2008 ML550 Battery issues
 

My wife had her second incident of a dead battery yesterday. This is a one year plus 2 week old vehicle, always garage parked. I think it has around 10K miles.
First incident maybe 4 months ago, she called road service. The guy who came jump started the car, and told her she "left the radio on". Uh, excuse me genius, I believe the radio turns off with the ignition.

More recently, the vehicle locked itself while her keyless go key was sitting in the car. Luckily she was home at the time, and simply unlocked with her spare key. There was also an occurrence where the command screen & switch lights would not come on.

I've read that electrical gremlins are somewhat common, so we had not been too concerned.
Service A was done 2 weeks ago, and we told the SA about the problems. They "updated software" and supposedly ran some diagnostics, and told us everything was fine.

Yesterday afternoon, the vehicle was completely dead. A low volume beeper was sounding inside the vehicle, but nothing else worked at all. We called a tow company refered by the dealer, and they winched it up on a rollback & took it to Herb Gordon in Silver Spring around 6:00 pm last night.

In this day & age, how hard can it be to find where the cause of a current drain is?
Should I push for new batteries?
Any suggestions appreciated.

David in MD

Bulletin TB 54.21/198e dated 6 January 2009 addresses your problem.

You need to get truck back to dealer & make sure they understand problem!

Send me a e-mail & I will enclose that bulletin.

I get a couple of these in the shop every week. Depending on the size of the rest current draw, the fix is either updating the software for the rear SAM, or replacing the Steering Column Module.

might i ask how zippy the ML550 is?! :)

&& I go to the dealer for everything! i mean EVERYTHING.

It is indeed quite zippy, but I almost never drive it. My wife is a very conservative driver, and seldom if ever stomps on the gas. She wanted the 550 more because it was the "top of the line" series, not because she is a power junkie.
I drive a GL450, and the ML will spin circles around it.

Back OT,
Thanks to MBDOC and ilovemils for your info. My service advisor finally called me back around 3:00 pm to acknowledge my message to him about the service bulletins. He informed me they had not even brought the car into the shop yet. He kind of offhandedly remarked about the slew of bulletins that are always being issued. Hopefully today a good technician will get to work on it.

David

Update
 

My SA called to tell me I can pick up the ML this afternoon. He actually thanked me for bringing the TB numbers to his attention. I'm told they did the steering column module replacement, and battery replacement as well.

Thanks again for the quick answers!

In this economy they need the work.

MBUSI is very helpful in this regard.

David- If you ever get dissatisfied with Herbie's, give me a call and I'll introduce you to my advisor at euro ;)

haha. thanks for jumping OT tho :)

Thanks for the offer John.
I do believe Euro M C's to be a somewhat higher caliber organization than some of the other Balt/Wash dealers.
They are, unfortunately, not really conveniently located for me or my wife.
We bought our first new MB from the Bethesda location. My wife used to take dance lessons in Bethesda multiple times weekly, so servicing there was fine. Now her dance studio has relocated to Silver Spring, and we have moved to Howard Co. The Germantown location could work for me, as my office is in Rockville. Should I feel I'm not being serviced well enough, I'll gladly take you up on your offer.

I really like my salesman at HG. He gave me great pricing on factory ordered vehicles, with no down payments. Euro wanted more money for an in stock comparably equipped vehicle, and would only do that price "this weekend"
When I'm spending that kind of money, the last way to get my $$,$$$.$$ is to pressure me.

David

Yeah I heard one of the salesmen today showing a SLK350 I just put a battery in. "Gotta hurry, it wont last through the weekend!" yeah right. It was CPO'd back in July and we still have it... At the end of January, it will have to be CPO'd again haha, so no wonder they want to unload it!

If I'm any closer to you in Frederick, and you dont mind leaving it with me, I can take it in if its any easier for you.