R231 Electronics

Richard Hinds

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SL350, 2007
My 2016 SL400, 17,000 miles, is playing up big time!
On initial start-up, everything will function fine. Then after about 20 minutes, the yellow engine management light will come on, and weird things happen. The "C" for Comfort light disappears, the light showing "stop start" is available disappears, the "D +a number" (showing which gear the auto box has selected) disappears, then there is a "bong" followed by a red light script "without changing gear, visit workshop". The Fuel gauge will flicker, the needle drops to zero. Then things will return to normal, and then it happened again. Each time I've managed to reach my destination, although very occasionally the engine has "Coughed".
The car has been booked into a Mercedes specialist. They read the various fault codes, and said various modules are not talking to each other, because the battery volts are too low.
As the battery was now about 7 years old, I accepted the battery may be past its best, and so installed a new one. The faults persist!

I am reluctant to pay for each and every module to be replaced, one at a time, and at great expense. I also understand intermittent faults can be very difficult to track down. Due to the behaviour of the fuel gauge, I suspect an intermittent wiring fault, or possible rodent damage.

Has anyone any sensible solutions to offer?

Thanks in advance, Richard
 

sl500amgsport

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SL500 2014
Might sound obvious but you have 2x batteries, make sure it was the secondary electrical battery that was replaced not the starter...

Agree sounds like a voltage issue, might be worth checking boot and footwells to see if there has been any water ingress that may be shorting some wiring?

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NJS5

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2011 R230 SL350, 2016 Discovery 4 Landmark, 1973 MG B GT V8, 1959 MGA roadster.
Again, fairly obvious, but have you fully charged the batteries? Very often a replacement battery has a reasonable charge on fitting, but is not fully charged.

Good luck

NJSS
 

ajlsl600

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clk3202001,sl6002003 with everything regrettably sold ,A class 170cdi auto. NG/TF1800 ML250
As above. Be sure batts, are in first class order, then I would start checking the earth points starting with fix where most or many earth's go to chassis and work my way around. If the car has been parked up for any length of time, rodents are a distinct possibility. Don't ask how I know!! Start with the simplest stuff,and be methodical. Big danger here, if ur not real careful u may introduce another drama whilst trying to track down the present issues. Been there, good luck. Downside of vastly over complicated cars.
 
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Richard Hinds

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SL350, 2007
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Might sound obvious but you have 2x batteries, make sure it was the secondary electrical battery that was replaced not the starter...

Agree sounds like a voltage issue, might be worth checking boot and footwells to see if there has been any water ingress that may be shorting some wiring?

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk
Thank you for your reply, but the later SL's have only one battery!
 

gotglasses

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SL500/2004/M113
Thank you for your reply, but the later SL's have only one battery!
Yes , I just bought a 2025 SL400 to keep my 04 SL500 company. I have only found one battery in the SL400. Thankfully it does not have the heavy drain that my earlier car has. The 04 SL 500 is kept plugged into a trickle charger and that solved it’s issues with battery drain.
 
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Richard Hinds

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Interesting, see


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I don't k now what year the change-over took place, but my R231 has only one battery, and that is located under the boot floor, and is "centrally" across the width of the car. If you were checking for a two battery system, the Starter motor only battery is under the bonnet, and the auxiliary battery is under the boot floor, on the O/S
 

AMGeed

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S204 C180K
Check again.
Have you looked under the fuse box behind the passenger seat?

Your car does have an auxiliary battery as shown in the ECP of both SL400 models produced.
Item number 400 is the aux' battery.

This link shows the location of both batteries. Be aware its a US car and the aux battery is on the other side (behind passenger seat.

 
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sl500amgsport

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Check again.
Have you looked under the fuse box behind the passenger seat?

Your car does have an auxiliary battery as shown in the ECP of both SL400 models produced.
Item number 400 is the aux' battery.

This link shows the location of both batteries. Be aware its a US car and the aux battery is on the other side (behind passenger seat.

That is the case with my R231 SL500, which is why there is only 1x storage box behind the passenger seat...

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SL63 Mark

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Thank you for your reply, but the later SL's have only one battery!


Yep, there is a second auxiliary battery behind the drivers seat in my 2016 (RHD) R231. It is not easily removable, you have to remove some plastic to remove it, but it can be done.

You can see the connectors if you remove the plastic trim panels. As all is working well, I have left mine well alone.

Sounds like you need to see a new "Specialist", Richard, preferably one with the Mercedes STAR diagnostic tool. We are happy to help you guess on here, but if you actually want to fix the problem, you will need a proper diagnosis.
 


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