ABS light on + Not shifting out of 1st gear

[DRM]

Hello,

I am having some problems with the 97 c180, this doesn't happen all the time but when I start the car the ABS light stays lit in the dash and when drive is selected and you start to drive the car it does not shift out of first into second.

I tried using the gear selector by moving it into second and third but it wasn't changing gears. So I pulled over and started to move the car through the gears to see if I could feel any problems and when changing the gears from drive 1,2,3,4 into reverse or neutral there is a loud movement happening in the back of the car somewhere hard to describe the sound.

After this I started to drive the car for a bit and the ABS light went off after about 10 seconds and the gears started to change automatically in drive again so I continued home. After about 200 km's I tried using the cruise control and when I set the speed it wouldn't recognise that I had set it, the speed just fell so I figured it wasn't working.

That was two days ago and yesterday the car was doing the same thing with the ABS light and not shifting out of 1st into 2nd. So after filling up and starting it up again the abs light went off and the gears were shifting again. Drove it again last night and no sign of the ABS light and the shifting problem and I tried cruise control and it was working.

So this morning I started the car and the ABS light came on and the gear wouldn't change out of 1st again so I drove it for a while and stopped and stuffed around with the gears for a bit and then it was driving fine after a restart and no sign of the ABS light.

Might be a long shot but would the recent stereo install have anything to do with this problem? I have booked this in for a service for Friday but tomorrow I will be driving 600/700 km with it so any advice until then would be appreciated.

[audiophile]

the ABS and BAS lights both came on my car and the cruise didn't work either. found out that its the alternator:bored:

[stox]

Check your connections to the battery. Chances are that the alternator is failing and tacknig the battery with it, but it just might be the battery.

[DRM]

Okay will check the battery and get back to you. Any other suggestions? Any one else had this problem?

[vbrock1137]

I've had 2 or 3 MB batteries go bad on me prematurely, but never with the symptoms you've described. Luckily there's a 2 year parts warrenty on 'em, at least here in the states... I would think it'd be the same world wide...?

[benzaddict]

Sounds to me like you have a speed sensor problem. Cruise control uses the wheel speed sensors to calculate. The transmission control module uses wheel speed sensors and speed sensors inside the valve body to dictate shift points. If there is a fault with either of these type speed sensors the trans will go into "limp home" mode which is what you're describing. As well, the cruise control will not activate, which is another of your symptoms.

If you just had a stereo installed, check to see that there is no damage or contact with any speed sensor wiring (common speed sensor wiring colors are light green or light green with white stripe). If you see nothing from that I would try to get it scanned for fault codes and see what codes are stored in ABS.

Good luck...

[DRM]

Alright thanks. It is at the shop for a service at the moment and they think it might be the speed sensor as well.