It is not clear what you are experiencing: Which ASR light is illuminating – the one on the bottom of the instrument cluster next to the ABS light? Or the one on the top of the speedometer?
Because your wire harness is deteriorated I will not offer my usual “check your battery” diagnosis for this problem. In your case the culprit could likely be an electrical glitch in the harness.
I will, nonetheless, conjecture that ASR is not at fault. It is your ABS that is shutting down and taking ASR with it (since ASR depends on ABS). Why MB engineers had the ASR light illuminate when the car goes into limp mode, as opposed to the ABS light, is a mystery to me. (I suspect it is one of numerous twisted jokes German engineers play on the world as payback for losing two wars.)
In my car, the ASR issue began 4 years ago and is directly related to ambient temperature. The only component that correlates so consistently and predictably to that is the battery. But because my battery refuses to die, and because the ASR issue does not occur in warm weather, it may shock those of you who have heard my ASR woes before to learn that I still have not replaced it.
