum where people who had to go through the same kind of medical procedure are sharing their thoughts. You want to know more about this alternative and post a detailed message where you include the whole history of your symptoms. Next day you come back to your hotel and anxiously check to see if you got any answers. Believe it or not, but the first message comes from a doctor who doesn't give his real name( let's call him IDIDMILFS) and who says that this is his area of expertise and that he regularly performs five surgeries /day. And guess what his advice is. Unbelievably, he considers you craizy for even thinking about the alternative and in a more "optimistical" way he says " Don't go to Mexico". HOW WOULD YOU FEEL !?!
I admit this is not the best example but, believe it or not, surgery was the treatment of choice for any history of chronic ulcers before around 1984 when they discovered that an insignificant bacteria who could be easily treated with antibiotics was the main culprit of many stomach ulcers. In the 70's,if you told that to a super-duper surgeon who succesfully operated more than 10,000 ulcers he might very well laugh at you. Nowadays, any third grader have heard about H. Pylori and probably has an idea why is bad.
BTW, I see you are very active on this forum but so far all the messages I read inavariably tell people on this forum to do the same thing : "Go to the dealer and have it checked on the computer". Thanks a lot for your expert advice !

Great post!!! Keep up the good work :silly: