91RS

I have a co-worker who has an E350, I don't know the year but it's a later W211. He's having a problem where it won't start (no crank) at times but he can turn the ignition off and go right back to crank and it will start. All the lights come on so it isn't like a battery issue. It's got to be recognizing the keys since it wouldn't let the switch turn at all if it didn't recognize the key. He says it does it with either key and it happens at various times. We've been thinking it's the EIS. It's gotten more frequent lately, and since the EIS is a dealer only item anyway, he said it should be frequent enough for them to actually be able to duplicate now so he was going to take it in but they're backed up and told him they couldn't get to it for a while and are out of loaner cars. So he took it to a Euro Indy shop and they haven't found anything other than that it hasn't done it at all since they hooked their scanner (not sure if it's a STAR or something else) up to the car. I figured I'd ask here for him if anyone has heard of this before or has any info I could give him? Thanks.

homeofstone

Could be the CPS. But to be sure get a STAR diagnostic done.

samaritrey

EIS would be my top guess but before going down that road CPS would be worth checking out and very cheap at that so could be worth a shot and if it doesn't fix it could be considered preventative maintenance. If he has an 06- early 08 might want to warn him about the balance shaft issues.

Homeofstone has beaten me again... might need to edit his posts..... lol

91RS

I ruled out the CPS because that should make it crank but not run and it doesn't even crank when this happens. No check engine light or history DTCs stored in the ECM. Unfortunately, I sold my STAR off after I sold my C55.

I'll out find the year tomorrow. Isn't there a special policy or something on the balance shaft deal now? He's already talking about selling the car because he was worried about stuff like this happening.

cmriv

Is this a 272 engine?

91RS

Yes.

cmriv

EIS. you can cancel the CPS theory. those never go bad in the 272's. Question, do you have two keys for your vehicle? If so will the intermittent issue occur with both keys?

91RS

It's a 2007 with 62k miles.

He does have both keys and he tried swapping keys with his wife first and it happens with both keys. He's going to pick up the car today from the Indy shop.

homeofstone

Not true re: the 272 CPS. I had an E350 with that engine and it had these same symptoms and it was the CPS.

cmriv

1 case. However like i've stated before, a faulty cps WILL NOT in any situation ever cause a vehicle to not crank at all. You can disconnect your cps and it'll still crank. like i said the cps theory is irrelevant considering this is a intermittent no start... not a intermittent car stalls when hot and wont re-start until cooled down

Loccing

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What is my order of operation if it I have crank but no start?
It happens intermittently regardless of cold or hot. Sometimes, it starts and then spudders to a stop.
I've attached the full diagnostics, ran on an occasion that the engine was able to start. Stored codes should still tell tales to experienced eyes, I hope.

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juanmor40

Would you mind deleting/clearing all the DTC codes (too many)?
Check the battery is properly charged. There were a few code because low voltage at some point since the last clearing of error.
Drive the car 10 min, and rescan again?

From the top view:
1 - Broken actuator of the air intake manifold (not the cause of your current concern)
2 - Secondary air injection problem, check if properly connected, check for actuation voltage, and then check if you can actuate it manually (or with a MB bi-directional scanner)

Once we have more information, the goal is to separate if the "no start" condition is ignition (electrical), timing (sensors) or fuel (lack of fuel or pressure) related.