Why did I go and spoil a quiet Saturday !?!?

drmw

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M6 Cab - prior to that, SL63 AMG, A-M V8 Vantage, SL55, SL500 and many more
Decided I did indeed need to go out in this afternoon.

Opened the car (keyless, so just pulled the handle), the pump under the bonnet starts to do it's thing (never did work out what) and then on come the warning lights in a nice shade of red.

"Reduced brake effect. Start the engine" alternating with "Incr braking distance. Start the engine".

Duuuuh .... so started the engine & all ok. No stored malfunction

The book states that "the battery has insufficient voltage & cannot supply sufficient power to the SBC braking system".

Why then did I not get "electric consumers offline" ???

My drive was all of 3 miles round trip, slowly, with headlights & wipers on all the way so not much chance of charging up a low battery. Put a meter on the battery when I got home - 13.2 volts

Does SBC have any sort of reserve system (I suppose the opposite of vacuum reserve)?

Has something fallen off? Is this likely to happen again? Could it have been "one of those things" at which Mercedes are masters? Does SBC stand for "Sad Brainless Car"?

Any pointers please? R230 SL55

It wouldn't be a complete week without some form of mechanical interference!
 
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television

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2002 SL500, 216 CL500, all fully loaded
This is not a fault and nothing to worry about, it does what it did to just warn you that the engine needs to be started, before you drive the car,,how you can drive it without starting, I do not know,,it is not a fault and nothing is stored for this, it is a driver message only.

The noise that you hear when you touch the handle is the SBC pump charging the system, and when the engine is off it can only partially do this.

So you have no fault, :D nothing is wrong, :D mine does it all the time as I have to use the brakes alot getting it down my drive.

Enjoy your car :D and have a nice day :D even if you do not want one
 
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drmw

drmw

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thank you for that reassurance - the chest tightness is now abating

"What is life without a Mercedes Benz?"

More relaxing than life with one, that's for sure !!!

Happy days are here again :D:D:D:D
 

television

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Please that you are feeling better.

To cover this fully,,the car has a wake up system, so if you touch the handle the car gets ready to be driven in the case of a keyless go car,,or if you open a door on one without that feature

I can walk by mine in the garage and the car will start the SBC pump if the key is in my pocket and I brush by the handle
 

xavierx

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2004 W211 E320 CDi
When I unlock my car I hear the SBC pump running quietly for a few seconds.

Now if I get in the car normally, press the brake in and start the car as I do then everything is fine.


If I jump in the car in a rush and bang my size 12 straight down on the brake pedal then I get the same error as the original poster until I start the engine.

I just assumed that in this instance I am forcing the car to apply heavy brake pressure before the SBC system has primed itself.

I just make sure to wait a couple of extra seconds for the pump to stop before pressing the brake (or being careful not to press hard before starting the car) and the error has not come back

HTH
 


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