SL R230 - SRS, Wiper, Comand / Command, Roll Bar, Airbag Light, Clicking

[bryher]

I have a 2006 SL350 and reasonably regularily, the SRS light comes on along with a number of other faults. Usually, if the car has been standing for a number of hours (possibly overnight), it will be O.K. when started and run. If the car is then turned off and then on, the fault is likely to, but not definitely, return.

The problem seems to be water (or damp) related. In the winter, it was much much worse than now and washing the car seems to trigger the fault.

When there is a fault, the red SRS light always comes on. It is accompanied by one or several of the following.

- The airbag light on the glove box flashes rapidly
- Windscreen wipers or washer don’t work
- Comand system says it is unavailable and turns off
- Rapid clicking sound in the courtesy light cluster at front middle of roof
- Seat (probably the passenger seat) clicks rapidly
- The amber roll bar warning light may come on for a while and then goes off
- Possible issue with Auto mode headlights not switching on

Usually, if I drive the car for 20-50 minutes the faults clear.

I took the car to specialist who clearly knew what they were talking about and they re-plugged all 3 SAM's and checked for water ingress / corrosion - none was found. They reset all of the faults with STAR. Fault vanished for about a week and then came back (mind you, it was was warm and dry weather)

SL is a lovely car but the fault does deminsh the ownership experience !

Does anyone have any ideas and how I can get it fixed?

 

[Uncle Benz]

I'm pretty much 99% sure it's the eis, or ignition switch in English. Seen one before. All the stuff that malfunctions is on position 1 of the ignition switch. You are looking for a fault code that reads something like "terminal 15R off when terminal 15 on", but it won't be stored in the eis, more likely in one of the sam's. One like this haunted me for weeks, and I replaced both front sam's before finally solving it.

 

[television]

Well I am going to say drivers side SAM

The wipers are on it.
The SRS system is on it.
Comand is on it.
The seat lock sensor is on it.
Front drivers seat is on it.
The lamps are on it.
The cluster is on it.

Now if a SAM loses information the Can will keep sending out signals till it finds something, usually after 15 mins of driving when the important activity has died down. This is the only component to behave like this.

The odd man out is the roll bar that is connected to the rear SAM, but also info needed as a safety item, but all part of the CAN B, as are all of the other faults.

At this stage it is worth removing the passenger SAM and looking in side to check for the slightest corrosion on the PCB as moisture gets into this via the vent in the wing, and this SAM can blow the drivers side with ease, I know been there and had it.

Now I can let you borrow a SAM it has faults but not the ones that you have and perfect for testing.

MB have sold over 1000 passenger SAM's to date

 

[Uncle Benz]

Try thumping the dash next to the key switch to see if it makes the fault appear.

As any experienced mercedes mechanic will tell you, these are complex cars, and faults can be extremely difficult to pin down, even with the best diagnostic equipment.

 

[whitenemesis]

.........
I took the car to specialist who clearly knew what they were talking about and they re-plugged all 3 SAM's and checked for water ingress / corrosion - none was found. They reset all of the faults with STAR. Fault vanished for about a week and then came back (mind you, it was was warm and dry weather)

SL is a lovely car but the fault does deminsh the ownership experience !

Does anyone have any ideas and how I can get it fixed?

Well I am going to say drivers side SAM

The wipers are on it.
The SRS system is on it.
Comand is on it.
The seat lock sensor is on it.
Front drivers seat is on it.
The lamps are on it.
The cluster is on it.

Now if a SAM loses information the Can will keep sending out signals till it finds something, usually after 15 mins of driving when the important activity has died down. This is the only component to behave like this.

The odd man out is the roll bar that is connected to the rear SAM, but also info needed as a safety item, but all part of the CAN B, as are all of the other faults.

At this stage it is worth removing the passenger SAM and looking in side to check for the slightest corrosion on the PCB as moisture gets into this via the vent in the wing, and this SAM can blow the drivers side with ease, I know been there and had it.

Now I can let you borrow a SAM it has faults but not the ones that you have and perfect for testing.

MB have sold over 1000 passenger SAM's to date

Where do you get that number from?

 

[television]

Where do you get that number from?

The spares guy told me when I bought one, they have this info on their computers

 

[Uncle Benz]

Here's a link to my previous nightmare...

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=71024

It didn't actually finish there...

It came back a few more times after...

Finally fixed with a new ignition switch, but I don't like to talk about it!!

 

[whitenemesis]

Malc, how many SL have been sold over the same time?

 

[television]

Malc, how many SL have been sold over the same time?

That I do not know, no idea but 2 a penny on here now.

It is the same SAM right through to 2008

 

[EUPremier]

R230 SL350 SRS light, Roll Bar light, Wipers, Comand, Clicking driver's safety belt

Hi, I just joined the forum having bought a ''05 SL350 last week...

The car was left in a dealer's yard, idle, for 6 months and was a bit damp... I've given it lot of TLC & put a dehumidifier into both the cabin and rear to get rid of any remaining moisture.

In any event, I'm having similar issues to those described in this thread:

SRS Light
Roll Bar light
Wipers don't work when SRS light on
Comand booting and going off

I had flickering of dash LCD displays but charging consumers battery seems to have corrected that.

I don't want to go guessing at solutions and replacing expensive parts only to have the problem recur!

Can anyone advise whether the EIS has proven to be the primary culprit? I've researched this quite a bit and it seems owners who have replaced SAMs etc have all ended-up replacing the EIS to finally cure it...

Finally, the Stealer tells me my SAMs are fine... though he did so as I bought the car!

Cheers,

Greg

 

[television]

As the other post I think you have water in the sills upsetting the CAN busses

 

[EUPremier]

Thank you for your quick reply.

I know you and some others queried the SAM but dealer toldmemine was perfect.

There are quite a few other owners on this and different forums that say it ultimately proved to be the EIS. I have noticed that jiggling the key or thumping the area around it can either bring on or (temporarily) eliminate the fault???

Myy dealer has not sold many SLs and has asked me to provide as much information as to a possible cure to assist them, amazingly enough.

Anyway, when you say the 'sills' I understand you to mean the windscreen runoff area behind the starter battery or the passenger side on RHD versions? You do not mean the door sills, right?

Is it best that I pop off the plastic cover there and use an inspection camera to identify the presence of water or condensation?

Will removal of the SAM, (ignition key removed) for disassembling (thorough water inspection) bring on any errors after reassembly? Should batteries be disconnected first?

Thanks again for your help.

Cheers,

Greg

 

[television]

You need to remove the passenger seat and look in the sills where the Can and wake up wires run. with dampness and corrosion on the CAN connectors nothing will make sense, the fact that the roll bar on different connections more or less confirms this. I do suggest that your dealer plugs into start and looks at the status of the CAN B and the Robert Bosch CAN that drives the cluster. Just flicking the ignition switch just means pot luck as to what comes up. Until Te CAN buses have been checked you could spend a lot of money.

 

[beast900]

Drivers SAM Possible Fault - Checks & Advice

Hi There,

I have a 2005 SL 350 (R230) and at the weekend I decided to take a look at the Drivers SAM module for water ingress or signs of any water damage.

This might be a silly question but the car is UK spec so the module I have removed is on the rear far left side of the engine bay (if viewing the car from the front) is this the drivers side SAM? or would it be the other side as its German made and normally geared up for left hand drive?

The part number is :

A 230 545 19 32
HW : 28/04
SW : 46/03

I occasionally get the combination of errors very similar to bryher in this post from 2011 http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=84746

normally after a heavy night of rain, not during the rain though, normally when the sun comes out and starts to warm the car throughout the day and I normally notice the problem when I leave work around 5pm.

I have attached a picture of the module and its looks to be as new with no signs of water anywhere.

So Before I disconnect everything and remove the cover to check the actual board I just wanted to check I am going about diagnosing this the right way.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards

 

[television]

With these cars we say drivers side or passenger side, this overcomes the LHD / RHD problem.

If you have not checked the water drain spout under the passenger side rear section of the front wheel arch liner, water could have got into the sills passenger side and cause poor contacts on the wake up and CAN connectors.

The drivers side SAM is not the one that gets corrosion, it is the passenger side SAM.
What are the faults displayed

 

[beast900]

Hi Television,

I have not checked behind the wheel arch liner on the passenger side I will do that over the coming days and let you know, what it looks like.

I am glad I didn't go any further with the drivers side SAM.

Fault wise this is what I get :

SRS fault indicator light on Dash board, which sometimes is accompanied by the airbag lamp on the glove box blinking rapidly.

Amber Roll Bar Light on the dash board - with clicking coming from behind the drivers seat.

The window wipers will give up after about 5mins in heavy rain, but do come on again a few minutes later.

And more recently :

Command - System unavailable message - the system switches off and will come back on a minute or so later, sometimes it will stay on and sometimes it will keep displaying the message and come on for a period of seconds and continue to repeat the same thing.


Thanks for cleaning up LHD and RHD I suppose that makes sense.

 

[television]

You are going to have to look in the passenger sill, the side kick panel comes off just 1 screw, pull the carpet back to expose the CAN cables/connectors in the plastic trunking, the lids will lift off.

 

[beast900]

Great stuff,

I am at work at the moment so I will have a look at lunch if I have time and get back to you.

Thanks again

 

[beast900]

Hi Television,

I managed to pull the carpet back on the passenger side to gain access to the CAN connector, I have attached a picture to double check it is the right thing I am looking at.

I can see though that under the carpet the sponge is completely saturated, the carpet is not wet or even damp on the surface though.

In order for me to pull the carpet back completely are there any steps I need to consider or will it come lose?

Also any tips for disconnecting the CAN wiring as I don't want to cause any additional damage.

Do i need to check the same on the drivers side or is there no wiring?

Thanks again for all your help

 

[television]

It is a miserable job with the seat in, just the connector on the front and 5 screws and the seat is out, but you are not doing too bad as is

Are the wires on those 2 blocks in the picture damp or any sign of water damage or green on the pins from what you can see.

You may find that it will all dry out if no green on the can plugs or bus bar. if any green on the plugs you will need some non drying contact cleaner from Maplins A hair drier works well ion drying this all out.

Your real first move on all this is to remove the rear section on the wheel arch liner and cut the flaps off the heater box drain, and clear the pipe out.

I have also sent a PM