First off, I am a first time Mercedes owner, an 01 ML55. Anyway, the BAS ESP Indicator lamp has recently stayed on, two occasions in past week, after the car was started. I immediately turned engine off and re-started; indicator lamp did not stay on. Should I be concerned and take issue to local Mercedes dealer; car is still covered by factory warranty?

I'm not sure if this will help or not. On my E Class, the BAS, ESP and ABS came on on two occasions when I was braking normaly to park the vehicle. I knew the system had not failed because ABS and traction control were still working after I put them to test. After I talked to my SA about the first occurence, he said to bring her in if it does it again before my next service. I took the car in after the second occurence and they easily traced the problem to a faulty brake switch. It was a warranty fix also.

Thanks for reply; when this happened my brakes appeared to be okay and traction was not a problem....have appointment Monday for local Mercedes dealership to look at...hate to sound like a novice; but does the ML55s store the BAS ESP occurence on a computer somewhere that could be acccessed by dealership to find out problem??

I believe it does. I know the E-Class does, so I don't see why the ML wouldn't. Unlike the E Class which displays the number of malfunctions on a dashboard screen, I don't believe the ML does the same. However, it does store these malfunctions.

BTW, in my case, the screen display showed 3 malfunctions when the incidence occured and as soon as I restarted the car it showed 0 malfunctions. However, the techs were able to easily disgnose the problem becasue the vehicle actually stored in memory, information related to the malfunctioning component. That was nice to know!!!

Hope they find the problem promptly and get it fixed.

I was told by one of my buddy mechanics that if there is any problems with the bas/esp lights it wont' affect the braking at all.. since those esp lights are for traction situations such as slippery roads and snow.. In another words, if your bas/esp is faulty your car will be like a regular car that doesn't have ABS..
Theory true?

I would say that's fairly accurate. Maybe if there was a particular type of failure of either the hydraulic system or vacuum booster which would trigger a warning light, then you may be in deep doo-doo as far as doing a good stop. But in general it's fairly rare for any manufacturer to have a failure of this type anymore, not as long as the maintenance is being performed.
Usually the BAS/ESP warning light being on isn't going to prevent you from having at least a really good stopping capability without the ABS, ESP or BAS.
One thing to be cautious of is to make sure the brake lights are working, because the brake light switch alot of times is the problem, and may or may not disable the brake lights, depends on which set of contacts is bad.

Gilly

This has happened to me several times. It used to happen every Monday morning, after the vehicle had set all weekend long, only being moved from one area of the property to another, perhaps for washing, etc. The coolant pump always seems to run, whether you have driven it , or just started it to move it. I think the manual states that if the voltage drops below 10volts it will turn the light on, or some such. I thought perhaps the battery was just run down somewhat. I reported it to the dealer, and they could find no problems.

It happened again this past weekend for the first time in a while, and it had not been sitting idle this time. I had been towing trailers this weekend, and I checked each one to be sure that the brake lights were working on the trailer, which they were.

The light always goes out, after a stop and restart of the engine.

George

Sounds like we almost the same problem...have appt with MB dealer in the AM on Tue...if vehicle stored the occurrence dealer should figure out...will advise if they find anything!!

I'm curious to know.

Mr Darkmann...just back from MB dealer..faulty stop lamp switch replaced. Svs Mgr said vehicle stored indicator lamp occurrence and was easy to pinpoint. Should also point out that Moderator Gilly correct in his assessment of problem...thanks one and all for feedback.

"Mr Darkmann", that's funny. I don't remember anyone addressing me like that. Drop the "Mr". Anyway, I'm glad it was an easily resolvable proble.

I have a 2001 ML320and I just recently had both the BAS/ESP and the ETS lights stay on for the duration of a trip, and then go off normaly on the next trip. I know that my rear brake pads are quite thin and I have an appointment to have them replaced next week.

Does anyone know if the thin pads can cause this behavior?

Thanks.

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dac

I have a 2000 ML55. MY BAS/ESP & ETS lights came on and stayed on last night. Shut engine off, turned ignition back on lights went out, until I depressed the brake pedal, then lights came back on (did this several times). My rear brake lights were not coming on either. When I got back home I took cover off the fuse box (driver side) under the hood and started pulling any relay or fuse associated with the brake or other systems in question. I tapped on the relay boxes in case there were any stuck contacts. Fuses were OK. Started ignition again, now everything working......maybe stuck relay contacts. Taking to dealer next week to have them check things out.

I tnink you have the faulty brake switch problem. Take it in and it's an easy fix.

Where is the brake switch in question located??