Mercedes-Benz Forum banner

ABS+ESP+Tire Pressure lights/warning/message after FW bearing replacement

18K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  tonyferns 
#1 ·
Hi,

I seek advice on the following issue from experienced B-class owners.

Description of the issue at hand

I just took my car to a mechanic (non-Mercedes specialist) that replaced both front wheel bearings. Other than that, no other repair was made. Other than the bearings making noise, the car was driving fine. No other problems. Brakes were good.

The repair took a few hours and I got back the vehicle which is driving OK from what I can tell. Only thing is that now there is a warning about tire pressure not being able to be measured, ABS + ESP malfunction and such.

The mechanic said that I should probably take it to a Mercedes dealer for diagnosis (he is not equipped for that). But there is no Mercedes car dealer/garage where I live.

The questions

This is my first Mercedes and have little experience with the brand. Is this a normal behaviour? Should this warning appear systematically after a bearing repair is operated? Should I be concerned even though the car seems to drive fine?

If I manage to "reset" the fault codes associated with the ABS+ESP+Tire Pressure, will that be enough? (I plan on buying a Launch Creader VII+ or an iCarsoft MB II). Or should I really consider taking it to a far away Mercedes dealer and pay ridiculous amounts of money just for a diagnosis?
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I brought back the vehicle to the mechanic and insisted that he checked all the sensors involved along with the wiring. He reconnected everything and double-checked the wiring.

Then the mechanic found a guy who is equipped to diagnose the car via the OBDII connector. Several faults appeared during the first scan and their codes were erased. The guy re-scanned the car claiming that if a fault appeared again immediately after the second scan, then there would definitely be a problem with the involved sensor and/or electronic subsystem. No fault reappeared during the second scan, so for now, the car seems to be ok.

I still do not understand why all those codes appeared in the first place... Does anyone know if this is normal behaviour?
 
#3 ·
It's certainly not normal to see codes come up after a bearing change.. Maybe a wheel sensor was not properly installed during the work. Could you have had "messages" waiting in the dash before this repair..?

If the ignition was not on during the repair then I don't see why any codes came up..


The codes have been removed,..so let's see if they return..for now everything seems fine.."so go with the flow.."..and Good luck..!!
 
#5 ·
I don't think that is it. As he noted that the function was unavailable, not that it was detecting a variance. I think that this maybe related to the steering angle sensor. Try searching this forum for info on Steering Angle sensor, as it usually ties into ABS and ESP functions. It may just be that the steering wheel was moved and not recalibrated. It requires turning the wheel from lock to lock. I don't have all the answers, but trying search for it. Good Luck.
 
#6 ·
Well, I am not sure if this is what you mean by resetting the esp via the dash, but I:
- disabled the esp via the dashboard manually
- switched on the engine
- switched off the engine
- enabled the esp again
- switched on the engine

After that, the errors were still on display. Only thing that worked was erasing every fault code on the car via the OBDII connector with a professional device...
 
#8 ·
Hi, i am 90% sure this is your mechanics fault. Wheel bearings used in B-class come with integrated magnetic pick-up ring indicated by a black circle on the bearing itself. The ABS/RPM sensor uses this to measure rotational speed of each bearing to be able to control ABS/ESP. It is possible to mount the bearing wrong way so that sensor is unable to get any signal from the wheel bearing. Did this mistake myself first time i changed front bearings myself, got all the faults/lights that youre talking about. A scanner like the iCarsoft MB2 (got it myself, its great :) ) can read signal from each wheel bearing. If your car is moving and for example left front bearing shows no speed after bearing change, it was probably installed wrong way. Like i said i did this fault myself and needed to buy another wheel bearing to install the right way. After that all the lights disappeared.
 
#10 ·
In my case the orginal wheel bearing from Mercedes-Benz was badly marked, next to none, thats why i failed the first time. But on the second time i aquired a bearing from swedish manufacturer SKF, and that one was clearly marked with installation direction. I think that on those mercedes bearings you are supposed to use somekind of magnetic detector or something like that to be completly sure on which side of the bearing the magnetic ring is located (both sides looked the same to me atleast). Quite stupid IMO that they dont provide a clear marking, especially since the ball bearing races will fall apart if you try to pull it out to rotate it, so you are forced to buy another bearing. :(

I did also find out that if you try to diagnose if it is the bearing itself or the pickup/abs sensor that failed, you can't use a normal household multimeter. Signal from sensor/bearing is frequency modulated (Hz), not voltage. So... youre gonna need a oscillioscope ;) It helps alot to have a scanner that is capable of doing the whole car system, not only engine.
 
#11 ·
This already happened to me when the mechanic install new wheel bearing. It was a painful experience. All these engine light warnings were gone when the mechanic replaced the speed sensor, probably he broke while mishandling. In my case, even the gas gauge was dead. Everything seems over engineering in German car.
 
#12 ·
hi, my b200 front left hub bearing had a play so I had it replaced with new bearing from eurocarparts. Within 10miles of driving, the new bearing failed. It had developed intense play. The wheel would shake worse than before. So I bought a used hub (b170 w245) and fitted for my car. When I drove on motorways, exceed 50-60mph a warning light appears ESP Inoperative and the speed droped to 20-30mph. I nearly had a crush. I switched off the engine and started the warning went. But again after 5 miles appeared. Happed to me every 5 -6 miles. When I showed to mechanic he drove @ 30mph 6-7 miles and it didnt appear.
The hub was removed from working condition car.
I used my orginal sensor. Didnt used which came with hub.
What could have happened. Any suggestions? Its 2005 model and I have spent too much on it. If its simple fix ill do it or Ill have to scrap it.
Thanks
 
#13 ·
hi, my b200 front left hub bearing had a play so I had it replaced with new bearing from eurocarparts. Within 10miles of driving, the new bearing failed. It had developed intense play. The wheel would shake worse than before. So I bought a used hub (b170 w245) and fitted for my car. When I drove on motorways, exceed 50-60mph a warning light appears ESP Inoperative and the speed droped to 20-30mph. I nearly had a crush. I switched off the engine and started the warning went. But again after 5 miles appeared. Happed to me every 5 -6 miles. When I showed to mechanic he drove @ 30mph 6-7 miles and it didnt appear.
The hub was removed from working condition car.
I used my orginal sensor. Didnt used which came with hub.
What could have happened. Any suggestions? Its 2005 model and I have spent too much on it. If its simple fix ill do it or Ill have to scrap it.
Thanks
When you drive on the motorway in a strait line is the steering wheel strait or not?
 
#14 ·
Hi forrera
Thanks for ur reply,
No its not straight.
Following is what i tried and learnt
1.Somebody told me it was sensor gone bad. I had spare so i replaced. But still same.
2.Than i was told it was brake switch, which I checked with multimeter and it was good.
3. checked tyre pressure, bought ODB2 (£15) to scan for error codes but it didnt find any. Then I found out that cheap ODB2 cannot detect esp,abs,airbag codes.
4. Even did turn steering lock to lock for sensor to detect positioning of steering.

But yesterday I happened to notice that the vehicle drags towards left when in straight drive. Yes you are right , steering is not centre. Definitely needs alignment. I didnt even realised this after changing hub. I thought they are all same dimensions.
Oh, the reason i didnt take to mechanic because I do not believe them, they trying to rip off. I spend more money on fixing than the cost of my car. Its old model 2006. Almost about to die.
Thank you once again.
 
#15 ·
Hi forrera
Thanks for ur reply,
No its not straight.
Following is what i tried and learnt
1.Somebody told me it was sensor gone bad. I had spare so i replaced. But still same.
2.Than i was told it was brake switch, which I checked with multimeter and it was good.
3. checked tyre pressure, bought ODB2 (£15) to scan for error codes but it didnt find any. Then I found out that cheap ODB2 cannot detect esp,abs,airbag codes.
4. Even did turn steering lock to lock for sensor to detect positioning of steering.

But yesterday I happened to notice that the vehicle drags towards left when in straight drive. Yes you are right , steering is not centre. Definitely needs alignment. I didnt even realised this after changing hub. I thought they are all same dimensions.
Oh, the reason i didnt take to mechanic because I do not believe them, they trying to rip off. I spend more money on fixing than the cost of my car. Its old model 2006. Almost about to die.
Thank you once again.
Did you ever solve this? I am having a similar problem....
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top