Don't ever let your A-Class battery go flat!

[mykp]

If you want to know why I have posted this then look here

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=2739

So, after two years of happy motoring with my A-class I have hit a brick wall with Mercedes Head Office and my local Dealership, all because of a flat battery.

Basically the battery went flat on my A-class and because of this the engine management system tells me that there is a fault on the system, by way of a light on the dash, and after a week the battery is charged but the light remains on.

So I take the car to my local dealer who tells me that its a fault in the system and it needs to be cleared. This is done, I get the car back plus a bill for £44.06.

Now having spoken to both my dealer and the MB head office I am told that this is how the system on the MB works.

If the battery voltage drops below a certain voltage then the computer on the car registers a fault.

Now this is where MB have you by the balls. If you dont take the car to the dealership to get the light turned off and something is wrong, MB will want to know why you didnt bring it in when the fault first appeared and its possible they wont do the repairs under warranty. However if you do take the car to be checked it will cost you £44.06 each time.

So can you take the battery off the car and charge it? NO, cos the computer will register a fault and you'll have to take the car to be reset.

Jump start, same thing.

Can I take the battery off if its going to be stored, No same as above! plus the Alarm/immobilser wont work and your insurance might not cover the loss if its stolen.

The only thing to do is buy a trickly charger which MB will sell you!!!!

MB tell me this fault process is "For your safety!" I'd be interested to know if other models in the MB range do this. If you ask me its P*ss poor engine management software thats all!

All I can say is that this to me seems like another way that MB are stealth charging their owners.

I have had loads of cars in my time and my own car, the A-class is my wifes, is a Lexus which is fully loaded and this didnt need to goto the garage to be fixed cos of a flat battery!!!!

I will be paying the bill of £44.06, I have no choice really, but i'll make damn sure that MB dont get another penny from me for as long as I live.

This is a word to others to make sure you dont let your battery go flat!

mike...

 

[maybach]

Hi Mike
Sorry you had to fork out to get your light turned off.

I work in an M.B workshop and find it hard to work out why your battey going flat would stick a fault in the engine management.
Did you get a print out of what fault codes were dumped in the memory?.
The only time I have ever had a major problem with lights on after a flat battery was when a customer had tried to jump start, he got a voltage spike and that played havoc with the control units.
Just one more question, Have you ever had a problem with the instrument cluster that required workshop attention?
I would take this matter up firstly with the service manager at your local dealer, if he's not interested in keeping you as a customer then try the Directors office at M.B.

Good Luck

Maybach

Not all dealership people are bad.

 

[mykp]

Hi maybach

Cheers for the advice but I have spoken to the MB head office and they spouted the same BS as my dealer.

I know that not all dealers are the same but this is annoying to the point of distration!

I didnt get the code unfortunately as I wouldnt have expected to have had this problem!

In answer to your question I have had the instrument panel replaced, Twice the first time was at 2500 miles when it told me I needed a service and the second time at 3900 miles when it said I needed another service. I had it serviced and the warning thingie came on again, hence the second replacement.

This is the second A-Class we have had and this is the only problem I would call a problem, if you know what I mean!

Cheers Mike

 

[leith]

I'm always interested in M-B "hot air". The vehicles seem to be made/serviced with smoke and mirrors. Some manuals are actually available but staff are told to say that they are not because "it is all computerised".

Other new M-B can have battery master switches fitted and used without a problem but I only know of fitting done to a vehicle without Assyst. Thus I presume that "Assyst" is the cause of the problem and, worse, there is probably no problem other than with a silly warning light....disconnect it or cover with black tape...Not the first piece of useless expensive B/S you can pay for. As you say, the software is "poor" [or, think hard, "clever"!]

Non-assyst vehicles will display a message to see your dealer for anything
from running out of fuel to a blown fuse. Easy to do when stuck in the middle of nowhere on a Sunday. Easier to add fuel or replace the fuse.

You are not the first with this battery problem and dealers (they are not all stealerships!) seem to have an M-B approved pricing for switching off the light of over 40 quid. There seems to be a market here for a "thingie" to turn off the light ... just as there used to be (still is?) for BMWs.

Contacting M-B at any level may not be good for one's health!

 

[mykp]

I think the car could be on its way out of our household anyway, from my wife?s attitude to MB now.

She's Japanese and the Japanese don?t take poor service or incompetence likely.

She's pretty damned annoyed that something so trivial as a flat battery requires the car to be taken to the garage to be sorted!

I think she also pretty p*ssed with MB and our local Dealer, MB of Macclesfield in case anyone was wondering, because of lack of forethought and customer care. As she puts it.

Anyway, we?ll see what happens?

Mike

 

[nickh]

Which light is it.?
coincidently I was reading the A class owners manual this morning (well not all of it) and it mentioned about a light coming on after power loss (flat battery) , it said turn steering wheel fully lock to lock, which resets it... also in there how to reset the assyst.. amazing what's in the manual !

N

 

[mykp]

Nick

Can't seem to see that in my Manual! What page is it on?

My manual is Merc part no:

168 584 03 97 (its on the back cover)

It doesnt mention anything about turning the steering wheel lock to lock.

it says, ahem!

"Engine diagnosis indicator lamp

If this lamp light up in the instrument cluster while the engine is running, a fault may have developed in the fuel injection system or in the exhaust system.

Emissions limites may be exceeded

note:

have the vehicle checked as soon as possible by a MB service station

if the fuel tank has run dry, the car must be started three to four times after refuelling. The emergency operating mode is cancelled and the warning lamp goes out. The car does not need to be chacked."

(Page 244)

My A-Class is nearly 2 years old so its possible that the manuals we have may differ.

I do find it interesting that the manual says that when jump starting the A-Class that you should connect the negative terminals of the two batteries together with the jump lead.

I'd always been told not to do this when jump starting a car but to select a earthed part of the chassis or engine block! (page 291)

cheers mike

 

[maybach]

hello again

Hard one to prove without the fault codes but me thinks that your dash is not coded corectly hence a problem with the light after a flat battery.

I know that you have tried M.B head office, but try writing to the M.D of d.c.u.k all his customer mail gets passed to a differnt office within customer care. You should get a result.
good luck
Maybach

 

[leith]

-------------and to be fair, please post any M-B reply and the time it took to get it. Better wait a couple of weeks before posting a "no reply" status because Holland hosts the centre for "customer care". :roll:.

 

[mykp]

Got a reply from MB, yesterday, Tues 16/04, saying, and I quote.

"The problem you have described is currently under investigation."

The letter was received, not bad a reply in 2 weeks, but no comments or conclusion.

I await to see what happens.

mike

 

[mykp]

I received a letter from MB customer service today on this matter, 3/06/2003.

The letter states that although I have had problems that MB endevour to make sure that their build quality meets all their standards and however parts do break and they apologise for the inconvenience.

However I did ask several question in my letters to MB and none of these questions have been answered. The letter I recieved seems to be a general we're sorry but.... letter.

They did not answer my questions about the battery and what the voltage has to drop by before the battery warning light comes on and they did not answer why the battery light stays on when the voltage rises back to normal levels. They certainly didnt answer any of my questions about the engine management needing to be reset for a cost of £43 each time the battery level drops below a certain limit and triggers the engine management fault light.

I will try again but an answer to any of my questions looks very unlikely.

As I stated before I dont care about the money, I just want to know why the problem occurs and what the battery voltage has to drop to before this light is triggered.

This is not an isolated fault either. I had the privilage of speaking to other A-Class owners at the weekend at the Baby Benz club meeting and some of the other members have experienced the same problem. One of the members even had MB try to charge hime for a battery as well as the light reset at a cost of £183!

If I could find out the voltage drop before the light is triggered I could meter this and therefore take preventative measures.


I have heard rumours that this light can be reset and I have asked my local dealer but alas I cannot seem to find out if this is true. Apparently you need to turn the steering wheel lock to lock to reset it.

However I am told this is in the manual but I cannot find it any where in mine. Plus I am told that the fault will still be logged in the engine management so MB can still tell if the battery has been flattened!

If any one can tell me if this is true please let me know. Also if the steering can be used to reset the light, how and when do I do it. Or tell me what page of the manwell to look on!?

Mike

 

[Arnie]

A few weeks ago, I was checking out a new C-Class at my local dealer and noted that under the bonnet it did in fact have a battery disconnect switch and these vehicles are of course fitted with ASSYST.

I would not imagine that any one would design a system that does not permit you to remove/disconnect thea battery without upsetting the ECU (even MB). I do not have any A-Class experience, but certainly nothing like this has ever happened to me on any other mercedes with and without ASSYST.

If the battery is disconnected on vehicles with ESP, then you normally have to turn the steering from lock to lock so that the steering angle sensor can reset, and extinguish the ESP warning light.

I would imagine that your problem is either related to a faulty, or incorrectly setup dash, especially as you mention that they have been replaced twice already, but it may be also be faulty ECU or faulty wiring.

Normally such problems would only be caused by voltage spikes from jump-starting etc.

Otherwise, if this is how te ECU is supposed to function there should be a user reset for this "fault".

I suspect that your MB dealer doesn't actuall know the full ins and outs of the system and so what you got is a "this is normal" story and a £45 bill.

Have the system fully checked or try to get a service manual printout for the ECU and fault-codes.

(My wife is also Japanese and she gave up on MB long ago!)

 

[EXMERCTECH]

Battery cut out's

Those Battery cut out's should off been removed before going in to the Showroom and before Delivery to the new owner's,

They are there so when in Storage/Shipping they can be switched saving the Battery,

 

[mykp]

The problem I have had with the battery has now been resolved with MB although I havent got a satisfactor answer as to why it happened.

I basically screamed and shouted and through my toys out of the pram until they gave me my money back!

Its funny that a few weeks after I took the car to the dealer with this problem, the assyst kicked in telling me I needed a service after just 2000 ish miles. And they changed the dash as it was reportedly a problem with my dash!

The car has now gone and I look forward to a new MB. Hope the same troubles dont happen again!

mike

 

[brightwell]

Flat Battery

1) Why did your battery go flat? Could be a fault.

2) If you want to remove/change a battery and don't want to have this problem, connect a spare battery (it could be the new replacement)temporarily in parallel to the one you want to remove. In other words, connect the new one before removing the old one.

DAW