Hello all</P>


My Mom has an E320 and I'm not a mechanic but she recently is returning from vacation and upon checking her car, I found the battery was dead. Is it usual for an E320 (year 2000 I believe)battery to go dead upon a month of not driving it?</P>


Also, after getting it charged and trying to start it, two lights came on indicating "2 MALFUNCTIONS", there were "Brake Assist" and "ABS". Did something really fall apart during that time (the car was undriven, untouched) or is the answer something simpler?</P>


Thank you very much in advance for your help </P>

 

After leaving mine alone for several weeks, I noticed odd braking behavior. It went away quickly, but I fear a longer hibernation may spawn more serious issues.</P>


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I had exactly the same problem today with my 1999 E300 TD! The car had been sitting still for a month, the battery was dead and after jump starting it the BAS/ASR fault warning came up. Simply switching the engine off and restarting made it go away but it came on again a few hours later but once again the switch on/off fixed it.

All seems ok now and both the BAS and ASR worked when i tested it. I guess it's some problem the system has with a low current or something. The whole system is a bid iffy, i remember when they first introduced it new I collected 5 new cars from the factory in Stuttgart all of which had the BAS fault!

 

maybe a little tips ....
your benz battery need to add water and charge to refreash every 6 months.
abs light on when you start up with out you step on the brake , you better check out your alternator if it cant have 13.8 volts output.
if you have asr /abs light on ...that the 1 thing is to replace the brake light switch..it cost less..iif still cant fix ,you make sure you have a lot of money to spend.......

 

All modern cars cause a drain on the battery while they sit parked. My Corvette battery goes dead in about four weeks, but my Chevy truck does not. The Corvette is packed with much more electronics, however.

There are myriad memories to maintain, alarms to keep active, etc, etc. Some don't manage this drain as well as others. On the other hand, MB may sacrifice ABS data banks early (along with others) and shut down memory maintenance when battery power gets low. Sort of its way of "surviving" imminent death.

The pattern seems to indicate that some MBs have a little trouble waking up from a deep sleep, but it's nothing a little muscle stretching and data collection on the highway won't cure. "Working as designed," I'd say.

For about $20 you can avoid all of this. Buy a Battery Tender if you plan to leave your car parked for extended periods. It's not a trickle charger but a battery charge manager that will maintain the battery's charge. Don't use a regular battery charger in trickle mode for extended periods.

Also, it's bad for a regular car battery to be recharged after losing it's charge. It's never the same afterwards. If you don't use a Battery Tender and your battery routinely goes dead from extended parking, get a deep-cycle battery. They are designed to go dead and to be recharged repeatedly without damaging the battery. A "yellow top" Optima battery is what I prefer and what I use in my Corvette, my beat-o-Jeep, and my Lance truck camper. Optima is a high-quality battery sold by Interstate Batteries, so you can buy them at discount stores that sell Interstate Batteries brands. Don't pay a premium price at a specialty store.

 

YOU NEED TO INITIALIZE THE STEERING ANGLE SENSOR.

STEER IT FULLY FROM END TO END AND THE LIGHT WILL COME OFF!

the BAS, ESP control module will recognize the steering position after that.