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Ghost

What's that light for?

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Hi!I have a new one, today on my way home I got a peeping sound, and an orange warning light (in the center). Looked it up in the handbook, it indicates "water separator telltale". Seems the limit of my water in the separator is reached.... ?? ?????????????????What is a separator? Never heard about something like that! What to do? Can I help myself? Oh, I have a 2005 CDI.Thanks,Ghost

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It is part of the diesel smart's fuel filter. It seperates water out of the diesel fuel .You should take it to a Mercedes-Benz dealer to have this fuel filter changed,a.s.a.p.

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Replace it. Die$el$ have them becau$e they hate water.Normally, it would have been done as part of regular $ervicing (assuming the car has had consistent M-B $ervice, they likely would have recommended it along with flushing the brake fluid and engine coolant, the accessory drive belts...and the li$t goes on).See the Fast Eddy website - I think you can replace just the filter instead of the whole assembly. Don't put this off.

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Congrats for actually reading the owner's manual!Yeah, everyone replying is correct, do not put this off. Or cooland/brake fluid changes (which have nothing to do with it).Water, if it makes it past the fuel filter into the high pressure pump, will destroy it in a short time. M-B Canada was VERY smart to add a water separator filter to the Canadian version of the cdi.

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Normally, it would have been done as part of regular $ervicing (assuming the car has had consistent M-B $ervice, they likely would have recommended it along with flushing the brake fluid and engine coolant, the accessory drive belts...and the li$t goes on).

Just talked to Merced Benz in Barrie. Unfortunately it is NOT part of the regular service, and will cost me $ 188.00 plus tax when I get it changed tomorrow morning.Just the part is $ 135.00....... has to be done every 30.000 kilometers.Man, these Smarts are expensive to maintain...... not sure if I will drive it through a second winter.Jan

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If the fuel filter has never been changed before (how many km?), it is time. Your car is at least 50 months old, and probably older than that. Skimping on maintenance rarely pays off, in any car.On the other hand, it is perfectly acceptible to extend the period between fuel filter changes to 60,000 or more km, if the light doesn't go on as it just has for you. You might want to reconsider where you buy fuel. Make sure it's a place with a high turnover in fuel and with new tanks.Also, be careful where you refuel and make sure there are no water/rain droplets on the inside of the fuel cap before replacing it. I bet that a lot of the introduction of dirt and water into the tank happens when the fuel cap is rubbing against the dirty side of the car, against snow, being rained on and then being replaced without being carefully wiped off first.

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You can order just the filter from Fast Eddy for a lot less $ and swap the sensor - not sure if the sensor is a one shot deal - changing the filter is not hard - make sure you put a tray under it. Should be done every second or so B service.

Link to more info - Fuel Filter thread

Cheers,

Cameron

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I have heard that once the sensor is triggered, it's a throwaway. Unfortunate if it's true. Luckily I have a spare. TPM routinely changes just the filter and re-uses the sensor if it's not been triggered.

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I've heard that too, the sensor is non-resettable. However, I've also heard that it is just two metal plates in close proximity, sensing the conductivity, which should be able to be cleaned and blown out, so I'm not sure which is true.BTW, ALL Mercedes diesels use the same filter, including any with a Jeep/Chrysler/Dodge Sprinter nameplate. Not the Cummins engine in the Ram trucks though. That tells me that the change interval is absurdly low for the amount of fuel it passes. Water is another story, most water is introduced during a fill-up in the rain and we do that every 20 liters. A drain would be nice. Some filters have one.

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BTW, ALL Mercedes diesels use the same filter, including any with a Jeep/Chrysler/Dodge Sprinter nameplate. [...] That tells me that the change interval is absurdly low for the amount of fuel it passes.

Good point!

A drain would be nice. Some filters have one.

I fail to see why a draincock could not be fitted. Who will be first to try this?B :sun:

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What I meant by regular service is that if you let M-B do all the servicing, they would have recommended replacement of the filters, the fluids, and a whole bunch of things I would never have changed in a North American car. My 1990 Ranger is at 380K now and runs beautifully and hasn't seen a Ford dealer for as long as I've owned it (about 11 years now).Not strictly on the "A" or "B" list, but since they list all of the recorded work on the car in the computer system, they know what has and hasn't been done. Cars that have not had dealer services will not have complete service histories. The A and B services may have been done, but if M-B didn't do them, it won't be on the service record for the car.It is a no small thing to have had M-B do all the services and even then, is not a guarantee that surprises will not happen. I have a very thick folder.

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I have never heard of a one time use water sensor?! and DON'T go to the stealership for the fuel filter! They are around $30 at most parts suppliers, and would be a 30min job for anyone with a hoist. If you have a good local mechanic call them, or for that matter a good mechanically inclined person could do it

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I have never heard of a one time use water sensor?! and DON'T go to the stealership for the fuel filter! They are around $30 at most parts suppliers, and would be a 30min job for anyone with a hoist. If you have a good local mechanic call them, or for that matter a good mechanically inclined person could do it

Too late! I went this morning.45 minutes and 212 dollars later the surprise: The warning light stayed on! The service-lady at Mercedes said "it should go off when you're driving, if not you might have a wiring problem".Aha, I might have" Should go? Well, guessing is something I can do on my own......Anyways, drove 220 kilometers since the new filter is in and the light is still on. Someone want to buy a 2005 CDI? New parts!!!!Ghost

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The Canada E-box is probably wet. D'oh! Do you have any other wiring problems?

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Since the separator light is part of the Canada mods and probably controlled by that E-box, I'm guessing an OBD reader wouldn't detect trouble codes for that sub-system?

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No, no other wiring problems........I will read the codes today. Didn't ask them at Mercedes to do it (not sure what they would charge for that), I bought an OBD II reader at Princess Auto a while ago.Ghost

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Hey guys, I've got big problems. I'm in Quebec camping my way to Nova Scotia for our honeymoon in the smart. Last night the interior light flicked on and off despite all the doors and hatch being closed. The doors wouldn't lock. WHen it finally decided to stop doing that, the odometer light and the water separtor light came on and stayed on even when the car was off. Finally after locking the doors repeatedly, they all went out and I was able to lock the car for the night. I'm at a laundromat in Quebec City waiting for our soaked clothes to dry so I came to read up on the water separator when I found this post. Can someone tell me where this ebox is and how to keep it dry?

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It is either in the battery well or on the toeboard of the passenger side, a silver box the size of a small cigarette pack. If it is wet, try somehow to dry it out.

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Ok, so after some searching around the site here and stopping at the only thing open on Labour Day in Quebec, a Canadian Tire gas bar, we figured it out. The ebox was behind the tire kit, and battery, bolted to the front of the car. It was soaked. It has two sort of carpeted strips on either side of it and those were soaked too. The condensation from the outside of the airconditioner housing was pouring down the underside and back of the a/c casing, directly into the ebox. We wrapped the ebox in shop towels, and crammed a pile more between the a/c and the "tire kit". Then we poured some diesel conditioner into the tank, and carried on. Since the water separator, interior light, and radio were all screwy, we hoped it wasn't the water seperator. There wasn't anything open to help us out anyway. It stayed messed up well into the next day. I had no idea how few smartcars there were in Atlantic Canada, which made it a little nervewracking, especially when the car doors wouldn't lock at night.

Highlight of the story is that, eventually, the ebox dried out enough and we had no flashing lights on the whole trip from Nova Scotia back to Ontario. I'm not sure if this makes a difference, but I've had the MB a/c replacement. They replaced the whole thing, including the a/c light in the dash. I didn't have this problem before that, so I imagine it's related somehow.

Now I have to figure out how to keep the ebox dry. Does anyone have any suggestions? Some sort of drainage pan for the a/c maybe? Or some kind of wrapping around the ebox itself?

Anyway, aside from the electrical weirdness, the little smart performed beautifully. We got incredible mileage with our little smartcar backpack on, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

As soon as I figure out why uploading images isn't working, and where on the site I should put it, I'll post pictures of the smartcar backpack we rigged up.

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There IS a drain for the AC, and it is blocked. Simple fix, but as my car doesn't have AC I can't tell you the precise location. Won't be too hard to figure out. Look at where the water should go, and un-block it.

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Hmmm....I'll check it out, but if the puddle under my car is any indication, I think it's draining ok. It seemed to be condensation building up on the outside of the a/c casing. We were driving in weird conditions (apparently through the remnants of a hurricane?!) for hours, so everything in the car was humid and wet, and I'd been using the a/c to defog the inside of the windshield after cool air and anti-fog wipes stopped doing the trick. There was a noticeable line of condensation across the middle of the a/c casing and everything below it was soaked. The line would lower when parked (the a/c draining I assume?). I can't imagine another situation where I'd be driving the smart for 10hrs straight in a hurricane, and despite running the a/c for an hour and a half this morning, the newly improvised ebox "diaper" seems to be bone dry.

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That still sounds like a partially-plugged drain. The cold condensate is filling up the case, causing condensation on the outside. When you park, the AC doesn't get as cold (at idle) so it has a chance to drain somewhat. Just a theory based on what you've described, of course.

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