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SLK 230 Full power acceleration whilst waiting in traffic!
My sister has an SLK, and it would suddenly accelerate at full power (spinning wheels etc) whilst she was waiting in traffic. This car is automatic so all she can do is jam the breaks on.
Fortunately the breaks hold, then the car goes to 'fault' mode (engine runs rough). Turn car off and back on, and it all appears ok again.
Obviously this is extremely dangerous. She took it to Mercedes garage and they said it was impossible, and "was she wearing high heels?".
It did it again and again went back to Mercedes, but this time we insisted on them reading the diagnostic computer, which said an error code they didn't know!.
They had to ask Germany (by donkey express apparently) and they said "unexpected acceleration”. The garage said that meant "you accelerated unexpectedly, there nothing wrong with the car". Can you believe such an idiotic response? Its an error code, it means something is wrong, it means, "I appear to be accelerating at full power, even though the accelerator is not being pushed".
Mercedes had no idea so we had to take it to an 'expert' (independent of Mercedes). At first he made the same stupid 'high heels' comment, but after he drove it for a couple of days and it did the same to him his attitude changed (maybe He was wearing high heels).
Anyway, he had to change the engine computer and fault went away, it cost £2000 and Mercedes declined to help out with the cost (you would think they would want us to keep it quiet, perhaps we should tell a prominent TV car show).
Now, after a year it has similar problems with electrics mentioned elsewhere. The rear lights appear to suffer from poor connections. The lamps are always ok. Just clean and flex the connectors of the lamp holder and it will work for another year or so (do not pay anybody more that £10 to do this for you).
We also now have general electrical problems resembling low voltage... ABS light is on; car may get stuck in 3rd gear. Switching ignition off and on makes gearbox work again and sometimes the ABS light goes out too, but then later the gearbox may jump to neutral whilst driving, or the ABS activates whilst slowing down (for no reason) vastly increasing stopping distance. Both the last two effects are a bit dangerous and when they occur, the ABS light will come back on. The power roof and the super charger also seem to be affected, like they are disabled if there is not enough voltage (when ABS light is out, everything works). Battery and charge are good.
We are taking car to garage next week, fingers crossed
Anyone know where the 'computer' is? I want to re-seat its connectors.
Fortunately the breaks hold, then the car goes to 'fault' mode (engine runs rough). Turn car off and back on, and it all appears ok again.
Obviously this is extremely dangerous. She took it to Mercedes garage and they said it was impossible, and "was she wearing high heels?".
It did it again and again went back to Mercedes, but this time we insisted on them reading the diagnostic computer, which said an error code they didn't know!.
They had to ask Germany (by donkey express apparently) and they said "unexpected acceleration”. The garage said that meant "you accelerated unexpectedly, there nothing wrong with the car". Can you believe such an idiotic response? Its an error code, it means something is wrong, it means, "I appear to be accelerating at full power, even though the accelerator is not being pushed".
Mercedes had no idea so we had to take it to an 'expert' (independent of Mercedes). At first he made the same stupid 'high heels' comment, but after he drove it for a couple of days and it did the same to him his attitude changed (maybe He was wearing high heels).
Anyway, he had to change the engine computer and fault went away, it cost £2000 and Mercedes declined to help out with the cost (you would think they would want us to keep it quiet, perhaps we should tell a prominent TV car show).
Now, after a year it has similar problems with electrics mentioned elsewhere. The rear lights appear to suffer from poor connections. The lamps are always ok. Just clean and flex the connectors of the lamp holder and it will work for another year or so (do not pay anybody more that £10 to do this for you).
We also now have general electrical problems resembling low voltage... ABS light is on; car may get stuck in 3rd gear. Switching ignition off and on makes gearbox work again and sometimes the ABS light goes out too, but then later the gearbox may jump to neutral whilst driving, or the ABS activates whilst slowing down (for no reason) vastly increasing stopping distance. Both the last two effects are a bit dangerous and when they occur, the ABS light will come back on. The power roof and the super charger also seem to be affected, like they are disabled if there is not enough voltage (when ABS light is out, everything works). Battery and charge are good.
We are taking car to garage next week, fingers crossed
Anyone know where the 'computer' is? I want to re-seat its connectors.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Simon Sinclair on -
I took the car to a local garage and they read the error codes using a standard EMC reader. It indicated a fault with a rear speed sensor. I replaced this myself for £15 (very easy) and now all is well.
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