ASR light and sluggish performance??
 

1991 500SL. Drives great. Today I turned it on and got the ASR light on the dashboard. The gas pedal would not gas the car until engaged halfway, and it felt very very stiff. After stopping for gas, I restarted the car and it has not done this since.

What is the ASR system? Should I worry about this? Other than this one event it drives normally.

Sounds like your "limp home" mode was activated. I believe the ASR light is also used as a fault indicator for the ABS/ASR. If it happens again, off the the garage with ye...:p

Hey spinedoc, if I remember correctly there's some old info/bulletin pertaining to your complaint. I'm sorry I can't be more specific but in the early days of ASR there were a few bugs left to be worked out depending on which model MB you had. Updated control modules, throttle actuators/switches, etc. It may be worth a call to your local dealer to see if they can help. Good luck.

I am bringing it in to the dealer on Thursday for the 120k service and to check that out, although it has not done this at all except for that one time for about 10 minutes, odd. I guess it just got stuck in some kind of ASR mode.

This MAY be due to a throttle actuator starting to go bad. They run about $1000 to replace.

On the other hand, it may not happen again for years.

Might do a search on "throttle actuator" (I think I'm using the right term).

l have similar problem and fault code 6 = idle speed ontrol inoperative.
asr light comes on. happens periodically but waiting for it to get worse so l can take it to the dealer.
you should check for any fault codes.