W211 Electrical Issues

Vinney222

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Hi,
I recently purchased a 2002 W211 E240 Elegance. I decided to get it serviced and ready for winter, so I took it to my local garage I've used for a while. They did a full service, plus changed the brake fluid, anti-freeze etc plus sorted out a couple of oil leaks. I was getting an error message occasionally on the dash saying "electrical consumers switched off" which, after a plug in test, was put down to a weak battery which they changed. Got the car back yesterday and no error messages, great. But then this morning I noticed my heater blower motor wasn't working and the A/C switch on the dash showed it switched off but not able to turn it back on. I know they were working fine before I took the car in. The garage has the car back, but I can't get it out of my mind so I did a search to try and find any possible answers. I did come accross an article that said, if the battery is removed then certain systems need to be reset or "faults" can occur. Could my malfunctioning blowers be affected by one of the batteries being changed?
Any suggestions would be great.
Thanks
 

AMGeed

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I have heard its possible to get faults on the W211 changing the front aux battery if the main battery in the boot hasn't been disconnected first and reconnected last. The faults can be cleared with Star. I don't know if a generic code reader can clear the fault(s)

As to your problem, anything is possible. Was the blower working when you took the car home from the garage and has since stopped working?
 

LostKiwi

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I have heard its possible to get faults on the W211 changing the front aux battery if the main battery in the boot hasn't been disconnected first and reconnected last. The faults can be cleared with Star. I don't know if a generic code reader can clear the fault(s)
A generic reader won't clear anything other than engine codes.
 

00slk

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I was told, it best leave the battery disconnected for 20 minutes before connecting your new battery? Just thinking this may have caused the start of some electrical problems when I changed my battery in the 500?
 
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Vinney222

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Hi,
Thanks for the replies.
The car was delivered back to my house. It was the next morning when I drove it for the first time after the service etc that I noticed the lack of blowers.
 

ajlsl600

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do let us know if you find the cause. prob related to battery change,order of events ,pretty sure handbook covers that .
 
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Vinney222

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The garage called me today and told me the blower motor is faulty. A new one is being fitted in the morning. Only then will I know if the air con problem was because of the blower not working, or is a separate problem.
 

Botus

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Got the car back yesterday and no error messages, great. But then this morning I noticed my heater blower motor wasn't working and the A/C switch on the dash showed it switched off but not able to turn it back on. I know they were working fine before I took the car in. The garage has the car back, but I can't get it out of my mind so I did a search to try and find any possible answers. I did come accross an article that said, if the battery is removed then certain systems need to be reset or "faults" can occur. Could my malfunctioning blowers be affected by one of the batteries being changed?
Any suggestions

my fathers car exhibited the same heater blower motor issue last month...

there are two levels of consumer shut off, his hit level two and it appears to kill the blower motor and make lights on the AC display flash, a long drive (20 miles) sorted and all just started working again.

I hope the new battery just needs a good charge.... and you don't have an additional drain killing your new battery.

just coz u fitted a new one doesn't mean its in peak condition. if say on a shelf for 2 years and you drove home 5 miles and parked it for a week, you would have an issue (my father got a genuine Merc AGM battery and it took 7hrs of charge before it was happy)

modern cars don't enjoy not being driven, a single 10 mile trip once a week is good enough. But in this weather, lights, heated screens, heated mirrors and blower motor on for a 2 mile trip and park it for 3 weeks will cause issues
 
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Vinney222

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I got the car back today after having the new blower motor fitted. That all seems ok, but there is a switch on the heater control panel labelled "AC off" This switch has a little red light presumably to tell you that the AC is switched off. When the car went to the garage this switch/ light was off. However now the light is on all the time and I can't switch it off. I guess back to the garage next week! I was hoping it was just the simple case of the blowers not working to circulate the colder air was the reason the ac was switched off.
Sorry to appear silly but I'm not sure I understand what you mean by two levels of consumer shut off? My car is used every day to and from work (20 mile round trip) as well as other journeys, so I'm quite sure the battery will be fine, barring any unusual drain. But I don't have any other warning lights on.
 

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on this model its "normal" to see a nag about the battery is a bit sad so its turned of some unimportant interior toys to help out whilst the battery gets some charge.... that's what the consumer shut off message is about

what I didn't know was there are two statuses .... I'd have posted this yesterday but didn't want to upset you over the cost of a battery. but as still having issues it might help

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/i...nce-functions-temporarily-unavailable.165408/
 
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Vinney222

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Hi, Thanks for that. Let me give you the brief history. I only bought this car (w211 e240 2002) a few weeks ago. I just love driving a Mercedes. Although the service indicator said it was another 7500 miles to next service, I decided to get it ready for winter with a good service and asked them to check the batteries as I had this warning about "electrical consumers switched off". Service done ok, changed anti-freeze and brake fluid. Leak from rocker cover so changed gaskets. Leak from auto gearbox sump so changed gaskets and replaced oil and filter. Changed auxillary belt as frayed. Battery in the boot was "weak" so I asked for it to be changed (£169) Car now runs much better, but need to get the "niggles" sorted out. The garage changed the blower motor, even though it did work before the service, but could be coincidence. Now I have blowers. As I said in a previous post, there is a switch on the heater panel that is marked as AC Off, and has a little red light. This light was off before service. Now it is on permanently. I have spoken to the garage today and it is going back in on Wednesday to have the AC checked. As for error codes, I don't possess a code reader, though I would consider one if anyone could recommend a good ( not extortionately priced) one? so I am unaware of any faults stored. The mechanic did clear the existing faults and I will check with him if there were any electrical ones. As of now there are no faults shown on the dash.
The only other issue I have is an occasional "growling" noise from the front end which I think might be related to braking, but doesn't happen every time I brake.
 

LostKiwi

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You have SBC which has a pump that builds brake pressure. It's possible you are hearing that restore pressure after you brake.

The AC issue sounds like it's low on gas.
If you have automatic AC with an LCD display you can run a sensor test and read live values. Details are on Mercedes medic website (Google Mercedes Aircon diagnostics).

The code reader most of us use (assuming you have a standard OBD2 port and not the 38 pin round Mercedes one) is the iCarsoft i980 or MB-II. Others have successfully used Car are AET1 or you could look at Carly if you have an Android phone.
 

Botus

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may fathers one makes a noise every time you brake. Seems to be getting louder as lost kiwi says they have funny brakes and a pump

AC gas can cause it to shutdown and can need STAR (or other diagnostics) to get over its self
But my fathers on stage 2 of consumer shutoff had silly lighst flashing on heater controls....
after a bit of a charge it sorted its self out
 
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