Just picked up an o4 E500 w211. It's got several electrical issues. One is the display tells me that something is wrong with the secondary battery, so the luxury features are off. It does that for a while. Then they come back on. Then off.
Also got within 2 miles of home and the ESP broken message came on (and stayed on.)
So, shy of these being super easy things all 211 owners deal with, my question is, what do I need and where do I begin? Is my first move to buy and icarsoft? or similar? Then what? Situation is NOT urgent, but I'd sure like to at least have the ESP functioning before December.
Thanks!

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Paul
2004 E500 4matic; 72,000mi

Have you checked the voltage / condition of the batteries?

(Sorry I can't advise on code readers I'm way too old school for that - you'll have to wait for others advice about that)

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

x2 Don’t spend time diagnosing electrical faults if the main and/or secondary batteries aren’t 100%.

Sixto
98 E320s sedan and wagon
02 C320 wagon

Test and replace batteries ,red icon battery symbol is auxiliary battery in cluster , which is backup battery for sbc brakes, consumers offline message is main battery if there older than 3 years just replace them , erase any codes and go from there, and check for any current draw 48-60 milliamps is normal for main rear battery

Alright; batteries will be my first check. PO told me he just replaced the aux batt, and also the alternator not long ago. He suggested the intermittent aux failure could just be a loose cable connection. I'm not sure if he was just blowing smoke or had an intelligent reason for that suggestion.

I've read other posts here suggesting that a good scanner would be a wise investment. So, if anyone has a recommendation of brand, I'm all ears.

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Paul
2004 E500 4matic; 72,000mi

Alright: primary battery is an AC Delco with a date stamp of '6,' which I assume is '16 and not '06.

But... its a regular liquid acid, not AGM. These are supposed to have AGMs, right?

Secondly, missing bolt-down battery holder, and looks like PO damaged the fiberglass 'tub' the battery/spare sit in. So that batt is shaking around pretty good.



Aux battery- 8/18 date stamp.

I tightened up all connections. Figure I should have the primary tested somewhere? Or should I just go buy an AGM?

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Paul
2004 E500 4matic; 72,000mi

Good luck with testers. I seemed to get a different message for every different tester used on my car. For instance: bad torque converter or timing sequence problems. Torque converters for my car wander around the $1700 range. They wanted 10+ hours to access the timing (CL600) and another 6 hours to adjust it.
Know what it was? One of the cam position sensors had slipped! $200 fixed it! The timing problem came from a Star C (made with Chinesium) and the torque converter problem came from a very expensive Delco(?) tester.
You "pays your money"
You "takes your chances"
Anziani
'97 CL600 68K

Get an icarsoft. It can pull codes and reset all the computers in the car. It'll save you a ton of money and time on diagnostics.

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CENSORED due to not family friendly words

It was the battery. 1) bad connection. 2) busted trunk tub had the battery flopping around 3) old dead battery anyway. New battery, fixed the rest. no more problems. ... not electrical at least.

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Paul
2004 E500 4matic; 72,000mi