vdubpower

so my wife was driving the car around town making her errands and then called me from the market saying the car wont start

alll lights were working and when she put the key in she says it tried to turn over but wouldnt...im not sure if she held the key down or just did the usual one touch ignition thing....

luckily the market was a block away so i strapped the kids in the car and drove over

when i tried , i held the key down for 2 sec and it started....and the CEL came on

luckily i got the car back to the apt garage, turned it off and tried the one touch ignition again and it did start...but the CEL is still on

ive got no idea what causing this..im gonna be passing pep boys in the morning, whats the best way to get codes and interpret them, ive never done this before

i do have an exd warrenty when i purchased the car, good for another yr....thanks all

e1000

My gut says it's the crankshaft position sensor. If you have an extended warranty, let them deal with it.

vdubpower

am i hurting it or myself by driving, im in the process of moving from the SF valley to OC, like in the next day and i was gonna drive it down the 405 60 miles,.....if its safe

phister

Most likely if you continue to drive with the cel, your car will eventually go into limp mode and you'll be crawling your way there just take it to the dealer and have them read it that way when they find the problem they can fix it under warranty.

vdubpower

what exactly is limp mode, ive heard of it. does the car just use the bare minimum to move around

Glyn M Ruck

There are different forms of limp mode dependent on the trouble. Usually locks in a low gear & reduces power to limp home.

Get those codes read. Then you will know whether it's something that will let you down or not. CPS is likely. If it fails completely you could get stuck with an engine that wont run.

vdubpower

aaarrgghh....whats the best code reader i can buy myself in the mean ttime, or atleast one sufficient to do the job from pepboys

remember this is the car that almost 2 yrs ago got water damage to the engine when i drove thru a pudddle, i had to have an engine repalcement.....ive had no issues what so ever since...

phister

actron is always a good brand I have the actron 9580. its more than what you need, you can just to a local parts place and have the code read. But if you buy a reader, actron 9180 is sufficient to read and erase codes.

vdubpower

cool, maybe it will be a good investment regardless, now i need to start searching for a late e55 or early e63

Glyn M Ruck

Actron good, Equus Innova good - I use a 3130 - or this little $50 gem from Harbor Freight.

Glyn M Ruck

See here for how CPS comes into the equation.

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...ank-issue.html

vdubpower

so i went to my local Indy MB service place where i take my w126, to have him pull the codes

2 came up

the first was something like post catalyst filter trim ( something like that)
and the second was the CPS

he said it would be ok for me to make the drive down to the OC

if he would have been able to take my OE extended warrenty i would have just had him do the work

today when i started the car, it was fine, didnt seem to have issues cranking or starting

Glyn M Ruck

The CPS is your problem. They usually go intermittent so you are probably OK - OC is not far. Just remember if it fails completely the engine does not know where TDC is & won't run.

vdubpower

if the engine fails, will it completely seize or will it give me a chance to move to the side

and if the engine does seize, will i have F'ed up the engine, in other words will i have done more dammage to it to the point where id need a new one, ....again

e1000

I think Glyn meant if the sensor fails completely, your engine won't start.

vdubpower

so if i get started and go, and the sensor fails as i am driving to OC, ill be ok?

e1000

I'm honestly not sure what happens if one decides to quit while the engine is on. I'd say if you get going, you'll be fine for the rest of the trip. It's not terribly far and you'll be around civilization the whole way.

vdubpower

yeah on the 405 freeway, lol, come give me an escort in that fancy bimmer, lol

Glyn M Ruck

Sorry - You won't damage the engine. It just won't start. The M271 engine will run on it's camshaft position sensors if still running - just won't start. The M112/113 engines will stop running & won't start. The M272 engine will also stay running on it's camshaft position sensors until you stop it & then it won't restart with no CPS input.

LILBENZ230

So since his is an M112 he will be on the side of the 405 freeway.. Scary.

e1000

lol, let me know

vdubpower

this is not going to be fun

vdubpower

So I'm about to start the drive

The codes were erased when I went to the Indy mercs place the other day. The three times I've driven since locally the cel did not go on.

If I have a problem. Y doesn't the cel go back on
Or is the problem
Still there

vdubpower

So I'm about to start the drive

The codes were erased when I went to the Indy mercs place the other day. The three times I've driven since locally the cel did not go on.

If I have a problem. Y doesn't the cel go back on
Or is the problem
Still there

vdubpower

ok, i made it, and the car has been driving fine and cel has not gone back on


so if i make an appointment with dealer, what do i tell them, do i tell them i had a cel on and pulled codes and erased them??

if i goto them, can they still pull the codes even if they have been erased, so they can make the fixes???

thanks