A160 Need Advice On "F" Fault Repair - Benzworld.org - Mercedes-Benz Discussion Forum

FROSTY187 · 12-10-2008, 02:12 PM

Yup, just another newbie looking for answers...

I am a specialist cellphone technician & Administrator or GUAR Forums & A proud new member of this fantastic forum

The car in question is my wifes A160 2000 model which we have for almost 2 years now. Having trouble with the auto trans. On the cluster instead of indicating "D" when the car is in drive, it displays "F". On previous occassions when this happened all I had to do was switch off the car & start her up again & all was normal, but now it stays on "F"
After sending it to the local agents & them running a diagnostic on the car, I was told that the brake light switch is faulty {Part # A001 5458709} which is causing this problem.

My main concern is that the dealership is not sur if replacing this part will solve my problem & they dont have stock of the part & I will have to w8 almost 15 days for the part to be imported from Germany

Has antone encountered this fault b4 & is there a way of resolving this without me having to replace a shed load of parts that didnt need to be replaced in the 1st place?

Please help, any advice would be welcome

FROSTY187 · 12-11-2008, 04:36 AM

Help? Anyone?

lofty · 12-11-2008, 06:57 AM

If they are saying it's the brake switch well that the first time I've heard that one , but go along with it the switch is £10 max, the other problem that throws up the F is apparently the gear selector module £270 + so lets hope it's the switch.
beause of the number of cars with the big 'F' problem I started a page with some information, if you can add positive information to that page please mail lofty with details .

Bert Rowe's-A-class info. Gearbox (Manual)
and link to auto & acs gearbox top of the page

FROSTY187 · 12-12-2008, 12:02 AM

Many thanks Lofty

I'm glad that I got a reply from some1 as estemed & experienced as yourself, it makes my nerves settle down a bit. I will let them get the switch & try it out. I truly hope that it sorts out my problem & if it does I will b sure to add the details to your page.

Would you be able to tell me if there is a differance between a switch with the part num A0015458709 & an identical switch with the part num A0015452009?

I managed to get a 2nd hand switch also from A160 but from a 2001 model. The switch looks identical the the pic that you have on your page But according to the parts manager at nmi here in durban the part that I hav managed to source does not supercede the part that is required so h is not sure if it will work.

lofty · 12-12-2008, 03:36 AM

Sorry I can't help on that one but it only takes seconds to fit so why not try it and see how it preforms. if it does clear the 'F' the job done.

Kiwi222 · 12-30-2008, 02:42 AM

Hi, Not sure if you have resolved this problem... but a few years back I had all sorts of problems with my transmission. It would go into fault mode on a regular basis. The first thing they replaced was the valve guide body thingy in the Transmission. This seemed to make it better, then they thought it was a brake light switch but this didn't solve it. And finally they replaced the gear selector module. That was 2 years ago now and apart from the very occassional fault... perhaps 3 times in the past 2 years it's been fine. Anyway just thought i'd share that... Cheers

lofty · 12-31-2008, 06:54 AM

At the chance of repeating myself I have added a link page to my manual gearbox page with some information on Auto & ACS boxes/tranmissions.
The owner who contributed to this has had his selector module (gear selector in the cab)changed and as far as I'm aware he's now OK.
Trouble is once people find the cure you don't hear anymore and are left wondering if your advise helped or not even a note to say they had read your post in reply to their question would help and feed back on the cure! Well that would just be fantastic.
All the best for 2009
Bert Rowe's-A-class info. Gearbox (Manual)
link to auto page.

nlambuca · 01-03-2009, 12:02 PM

Hi all, A170cdi Auto, was running fine regarding Auto-transmission. No "F" at display.
During a test procedure to measure CO2, they needed to run the car at some speed/rpm to measure CO2, well machine had a problem and test took longer to run, and after some time, "F" appeared on display. Switch off and on and F cleared. The car has ASR and I think they forgot to switch off this, and as rear weels were sttoped and only front wheels running, yellow alert always on. At the end car went in to limp mode, "F" and now I can not clear this.
I have removed battery for 1hour and no good. F is there.

Do I have any other way to reset this fault code? I am going to service the auto-transmission oil, filter, sump, but I 'd like this cleared before.

Nuno

Kiwi222 · 01-04-2009, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nlambuca

Hi all, A170cdi Auto, was running fine regarding Auto-transmission. No "F" at display.
During a test procedure to measure CO2, they needed to run the car at some speed/rpm to measure CO2, well machine had a problem and test took longer to run, and after some time, "F" appeared on display. Switch off and on and F cleared. The car has ASR and I think they forgot to switch off this, and as rear weels were sttoped and only front wheels running, yellow alert always on. At the end car went in to limp mode, "F" and now I can not clear this.
I have removed battery for 1hour and no good. F is there.

Do I have any other way to reset this fault code? I am going to service the auto-transmission oil, filter, sump, but I 'd like this cleared before.

Nuno

When I had the difficulties with my transmission Faulting... and trust me it did it quite a bit. Generally turning the engine off and restarting it cleared the fault. As I understand it all the fault codes are stored in the computer until erased so the MB Service Agent can address them if necessary. My gut feeling, and I might be wrong here is that if the fault mode exists irrespective of the car being turned on and off then whatever fault occured/ was detected during the testing remains. I'm not sure if you can reset the fault manually, generally this is something my MB Service agent did with their plug in computer thingy.

If it was me I would take it to the MB dealership ask them to advise accordingly...

lofty · 01-05-2009, 04:34 AM

I take it the MOT station weren't Mb workshops?
if the MOT station failed to carry out the corrrect procedures when testing your car then ask them to get the fault cleared, if you take it to MB they will clear the fault, cost about £50 in the uk depending on where you are .

But the fault may return See the appendix to Bert Rowe's-A-class info. Gearbox (Manual) for further details re the fault lamp showing.
And please post feed back so they we can build up information on this very common problem from which MB are making a mint! And that's only from diagnostic tests.