E55 Wagon SBC fault

[Sealine South]

Hi Guys

Some help please. My E55 Wagon (53 plate) has come up with a "Brake Service - Visit Workshop" message. According to the manual it means an SBC fault. From looking on the web I have found that this is a common fault and should be covered under warranty, particularly as the car has a full MBSH.

Does anyone have any experience of this?

I just called MB Southampton and they just keep repeating that the car has a 3 year warranty from new and thats it, no warranty. Don't know anything about an SBC fault etc etc.

The car is as follows:

53 plate
78,000 miles
3 owners (inc me)
Full supplying dealer history, always serviced on time.

Any help much appreciated.

[tobinen]

MB were replacing these FOC/goodwill, but not any more.

When the unit reaches close to its time out, you see the warning. They might try to reset the counter, extending its service life, but that's not 100% always possible.

Worst-case scenario, you need a new pump which is expensive (around £1,500+)

[Sealine South]

Thanks, typical isn't it. The lower the mileage, the longer it takes to reach the limit then you are on your own!!

I have just dropped it off at MBS in Southampton so fingers crossed he can reset it. He is fairly hopeful as I only got the first warning last night.

Thanks

[richarda0109]

Just a couple of things

(1) There was a recall on the SBC about 5/6 years ago. I am presuming that this has been done on your vehicle. Your local dealer should be able to tell you.

(2) SBC relies heavily on a good battery. How old is your battery. Is it charged properly. If the battery isnt being charged then its a £60 alternator regulator. This is a "wearable" part but nobody knows about it. They all try and fob you off with a brand new alternator at £700.

[Sealine South]

Thanks Richard. The battery is relatively new, is was replaced with a stop-start one for about £240 about 6-8 months ago which is under warranty. I am not sure if its charging properly, there doesn't seem to be any issues with starting etc.

Is this regulator an easy fit?

Hopefully MBS will be able to tell me the issue!

I will post the update later once I get one!

Thanks

[Sealine South]

From what I can see the recall wasn't carried out and the local dealer is being very quiet about the whole thing, just saying '3 year warranty'.

[Sealine South]

Just picked the car up from MBS (what a great garage!).

It turns out it was a brake light switch that had failed and caused the system to have a hissy fit.

Dave has printed out a STAR report and all is OK, it says the SBC pump is "OK" so panic over.

Just booked it in for, MOT, Brakes, Service, Alignment etc etc so I am happy and he MUST be happy now too with all that extra work!!!

Ben

[tobinen]

MBS are top guys - pleased it was an easy fix (I forgot about the BLS!)

[Sealine South]

Hi Tobinen

There is one other thing that concerns me.

The pump keeps on priming even with the ignition off. I swear I can hear it, sure I am not imagining it through paranoia! I parked up at 6:30pm last night and at 11:10pm I heard it twice in about 20 minutes. The car was parked outside half on the road, half on the pavement so wasn't level if helps.

I have seen on the MB Club forum that it continues to run as long as the CAN (?) system is live for about 20 minutes after the ignition if switched off but this seems to keep priming permanently.

Is this normal?

Thanks

Ben

[AC43]

Sealine South said:

Hi Tobinen

There is one other thing that concerns me.

The pump keeps on priming even with the ignition off. I swear I can hear it, sure I am not imagining it through paranoia! I parked up at 6:30pm last night and at 11:10pm I heard it twice in about 20 minutes. The car was parked outside half on the road, half on the pavement so wasn't level if helps.

I have seen on the MB Club forum that it continues to run as long as the CAN (?) system is live for about 20 minutes after the ignition if switched off but this seems to keep priming permanently.

Is this normal?

Thanks

Ben

That sounds odd. I have a 2005 E Class with SBC and don't think I've ever heard it priming with the ignition switched off.

I once had a phone module go a bit mad. It basically hung and would not turn off (until it drained the battery and then had to reboot itself, that is).

So individual modules can, it seems, continue even with the ignition off and the key out of the ignition.

Ask over on mbclub.co.uk - someone should be able to give you a more definitive answer.

Nice car BTW.

[Dryce]

AC43 said:

That sounds odd. I have a 2005 E Class with SBC and don't think I've ever heard it priming with the ignition switched off.

The system can decide to activate the pump to charge the reservoir when the driver's door is opened after it has been lying for a while.