Have had this problem from day 1, 5 years ago, when I picked up this SLK.
It has a rotation noise coming from the bottom and causes the BAS/ESP light to come on. It's been 5 years and I have been replacing almost everything I could think of but the problem just won't go away.
The noise starts from the moment the car starts to drive. It's a flapping noise that changes speed as the car go faster. It is highly correlated to the wheel speed. Car drives faster, noise goes faster.
I had owned another SLK 230 in perfect condition so I know how quiet the drivetrains, brakes, suspension and everything.
Over the 5 years I did everything I could to source the problem and end up with limited success.
List of things I have replaced:
- 4 wheels and tires swapped from another SLK (no fix)
- 2 front struts KYB (struts bad according to tire wear)
- 2 front wheel bearings and cleaned ABS rings (fixed BAS/ESP light only a little while)
- transmission mounts
- drive-shaft flex disks
- drive-shaft center bearing w/ bracket
- drive-shaft u-joint bearings (yes it's replaceable)
- 2 rear wheel bearings
- 2 rear wheel knuckle bushings
- 2 rear brake rotors
- 2 rear parking brake shoes
At first I replaced the 2 front struts according to the tire wear pattern. No fix. Then I replaced both front bearings. Fixed the BAS/ESP light for a while. Soon the problem gets worse. The whole car was shaking at high speed. From the bottom to the steering wheel. Inspected the drive shaft and found a few minor cracks on the flex discs so I went the whole 9 yard and replaced the center bearing and the rubber bracket, along with transmission mounts, and the u-joint bearings. Result was a big improvement, yet some vibration is still there. It still throws the light but on and off. On good days you hear it but you don't feel the shaking. It seems to go away on hard throttle or braking.
The car is 6 speed manual shift. 110k miles. Clutch engages pretty well. Shaking still happens when clutch in or gears in neutral.
Today I found myself playing with the front wheel bearing preloads. I think I need help. The problem is driving me crazy and making every ride unpleasant for these years. I only put on 6000 miles last 5 years.
Here are the codes I have:
C1025-2 CAN bus: CAN message ABS is faulty
C1100-4 L6/1 (left front speed sensor):Loose contact
C1101-4 L6/2 (right front speed sensor): Loose contact
C1140-128 N49(Steering angle sensor): Steering angle sensor is not initialized
C1142-1 B24/2 (ESP lateral acceleration sensor): Electrical fault
C1142-4 B24/2 (ESP lateral accelaeration sensor) : zero point variation
C1142-16 B24/2 (ESP lateral acceleration sensor): Singal cable has open circuit or short circuit
C1202 A7/7s1 (BAS release switch) : Plausibility
Vario Roof code: B1268 Speed sensor: status signal is invalid
N1140 CAN Bus-fault
Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
It has a rotation noise coming from the bottom and causes the BAS/ESP light to come on. It's been 5 years and I have been replacing almost everything I could think of but the problem just won't go away.
The noise starts from the moment the car starts to drive. It's a flapping noise that changes speed as the car go faster. It is highly correlated to the wheel speed. Car drives faster, noise goes faster.
I had owned another SLK 230 in perfect condition so I know how quiet the drivetrains, brakes, suspension and everything.
Over the 5 years I did everything I could to source the problem and end up with limited success.
List of things I have replaced:
- 4 wheels and tires swapped from another SLK (no fix)
- 2 front struts KYB (struts bad according to tire wear)
- 2 front wheel bearings and cleaned ABS rings (fixed BAS/ESP light only a little while)
- transmission mounts
- drive-shaft flex disks
- drive-shaft center bearing w/ bracket
- drive-shaft u-joint bearings (yes it's replaceable)
- 2 rear wheel bearings
- 2 rear wheel knuckle bushings
- 2 rear brake rotors
- 2 rear parking brake shoes
At first I replaced the 2 front struts according to the tire wear pattern. No fix. Then I replaced both front bearings. Fixed the BAS/ESP light for a while. Soon the problem gets worse. The whole car was shaking at high speed. From the bottom to the steering wheel. Inspected the drive shaft and found a few minor cracks on the flex discs so I went the whole 9 yard and replaced the center bearing and the rubber bracket, along with transmission mounts, and the u-joint bearings. Result was a big improvement, yet some vibration is still there. It still throws the light but on and off. On good days you hear it but you don't feel the shaking. It seems to go away on hard throttle or braking.
The car is 6 speed manual shift. 110k miles. Clutch engages pretty well. Shaking still happens when clutch in or gears in neutral.
Today I found myself playing with the front wheel bearing preloads. I think I need help. The problem is driving me crazy and making every ride unpleasant for these years. I only put on 6000 miles last 5 years.
Here are the codes I have:
C1025-2 CAN bus: CAN message ABS is faulty
C1100-4 L6/1 (left front speed sensor):Loose contact
C1101-4 L6/2 (right front speed sensor): Loose contact
C1140-128 N49(Steering angle sensor): Steering angle sensor is not initialized
C1142-1 B24/2 (ESP lateral acceleration sensor): Electrical fault
C1142-4 B24/2 (ESP lateral accelaeration sensor) : zero point variation
C1142-16 B24/2 (ESP lateral acceleration sensor): Singal cable has open circuit or short circuit
C1202 A7/7s1 (BAS release switch) : Plausibility
Vario Roof code: B1268 Speed sensor: status signal is invalid
N1140 CAN Bus-fault
Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.