W211 E320 CDI 2004 Avantgarde Cruise Control

PaulThomasFarrell

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Just banging down a slip road to join the the M20 to catch the Euro Tunnel and flipped the cruise lever to up the mileage a bit, then...... tone and display- 'Speedtronic-Drive to Workshop'

Lost cruise control but seemed to have a responsive pedal so went on to Calais loaded up with more wine than is polite and came back to the UK.

Return was sluggish. Downhill was getting me to 70 but the kick down was dead and there was no poke. There is of course the 120 bottles of Ricky Red and the six whites for the Mrs to consider perhaps?

This morning the car is as lively as ever. Kick down working and acceleration excellent as ever but no cruise control and the sign still looming.

Battery reading 11.7 standing. Often get 'convenience functions are off' sign pop up if that's relevant.

Have read it could be battery, tyre sensors, MAFS, or switch under the brake pedal.

Is the answer a STAR check or should I just start from the top of the list?

I love the cruise control. In this beautiful beast of a car it really makes the trip to Plymouth a lot less irksome. That's 225 miles, many of which don't require me to touch the accelerator. So I want it back!

I've not posted for ages as this car rarely needs any attention apart from diesel and oil.

I was very sad to hear that Mr Television (Malcolm) had died. He was a real source of information on here.

Happy new year to all and safe driving.
 

Wighty

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It does sound like battery to me , especially the convenience functions failure . The advice is normally get Star to diagnose it so you don't throw money away . However if it was me and the battery was 8+ years old , I would "risk it" and get the battery because I would figure I would need one in a couple of years anyway (and you save the Star cost.....maybe ?) .
Beyond that and a £12 brake stop switch its Star time .
Good luck and let us know how it goes . Happy New Year to you to .
 
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PaulThomasFarrell

PaulThomasFarrell

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It does sound like battery to me , especially the convenience functions failure . The advice is normally get Star to diagnose it so you don't throw money away . However if it was me and the battery was 8+ years old , I would "risk it" and get the battery because I would figure I would need one in a couple of years anyway (and you save the Star cost.....maybe ?) .
Beyond that and a £12 brake stop switch its Star time .
Good luck and let us know how it goes . Happy New Year to you to .
Thank you. I'll def do the battery and the brake stop switch then head off to the Star man. Will advise.
 

davemercedes

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MB at Grangemouth offer good prices for batteries and delivery seems to happen before you've ordered it! I paid £112 for a premium MB battery (with 25% discount in the price) which is not so cheap but I wanted to match type for type - my car is just 10 years old therefore so was the battery.

They are very helpful:

Email: grangemouth.mercedes.parts@arnoldclark.com Spoiler
Tel: 01324 686002
 

LostKiwi

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11.7 volts is definitely very low for a battery. I would normally expect to see 12.4 to 12.6v on a car left overnight with a good battery.
 
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PaulThomasFarrell

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11.7 volts is definitely very low for a battery. I would normally expect to see 12.4 to 12.6v on a car left overnight with a good battery.

Thanks for the advice all. Very much appreciated.

Based on your advice I changed the battery and now get a whopping 13.5-14.0 and haven't had the 'your convenience functions are temporarily unavailable' since.

So then I purchased a brake stop switch for £12.00 (got it from MB up North somewhere online) and after banging my head and contorting like a sumo trying to tie his shoes I managed to change it. There's a great piece on here somewhere explaining just how to do it and it was done in under half an hour.

The great news is that I have cruise control back! It must have been the switch. Felt great driving home and not hearing the warning ping and display of 'Speedtronic drive to workshop'.

While working on the car I took the time to check the power steering level and it was a bit low so topped that up, never had done before and I've had the car just over a year now so hoping it's not a slow leak. also topped up the coolant which was a bit below the filling max spine....There may be a leak there, will keep an eye.

Once again thank you all. This is a great forum. I'm sure it saves members a fortune, it certainly has me.

Paul
E320 CDI Avantgarde 2004 (W211)
 

Wighty

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Thanks for the advice all. Very much appreciated.

Based on your advice I changed the battery and now get a whopping 13.5-14.0 and haven't had the 'your convenience functions are temporarily unavailable' since.

So then I purchased a brake stop switch for £12.00 (got it from MB up North somewhere online) and after banging my head and contorting like a sumo trying to tie his shoes I managed to change it. There's a great piece on here somewhere explaining just how to do it and it was done in under half an hour.

The great news is that I have cruise control back! It must have been the switch. Felt great driving home and not hearing the warning ping and display of 'Speedtronic drive to workshop'.

While working on the car I took the time to check the power steering level and it was a bit low so topped that up, never had done before and I've had the car just over a year now so hoping it's not a slow leak. also topped up the coolant which was a bit below the filling max spine....There may be a leak there, will keep an eye.

Once again thank you all. This is a great forum. I'm sure it saves members a fortune, it certainly has me.

Paul
E320 CDI Avantgarde 2004 (W211)
Nice one Paul , good result alround .
 

Craiglxviii

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Has no one spotted that OP had had 120 BOTTLES OF RED WINE prior to driving?

That’s extremely irresponsible.
 
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PaulThomasFarrell

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Ah! Just spotted this... So, totally off car topic for a moment. The Mrs and I quite liked a red wine that could be purchased from a well known outlet that while not having royal connections is a tad Majestic. It's Cuvee de Richard. Delicious,light and much too easy to drink. £6.40 in the UK...£2.99 in Calais. Sadly it appears to have run out and is no longer available. We contributed to that I think. It was hard to fill the rear space in the E320 but we tried very hard on our last trip. They even paid for our Eurostar return!
Back to the car...

Since last posting the water pump and a pulley gave up the ghost. I was too busy with funerals to attempt it myself but a local indy
did it in three hours and I paid £185 including parts. Car is going great.

However one of the work mercs, an E320 CDI Avantgarde 04 went into limp mode on the way back from a funeral in Shrewsbury, fortunately just as we entered N. London. Stuck in 2nd I think.

Now I can get it from Park to Reverse then Drive but not back, it's locked out. If I stop the engine I can then get the lever back to Park. There is an occasional dash display but I can't remember what it said!

I checked on here and using the brilliant information bought a long dipstick and dipped for transmission fluid. Couldn't get any reading at all. Ran the engine for an hour, still hardly any evidence of oil. Impossible no?

So now it's on ramps and I'm struggling to get the transmission sump case nut off. It's an Allen key but quite impossible to shift.
I'm just doing this to see if there's any oil there. We drove like the clappers from Shrewsbury but broke no speed limits without any warning lights.

Battery new. Evidence of some sort of oil on the pipes rising from the side of the radiator..a leak perhaps?

I'm going to flush and change the oil,filter and electrical connector....just need to loosed that darn nut first.

If this is in the wrong place apologies and please either dump or move it.

Hope all well on here. Shame the other bloke got the name moneysavingexpert because it would have applied to here very well.
 

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Sorry to hear that they aren't making your favourite wine anymore buddy .
With the gearbox and the fact you now have your dispstick , why don't you just a add some ATF to see if it all comes back working again . The fact that you have found no oil on the dipstick , provided you have checked the ATF oil with the engine running , oil hot , gearbox in park and on level ground probably means you have no oil because of the two leaking pipes you mentioned . If the gearbox works again , you have spent money on some ATF that will have acted as an oil flush when the pipes are repaired and the sump removed and filter replaced .
If the gearbox doesn't work you can pass the car over to a decent Indy to sort it ?
 
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PaulThomasFarrell

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That make a lot of sense. Good logic. Ok, day off tomorrow so I'm going to do add some oil. How much do you think to start off? Also just out of interest, is it possible to siphon all the tranny oil out through the fill tube?
Going crosseyed watching you tube videos of 'How to'.
Thanks Wighty. Much obliged.
 

Wighty

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That make a lot of sense. Good logic. Ok, day off tomorrow so I'm going to do add some oil. How much do you think to start off? Also just out of interest, is it possible to siphon all the tranny oil out through the fill tube?
Going crosseyed watching you tube videos of 'How to'.
Thanks Wighty. Much obliged.
Yep you can use a suction pump like the Pela 6000 to get all the ATF from the sump , about 3.5L I think , but there is another 3L of ATF in the Torque converter .
 
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PaulThomasFarrell

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Great thanks.

So today I managed to remove the sump pan plug and about three/four litres drained into a bucket so so much for my no oil theory. It was however really thick and brown.

The inside of the sump pan/magnet and filter were thick with gunk. The electrical connector was covered in oil top to bottom.

So waiting for the parts to arrive and will re assemble and follow Wightys advice re the flush. Hope it works!

Quite enjoying the process though. All the advice and info has so far been very accurate. Thank you.
 

Wighty

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Great thanks.

So today I managed to remove the sump pan plug and about three/four litres drained into a bucket so so much for my no oil theory. It was however really thick and brown.

The inside of the sump pan/magnet and filter were thick with gunk. The electrical connector was covered in oil top to bottom.

So waiting for the parts to arrive and will re assemble and follow Wightys advice re the flush. Hope it works!

Quite enjoying the process though. All the advice and info has so far been very accurate. Thank you.
If you have a read on the DIY section , there is a method of disconnecting one of the banjo bolts to the oil cooler whilst pumping through clean oil from the sump . Another member Jim2 has done this in the last week and detailed the whole process very well , worth a read .
 
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PaulThomasFarrell

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Thanks I read the Jim2 post. Excellent. OK today I received the filter, pan seal and the electrical connector and put them all into position. The oil is due on Monday.There's about 4 litres of dirty oil in my bucket. Now here's a question
Is there a real possibility that once the oil is put in that the gears will shift normally?

I've tried to move the gear lever while the car is on the ramps with the ignition on and the problem remains. ie. Not being able to shift from drive to reverse. Ignition off allows me to return to park and then ignition on I can go to reverse but if I follow to drive the returning to reverse is not possible. Hope that makes sense.
If this doesn't work what do I do next?

I've read about solenoids? It seems I'd need to drain down the sump again if it were those.
What about under the gear lever, anything under there to tinker with?
It may of course be fine, just asking.
 

LostKiwi

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This does sound more like a selector issue than a gearbox one....
 
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PaulThomasFarrell

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New gear selector module? Not expensive used ones on E Bay. Or are these fixable? Will wait until I see if the recent raft of stuff has worked. Thank you LK.
 
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PaulThomasFarrell

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Hello. After a long hot day wrestling with the work car I finally completed the transmission flush and oil change. Checked for leaks and all good. Started the car and tried to go through the gears shifts.......same problem. Park through the range to Drive but on the way back cannot go into reverse. Then a dash display, 'SBC HOLD UNAVAILABLE'.
Any ideas? Engine off the shift goes back to Park with the ignition on.
Any suggestions gratefully recieved but 'get rid of it' would be hurtful!
 
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PaulThomasFarrell

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Oh sorry, also bought one of these.

Professional Multi-system Auto Diagnostic Tool MB V2.0 for Mercedes-Benz / Sprinter / Smart, the Update version for iCarsoft i980.

No idea how to use it so also any suggestions as to whether this would tell me what's going on would be awesome.
 


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