electronic actuator problem with ASR on - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Victor300E · #1 05-26-2008, 11:40 PM

Hello guys,

I have a problem with ASR light on and gas pedal not responding. It comes on sometimes and reseting the ignition fixes it but it can come on in 1 minute or in two days. Yesterday it would not reset with ignition key. Here is the weirdest thing: if I put ignition on without starting the car then I hear actuator moving and gas butterfly moves fine. The second I start the car ASR comes on and gas doesn't work. Today it reset and worked for a little but I didn't drive the car to test it. It came one later and I dumped codes. Many came up. I did many repairs and never cleared them. I cleared them all. Once gas worked and ASR came on again I had code 2 on EA pin. It means many things: EA/CC/ISC control module (N4/1) or safety contact switch (M16/1s1) or Stop Lamp switch or Cruise control switch or Actual value potentiometer or Starter lock-out/back-up lamp switch (S16/3) or Engine speed signal or Vehicle speed signal or Closed throttle position switch or Safety relay in EA/CC/ISC control module. Also code 30 on ABS/ASR module: CAN data line to EA/CC/ISC module (N4/1)

I took actuator off the car and replaced wiring harness with plug to actuator as preventive measure after I fixed my engine harness that was completely broken and shorting. Actuator looked good, potentiometer looked good, motor and clutch worked fine. ASR used to come up before once in awhile and I thought wires are shorting inside actuator wiring loom but they looked fine. I checked stop light switch and it seemed to work fine along with gas pedal microswitch. Neutral switch on tranny was replaced with used switch and ASR would come up after that also.

Here is my questions: does code 2 mean that actuator itself is bad or I have open circuit within CAN line and it trips code 2? How can I check CAN for short/open circuit?
Can neutral switch be misaligned and still let the car to be started but it's not good enough and it trips those codes?

Please steer me in right direction. I'm stuck with this problem.

Thank you

Forgot to mention, sometimes when ASR comes on idle would jump up and down. It would be more or less steady when transmission is engaged and sometimes it would just stay at 1000rpms. Does it point to actuator being faulty or control circuits failure?

JimF · #2 05-27-2008, 10:57 AM

Wow . . . rebuilt your wiring harness . . . that's quite a feat! How did you do this?? Details would be interesting.

If it's the '92 600SEL, isn't there two (2) ETAs??

Victor300E · #3 05-29-2008, 09:30 AM

Hi Jim,
I e-mailed you regarding eprom update. I think my computer is faulty and I'm looking for used one right now. I have cleaned MAS but lambda is still around 90% so I suspect ECM for not properly correcting air/fuel mix.

The car is 92 500sel. It has one Electronic Throttle Actuator. I think I caught a problem. ASR comes on when I start the car in Park but not in Neutral. It comes one after though. I removed neutral safety switch and highly suspect it after I read your menu 24. Yesterday I adjusted Neutral switch and today I drove the car and ASR did not come on. (knocking on wood). I probably will order new switch just in case.

Main engine wiring harness rebuild was one hell of a job. It took me around 8 hours. I ran every wire from main connector to consumer. I used to leave about 3/8" of old wires on each side, solder new wires to that and then I used heat-shrinking tube over soldering point. ETA wiring was easier to replace. My car has older version plug on passenger fender so I went to dealer and bought wiring with plug, opened ETA, soldered out old wiring and soldered new ones in. Believe it or not but ETA wiring was in good shape, no insulation was crumbling, and no wires were shorting.

I hope this info will help somebody

JimF · #4 05-29-2008, 10:50 AM

If the Neutral Safety switch was improved with "adjustment", it s/b replaced. There's no adjustment to that sw. . you adjusted the tranny shift alignment. If mine was toast (pics in MENU#24), yours is two years older than mine.

Have not received any email from you . . . ???

Quote:

Originally Posted by victor300E

ran every wire from main connector to consumer.

what's that mean??

That's a lot of wiring to replace in 8 hours . . amazing.

emerydc8 · #5 05-29-2008, 08:29 PM

Quote:

ETA wiring was easier to replace. My car has older version plug on passenger fender so I went to dealer and bought wiring with plug, opened ETA, soldered out old wiring and soldered new ones in.

Victor300E, did you take any pictures while you were doing the ETA? I bought the cable from the dealer too (they had to special order it from Germany), but it's hanging in my garage until my ETA gives me problems (I don't want to fix something that's not broken yet).

My soldering skills are limited. I was concerned that I might damage the other components in the ETA with the heat from the soldering iron. Did you take any precautions on this? What kind of soldering iron did you use?

Victor300E · #6 05-30-2008, 12:35 AM

Hi guys,

Here are few pictures from engine wiring harness rebuild and ETA wiring rebuild.

Engine harness was VERY time consuming and ETA was easier because there are less wires to work with but space and wire lengths are limited. I had to pull circuit board off but it only gave me 3/4" of extra wire length. I unsoldered all wires including motor wires on the left to get board free. BUT the actual soldering openings have pins of some kind around opening perimeter. So when I tried to suck old solder out the opening with de-soldering tool it did not clean the opening completely. It was very difficult to feed new wires through opening because you only have 3/4" wires to work with and they are kind of stiff. I used small needle nose pliers to hold and force the some wire inside openings heating the opening at the same time. I overheated one wire a bit and insulation on it melted, but my luck was that it was a ground wire and it didn't touch anything when assembled. Bottom line is I would not recommend doing this job to anyone who has less than average to high average soldering skills. I would recommend opening the wire jacket and ETA itself (if possible and you can take it out the car and put it back in. There is a vacuum hose that is on the way when you try to install ETA back in along with paper gasket that always moves when ETA is touched. And I tied return spring with thin but strong wire and pulled it out when I needed to snap it onto return linkage) to make sure that you need to replace wires before you start de-soldering old wires out. Most upsetting fact was that my wires were perfectly fine when I opened ETA (no cracks in insulation at all) but since I had new wiring already I just changed them. I used 40 watt soldering iron. My 30 watt one did not melt soldering fast enough so I went to radio shack and bought 40 wall iron.

Engine harness was pretty straight forward. It just takes a lot of patience because you have to do one wire at the time and there is a nest of wires all around.

And today my ASR light came on 5 times again with no throttle response. I will order new Neutral Switch. It act funny. It only will trip ASR light when I press the gas pedal less than a 1/4 in. I recycle ignition and it woulg go away for a bit. Last time I left the car in 3rd and it never came back on. I put it in drive and it never came back on. I will change the switch anyway. It would be cheaper than ETA anyhow and for the time being when ASR will come on I'll try to keep the car in 3rd and see if ASR will ever come on. It might be a way to catch a problem.

Ill keep you posted with my findings

emerydc8 · #7 05-30-2008, 03:54 AM

Wow! That's quite a job. Thanks for posting the pictures and the information. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a desoldering tool, so I guess I better not attempt this myself, unless I'm really in a jam.

My hat's off to you for tackling a project like this.

JimF · #8 05-30-2008, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Victor300E

Engine harness was VERY time consuming . . . .

Engine harness was pretty straight forward. It just takes a lot of patience because you have to do one wire at the time and there is a nest of wires all around.

Now there's an understatement!!! Amazing work . . you must have the patience of Job!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Victor300E

And today my ASR light came on 5 times again with no throttle response. I will order new Neutral Switch.

Did you check the "magnetic clutch" inside of the ETA??? That tends to burn up.

And you did this w/ a RS "40w" iron. . . kudos!

Victor300E · #9 06-02-2008, 09:09 AM

Hi guys,

Thank you for my finished job compliment. I don't want to do that anymore, to be honest

Jim,
I was driving around yesterday all day and ASR never came on. I want to believe that electromagnetic clutch inside ETA is fine. Here is why.
When I had ASR on, it would come on right after I start the car. Then I shut the car down, put ignition in RUN and press on gas pedal ETA butterfly will move, ETA would make sounds, but the second I start the car ASR would come on right away. However, If i would start the car in Neutral ASR will not come on. One day I was driving and ASR would come on many times, I got upset and put shifter in 3rd and it never came on again. When I put gear selector in Drive it still would not come on. I think it's a Neutral switch.
I thought it would be good to post my finding here since I'm sure many people have ASR problems. Before I change NSS I want to catch the problem and try to drive in 3rd to see if it cures the problem. Theoretically, 3rd gear contacts inside NSS are less worn than Drive. Therefore, if NSS Drive contacts are worn out it might be possible to drive in 3rd and if ASR is not on it would be clear that Neutral Safety Switch is faulty.
I too will open my old NSS to see sliding contacts condition. I'm a curious guy

JimF · #10 06-02-2008, 12:09 PM

The NSSw cerainly looks defective from what you wrote. It probably looks like the picture in MENU#24 of my NSSw. It was worn out!

Cheap part to replace and relatively easy to replace esp on a hoist!

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