Possibly the SBC unit. It has known problems and Mercedes has extended the warranty on that part to 10 years. Never let a dealer try to get you to pay for that one.

The shatter on many other sites is that all three of these warning lights can be brought up by a defective brake light switch. Some owners have replaced theirs multiple times. I've had the same lights on my '05 CDI for a few weeks now. I also noticed that the steering is a little stiffer.

I looked at my brake light switch yesterday. It is a little different than the one I replaced in the ML; this one only has one switch in it whereas the ML has two. The switch in this one is normally closed and opens when you depress the brake pedal. The switch is attached in front of the brake pedal arm and is removed by pressing the locking tab and rotating 1/4 turn clockwise. (I hope I have that correct). I tested my switch and found it working properly, but when I installed it, I found that the contact don't open when the brake is not pressed; the arm does not press the plunger in far enough.

I began scratching my head and wondered how this affected the brake lights. I went behind the car and found that with the key on, the brake lights were on when the padal not pressed. We may have been driving for weeks with the brake lights on all the time. I then taped a few pennies to the brake pedal arm so that the switch is depresssed far enough when the brake is not applied. No more brake lights; workaround successful.

This however did not remove the ESP, ABS, and BRAKE warnings. Maybe I have to clear the fault codes first.

The switch can be had online for about $7 or from the stealer for $25 - $35. UI hear that the replacement switch has an adjustable plunger setting.

__________________
Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)