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Changed ABS sensor- still have ESP and ABS codes

149K views 32 replies 15 participants last post by  mersum1es 
#1 ·
Hey everyone,

A few weeks ago my indy changed the front wheel bearings in my 2003 E320 sedan. We also changed one of the brake pad sensors at that time, as it broke when pulling the caliper off the rotor. (We did not have the SBC unit "disabled" as we did not know it needed done until further research.)

We had the codes ABS and ESP come up, and tried most of the hints, tips and tricks on forums to no avail. We also changed the other brake pad sensor, thinking maybe it had gone bad in the process. (This time disabling and re-activating the SBC unit with the Mercedes instructions for doing so with no Star system.)

We finally broke down and took the car to our local (45 miles away) Dealer for the $100 diagnosis, which came up that our left front wheel speed (ABS) sensor was bad, and that it would be $350 to fix.

I came home, ordered the part, and changed it myself (not a hard fix.) I made sure to disconnect the SBC unit before changing the part.

I still have the same codes on the dash, can get it reset to no malfunction until I start the car, then they come right back up.

Here's my question, is there something that should be cleaned, or could have gotten dirty in the process of changing the bearings that could be causing the diagnostics to come up with a bad front left wheel speed sensor even if the sensor is good?

This issue is making me crazy, and is not good for northern Indiana winters with no ABS/ESP.

Thank you everyone who may shed some light......
 
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#3 ·
Yes, both front bearings (inner and outer) were changed. The dealer said the code came up with front left wheel speed sensor only. This does make sense, as the front left would brake weird on the first stop if the codes were not yet showing and the dash read no malfunction. The codes would then come up. You could hear it almost slipping, like it wasn't sure what it should be doing.

I did not see my indy pull new seals out of the box that the bearings came in (not that they'd come with them anyway) so I would bet he put the old seals back on. Could you explain why this causes a problem, so that I can relay that info to him when I take him the new seals?
 
#4 ·
We changed out the wheel bearing seal this weekend, still same problem. When we run the reactivation of the SBC unit, where the tires are spun until the car stops them, the instructions say the brake lights should flash three times when done. However, our brake lights just come on, and do not flash.

Another question- should our mechanic have put grease in the seals, or should they have stayed dry?

When you first start the car up and drive, sometimes there are no malfunctions, but then the yellow ESP light flashes. If you try to stop, you can feel the brakes applying and releasing over and over, making the car kind of skid. As soon as the malfunctions show on the dash, the brakes "act" normal for stopping.
 
#5 ·
Going back back to the beginning. You state that the SBC was not deactivated in any way
yet the brake calipers were removed to do bearings. Then this uber tech
cant pull a sensor wire when removing the caliper? Am I missing anything?
My 13 year old daughter has done the sensor wires on two brake jobs.

There is a warning in WIS that incorrect procedure steps in working with the SBC can cause
permanent damage to the SBC control unit and/or pump.

This hangs on the over eager mechanic that took no time to research the steps. I would
tell him to get the car's brakes working or he will will face some sort of arbitration.

Nobody has any business with a wrench near a pre-2007 W211 without knowing the SBC system.
You can live with a dealer fixing and paying very sick amounts of money or let the
mechanic that screwed it up eat the repair cost to your braking system.
This is not coincidental failure. It is incompetence and he has to be the one held responsible for it.
I would trust him on the project at this point if he does
not even have a diagnostic tool that can check an ABS speed sensor. If a tech
can not communicate with theses cars then he should not even do oil changes.
 
#6 ·
The only "deactivation" was not opening doors, using keys, etc before doing any work which was several feet in the air for bearing change.

However, in the Mercedes dealership diagnosis, the SBC unit showed fine, and the only issue they could find with their diagnostic tests were the left front speed sensor. (What they say)

We changed that sensor, and from previous posts changed the real wheel seals that had not been changed during the wheel bearing change.

I can't fault my mechanic, because we knew before we went that he didn't have much experience with Mercedes, so that would be my fault.

What has been changed:
FRONT: Inner and outer bearings, brake sensors, wheel seals
Front left wheel speed (ABS) Sensor (which is what the Mercedes dealer said was wrong.)

Is there a way to reset the SBC unit? Any other work we have done since the original bearing change was done with the SBC unit disconnected.

Originally, prior to any work done, the SBC unit had been extremely loud. This was explained to Mercedes at the dealership, so that they could pay special attention to it. That is the last part still under warranty.

Thank you for your help....
 
#7 · (Edited)
At the very beginning you start off by saying this
Hey everyone,

(We did not have the SBC unit "disabled" as we did not know it needed done until further research.)
In the same post then you write this.
(This time disabling and re-activating the SBC unit with the Mercedes instructions for doing so with no Star system.)
Then post this.
The only "deactivation" was not opening doors, using keys, etc before doing any work which was several feet in the air for bearing change.
I really can't tell you what happened as now I don't even know what happened to the SBC before the bearing change was started and the calipers came off.
My apologies. I am easily confused. :confused::surrender:
 
#8 ·
At the very beginning you start off by saying this


In the same post then you write this.


Then post this.


I really can't tell you what happened as now I don't even know what happened to the SBC before the bearing change was started and the calipers came off.
My apologies. I am easily confused. :confused::surrender:
Thanks for your "help." As of this morning, the car is fixed.:p:thumbsup:
 
#11 ·
Anyone know what the resolution was to this??? I'm having EXACT same issues as this guy. I swapped front inner and outer bearings and seals for both left and right sides on my 05 E55. I removed caliper to get hub off. When I started car after completing the swap, I got a message saying brake pressure was low and that I should press my foot all the way to the floor and pull over. I think that was the car just getting the pads back in place where they can actually contact the brake rotor, tho. I had to press the pads back into the caliper so they'd clear the rotor in pulling the caliper off. Not sure that's relevant, but I thought I'd mention it.

Anyway, that message went away after idling the car for about 5 minutes. I then took the car for a test drive. At any speed over a fast walking pace the ESP/ABS was going nuts and trying to stop the car. I inspected the installation and it looked solid. I then got genuine Mercedes grease seals to put on there on the chance that the sensor coils/rings were incompatible with the Mercedes sensor. Have not yet put those on, but it was my plan to do so unless I'm able to come up with possible causes/fixes that are more likely. This sounds like my EXACT experience. PLEASE let me know anything you might now about this. DYING to get this fixed. Haven't been able to drive the Benz-o for two weeks now :'-(
 
#17 ·
Any one found a solutions for this, I replaced front right wheel bearing (inner+outer) packed everything like it was and put back the wheel after a couple of seconds of car moving ESP ABS BAS are on, reading said C144E Check component L6/2 (right front speed sensor), so I replaced it with oem, still same issue, please help!! I clear all codes and dash is clear as soon as i drive the car again same lights show up, I tested all speed sensors and they all have same speed while car is moving and all 0 when stop
 
#18 ·
W211 ABS fault at 10 yrs. Does yr car 'Groan' ?

I just got my new (used) E280 2006 W211 serviced and got a full diagnostic done. When I mentioned the make model etc on booking, my mechanic said the one problem with that car is that at the 10 year mark, the ABS/EMS system expires and will register as a fault (Warning lights etc).

He said that you need to replace the >> ABS Pump/Module <<. They are often replaced with reconditioned units/parts also from MB. Cost quoted to fix approx $3-$3,500AUD (2015 prices) parts and labour.

The symptoms are the 'Groaning' pump sound when get when you insert the ignite key, or start the car and or when running at low speed. It sounds like a loud dog groaning as he exhales while sleeping. That's the pump over-working to maintain pressure. I gather you can send away for exchange (look online). I personally use a good Mechy with the top level 'Batcomputer' that reads these cars better than the MB dealership service centres.

Sure enough when I got the Dx results, that came up exactly as he said it would. The relevant faults listed were:

ESP: Electronic stability program - faults 6230 & 6210, and
SBC: Sensotronic brake control - faults 6258 and 65D4. (Another code is shown for each fault where the '6' is replaced with 'C2').

This is an old post but I'm sure others have the same issue. I hope it's helped someone.
 
#20 ·
Hey all, I posted #11 in October, 2012. I thought I'd comment on this thread because there are occasional posts asking what the outcome was and because I recently got a PM asking what the outcome was. Details are sketchy in my memory, but I seem to remember putting the factory inner grease seals in and that fixing the ABS issue. I'm pretty sure I would've bought the 3rd party seals off rockauto.com to save money, but can't remember the brand I got. Since you can't test whether the 3rd party seals you buy will be compatible with the ABS system until the entire wheel assembly is all put back together and drivable again, and since pulling it all apart involves a lot of work, in my opinion, saving $20ish for each seal is not worth it unless some other people have tried particular non-MB seals and found that they are, in fact, compatible. PM me if you need something as I still get the e-mails.
 
#21 ·
I'm the guy who pm Kurtwz and he replied imminently and helped a lot, I purchased Febi front wheel hubs and thought it was the OEM part but Febi is not the OEM suppler for wheel hub, my car is 07 E350 and after I replaced front wheel hubs I got ABS/ESP issue, the root cause is just as Kurtwz mentioned above, the original seals have magnet for ABS sensor, unfortunately the seal comes with Febi's hub doesn't have the magnet and caused ABS alarm, as Kurtwz recommended I went to dealer and bought the last two seals in the store and paid $18 for each, after replaced the seals on both hubs, ABS alarm gone and the car is running perfect.

I removed and installed both hubs 3 or 4 times to fix the issue and spent a lot of time to reach online, with help from the forum, I get the issue resolved by paying $40 more within two days, thank you everybody for all the inputs and no matter the original post is three years old it will still help people who may help the same issue!
 
#22 ·
I recently changed my bearing using MB bearing but after market seals and my ABS light came on, took it to find out why the light came on and the scanner said it was both speed sensor. After reading your post I'm thinking I have the same problem because I changed the left sensor and it still reads faulty sensor. I'll purchase the MB seals and post the results. Hopefully they work.
 
#26 ·
3rd party seals the issue?

I recently replaced both front bearings on my 06 E350 and also flushed the brake fluid (without the STAR system). The car has 105K miles on it.
I decided to replace the front wheel bearings because of a grinding noise coming from the front left wheel. Sure enough the inner bearing fell apart upon removing the grease seal. I took the hubs to a local machine shop where the races were removed and the new ones pressed in.
The bearings and seals were Meyle, the brake fluid was the recommended Pentosin. The Meyle seals were magnetic, and the bearings/seals kits came a spare seal each.
As soon as I started my test drive the ABS and ESP error messages showed up, along with "Adaptive lamps not available". The power steering doesn't really work at low speed but is fine past 10 MPH or so. Also no cruise control.
All these symptoms appear to be related and point to the speed sensors.
I remembered having a hard time with fitting the left hub and when I tried to pull it to see what was going on the seal somehow got caught and was damaged. I fitted a new (Meyle) seal but I could feel that the spindle was not smooth so I used sand paper to smooth it out and hub went on easier and it felt like it was properly seated.
I replaced both speed sensors with no change to the error messages.
Now considering replacing the seals with OEM ones. I seem to find a lot of Corteco. Are they the same as Mercedes Benz? The description shows OEM supplier. I hope this will cure the problem.
Any suggestions if new Benz seals don't solve the problem?
Should the error messages clear themselves?
Thanks!
 
#29 ·
Problem solved!

I received the seals earlier this week and finally got around to installing the OEM Benz seals...
All errors still on the dashboard, and hard steering were still present as I pulled out of my driveway in reverse but shortly disappeared after I started driving forward and the steering was back to normal! :laugh
Thanks to this great forum I finally resolved this daunting issue!:wink
 
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