Desperate, Suicidal, Disillusioned Newbie

[WinkleBill]

I have a 300c (2007)  I parked the car up for several months and the battery drained. I jump started it and it drove fine except I now had three orange lights on, ABS, ESP/BAS and traction control.. I drove it for a several months like this untill eventually giving it to a friend of my daughters garage to fix. Needless to say it sat in their yard for almost a year with nothing done to it.

 

I finally got tired of chasing them and went and retrieved it myself. Lo & behold, not only do I still have all the lights on, it drove home in low gear pretty much the whole 7 miles home only changing up a gear very reluctantly when I was nearly home and wouldn't go above 30-35 mph. 

 

The mechanic told me it had a error code u140e which he couldn't clear and that it would have to go to the dealers to have the ABS/ECU "reflashed" with a "Starscan" device..as the code represented an "implausible communication" error ????

 

I'm now desperately seeking help and/or guidance 

[BrownSugar]

Mate, if you look on these forums you will see a lot of us have had the same issues following flat battery or swapping the old one for new.

 

I had the same lights as you. Orange engine light, ABS and traction control when I fitted a new battery.

 

I pressed the ESP button under the clock on the centre consol and that light went out. For the others I had to go to a garage and have the codes cleared on their computer. Maybe I got lucky because their reader cleared all the codes. There are many code readers out there, it seems not all work as well as others, so try another garage.

 

Don't dispair mate, it can be fixed. However, the 300 does not like a flat battery.

[WinkleBill]

Thanks Brown Sugar,

 

now, to add to my woes, when I turn on the ignition, the temperature gauge shoots to red and the cooling fans kick in on full blast. The only way to stop them is to pull the two relays under the bonnet but the temp gauge stays in the red almost as though it has a direct feed to it.

 

Do you or anybody know of anybody who can come look at it, maybe with the right scanner I'm in the Midlothian area of Scotland?

[BrownSugar]

Wow... that flat battery has caused you some problems mate.

 

Never heard of that problem (thankfully) and sorry I have no knowledge of Scottish mechanics. However, some time ago Briscoe76 put the below tip on these forums. I followed his instructions and it has solved several electrical gremlins for me. I used to have the speedo needle waving about wildly, indicators would sometimes miss a flash, the alarm would set itself off and the parking sensors would bleep randomly, but since following his tip they have not re-occurred... fingers crossed, don't want to tempt fate.

 

Definately worth a try.

 

Briscoe76's tip:

 

Hi, did you get this problem sorted at all?

 

If you didn't, then its an easy fix. Open the bonnet and, and find the washer bottle. Next to that, bolted to the drivers side wing, you will find a black box. Unplug the box, and hey presto, the fault will vanish. It will also cure a few other faults, such as indicators that miss a click, rear wipers wiping on their own, reversing sensors firing up when your driving forward.

 

The box is the HID translator module. All it does is let the ECU know when a headlight bulbs blows. If you can live without that function then you can cure all the rest!! The HID module develops a fault, and effects lots of other things down the line.

[pat96]

i have a post on this as well. 2010 300c running in limp mode .

no lights on dash though, but the fault cannot be cleared.

car stood for a year, while previous owner was in hospital. . we had to replace battery ,car ran ok for a couple of months then i've had one problem after another. previous owner had no probs...it was used everyday..

latest fault is torque lock solenoid , which has been replaced, but still showing fault.

can't go to garage because of this virus thing  that's going on ..so i've disconnected battery till i can get it done.

know how your'e feeling ....best of luck

[WinkleBill]

Hi pat69,

 

I feel your pain... They are such a lovely car to own and to drive, but I guess like all beautiful ladies they come with a lot of issues lol..

      I have resolved the issues with the cooling fans and temp gauge which appears to have been a dodgy solenoid.. I've removed all of the old ABS speed sensors and I am waiting on the new ones arriving (should be here Monday).

I'm not expecting them to resolve the issue but if I do end up having to take it to the stealers at least it'll be one more thing they can't sting me for..

 

This Covid19 has a lot to answer for but the main thing is that we all stay safe and well

 

Good luck with yours pal and fingers crossed we'll both be driving them again in the near future

[clarkster72]

i Had same issue a few years ago with the three Lights because they stopped my sat nav from working too. Code reader pointed to the off side rear wheel sensor. Changed sensor but still no better. Same code pointing to that sensor. Changed sensor again but same code. Changed both reluctor rings on rear, same code. 

Decided enough was enough. Took car to the local main dealer and they found a broken wire that feeds the sensor just under the carpet in the boot. Fixed wire and been perfect since.

 

Just thought I'd mention it.

[WinkleBill]

So!,

 

I'm just back from the stealers, and despite following their advice and diagnostic report, and replacing all the ABS sensors and the O/S/R tone ring, they tell me they are still unable to clear the codes and extinguish the 3 lights and that as you can see by the included report it will be "a process of elimanation"  (their words) and could be "any or all" of the above faults.

Can anyone advise or talk me through what I should do as I can't afford to let them carry out the diagnostic/repair work at £96 + vat per hour plus parts and labour?

 

 

 

stealers report.pdf