Malfunction

giuseppe

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my alternator/battery is showing a malfunction on the dash, it first came up after I had a check up at jackson`s MB, on the way back from italy,then went away, now yesterday I drove back from St Ives, in the very very wet pouring rain with floods everywhere, and the malfunction has popped again this mourning, I wonder if it has anything to do with a battery I bought from halfords last year, not enough current maybe. Any ideas please, thanks.
 

television

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If the battery has 12 volts over the terminals, when off, and 14 volts roughly when running then maybe you were using all of the electrics to the max,, If it starts OK then the battery should be OK,,a simple voltage test is the best thing
 
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giuseppe

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malfucntion

cheers malcolm, I was down your way yesterday, looking up the body work chap, did`nt it rain, you were right,everything was running, i`ll just wait for it to go away again.
 

Miffy

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how does a slipping belt show itself on a merc? could that not be the problem, made worse by excess road spray?
 
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giuseppe

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HI, had the belt replaced when i had the check up, did not fancy risking it , as i was driving to italy.
 

Blakey

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My money's on the Halfords battery being underrated. I didn't think they stocked anything up to the mark for most Mercs. What is the car Guiseppe? And what's the battery rating? - There have been a few posts on this in the past.
 

Miffy

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My money's on the Halfords battery being underrated. I didn't think they stocked anything up to the mark for most Mercs. What is the car Guiseppe? And what's the battery rating? - There have been a few posts on this in the past.

would the battery cause a Malfunction error though? My original battery was 110amp but when I needed one fast the best I could get was a kwikfit 88amp. Now I realise that I can not drain as much with the engine off as I should be able to, but its never thrown any errors no matter how much I have powered up.
 
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giuseppe

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My money's on the Halfords battery being underrated. I didn't think they stocked anything up to the mark for most Mercs. What is the car Guiseppe? And what's the battery rating? - There have been a few posts on this in the past.

HI, the car is a 2001 220cdi, I think the battery is a 80 amp joby, you could very well be right, how much is a mercedes one, ????
 

Blakey

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Hi Guiseppe, 2001 220cdi - same as me! 80AH is low. I recently replaced mine with a 100AH lump from MB. I nagged them for a discount and got it for about £95. It cured a lot of weird recurring faults.

It's actually the cold cranking amperage rating that is equally important. (Mine is 700CCA I think) The battery voltage drops low when starting, and this low voltage can cause problems with ecus etc. I had quite a few gearbox faults which mostly went away with the right spec battery.

I hope you manage to sort it!

Chris :)
 

Alex Crow

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presumably the warning is something like `battery/alternator visit workshop` displayed in red? not likely to be your battery, we have changed front sams and alternators for this fault message in the past. all guesses without fault code/live data/test step analysis.

battery rating would not really come into it as modern alternators are perfectly capable of maintaining charge even at idle with full current draw (ie heater blower, rear demist, head+fog lights, heated seats and whatever else you fancy)


if you have a volt meter connect it to the battery and test at idle with everything on, it should read over 12.8 volts after stabilising, probably over 13. this shows the capability of your alternator to supply all the current needed and still ensure the battery is topped up.

i had a w211 with a new `battery fault` today. it was corroded wiring in the loom beneath the auxilliary battery, stopped the rear BCM actuating the front K57/2 relay. das lead me to `check wiring for breaks etc...` between rear BCM and K57/2 - sweet, can`t imagine life without it! amazing how many wiring faults crop up on the w211s, eg door mirror wiring and boot hinge wiring.
 

Alex Crow

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The battery voltage drops low when starting, and this low voltage can cause problems with ecus etc. I had quite a few gearbox faults which mostly went away with the right spec battery.

I hope you manage to sort it!

Chris :)

the low voltage at cold startup from an old battery causes the EGS (gearbox) module to go into emergency program (limits gearchanges). easy to spot from fault codes and age stamp on battery terminal! we have had a lot of these lately. the fault code relates to low voltage at (g.box) solenoid valves.
 
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giuseppe

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Hi Guiseppe, 2001 220cdi - same as me! 80AH is low. I recently replaced mine with a 100AH lump from MB. I nagged them for a discount and got it for about £95. It cured a lot of weird recurring faults.

It's actually the cold cranking amperage rating that is equally important. (Mine is 700CCA I think) The battery voltage drops low when starting, and this low voltage can cause problems with ecus etc. I had quite a few gearbox faults which mostly went away with the right spec battery.

I hope you manage to sort it!

Chris :)

I must have ago at nagging MB for a reduction, if changing the battery deos`nt cure it, it will have to the alternator next, sound expensive.
 

television

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Just getting this post in order,,,was this a message or a warning lamp
 
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giuseppe

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presumably the warning is something like `battery/alternator visit workshop` displayed in red? not likely to be your battery, we have changed front sams and alternators for this fault message in the past. all guesses without fault code/live data/test step analysis.

battery rating would not really come into it as modern alternators are perfectly capable of maintaining charge even at idle with full current draw (ie heater blower, rear demist, head+fog lights, heated seats and whatever else you fancy)


if you have a volt meter connect it to the battery and test at idle with everything on, it should read over 12.8 volts after stabilising, probably over 13. this shows the capability of your alternator to supply all the current needed and still ensure the battery is topped up.

i had a w211 with a new `battery fault` today. it was corroded wiring in the loom beneath the auxilliary battery, stopped the rear BCM actuating the front K57/2 relay. das lead me to `check wiring for breaks etc...` between rear BCM and K57/2 - sweet, can`t imagine life without it! amazing how many wiring faults crop up on the w211s, eg door mirror wiring and boot hinge wiring.

did`nt know the car had a auxilliary battery
 


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