Airborne286

I am having a wierd issue with my 2000 ML430. On Sunday my wife drove the car and returned home. Later that afternoon, I went to crank it but had no power whatsoever (no interior lights, etc). Thinking it was a bad battery, I connected jumper cables to another battery and it started right up. I immediately disconnected jumper cables, tuned off ignition and tried to crank again. Fired right up.
Let sit for several hours, tried to crank and it fired up again. My wife drove ML to work on Monday, came home, and parked as usaual. LAter that night, I needed to run an errand so I went to crank but had no electrical power once again. Hooked up the jumper cable again and it fired right up. Disconnected cable and tried to crank. Fired up again. Drove it to autozone and had battery load tested. Battery is okay. Any ideas?

Airborne286

Anybody?

Benzo 003

I vaguely recall a similar issue with a different class....believe it was a bum key. Try the other key maybe?

Airborne286

Thanks Benzo. My only wonder would be why jump starting would work. If the key was bad, seems like the "extra boost" would not make a difference? Any thoughts?

Benzo 003

Yea, I thought about the jump start thing after I posted....not really sure. Heading in to my dealer in the next few days, I will inquire if it's not solved by then.

YuCrew

Did you ever get your starting problem on your ML, resolved?

DrX

Don't expect a reply from the OP, but his problem sounds like corrosion between the connector and the negative battery post. Jumpstarting bypasses this connection.

Stiggs

I'd blame the wife!

YuCrew

Hope this will help someone.

Starter key switch good; starting relay closing
Relay good
No solenoid click
No starter turnover - won't even crank, so not the CPS or fuel filter
Good battery

1. 12V reading fine at the solenoid terminal
2. no continuity from solenoid ground post to frame

Take your measurements from the post itself, not the nuts or terminals.

So this boiled down to NO ground connection for the starter motor or solenoid, all due to corrosion of connections at ground connection of solenoid/starter. Copper wire BRAID from starter to solenoid corroded away. Clearly not capable of handling probably 100+ amps at starting. Solid buss bar from ground connection on solenoid to starter/solenoid frame also showed no continuity.

Google "copper braid bosch starter" and you will see the same issue on other vehicles.

ML430 with 195,000 miles

Pictures tell the story.

TashaFlood

My car did same thing, was dead then would jump start, wake up next morning and dead again. And the entire time it was my connect cables to battery. Were loose.

kurtisle

2001 ML430. I have a similar but different problem. I had intermittent starting issues. Sometimes worked others not. Jumped with Jump Starter (not another car) and it would fire up and run and start fine afterward. Next morning, sometimes started sometimes not. Saw some corrosion on negative terminal so I disconnected the negative and cleaned it. Put back together. No start, only a single click and nothing. Resynced the remote, all seems fine...no start. Just a single click. Noticed after I'd reentered the radio code, then tried to start...same single click, the code went away, needed to reenter code every time I turned the ignition off. Any ideas?

Also, cables all look fine...nearly like new and healthy and tightly connected.

art_arev

Check the + & - to the starter. You might find it corroded

DrX

How old is your battery? Might be time for a new one.

kurtisle

You know, all this talk (and also on another forum) about batteries really got me thinking this morning. I did buy a battery to replace the original MB, but I had too much trouble trying to put it in so I stopped. I was confused when it suddenly stopped starting after I cleaned the poles. I think you guys are correct. I am going to try putting in the new battery and see if that is the problem. I am from the old school where batteries die slowly. But everyone here agrees the newer ones die quick and dirty. Live and learn. I'll let you know how it works.

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP.

kurtisle

DrX Thanks for your advice. I am old school, and I never imagined a battery would drop dead..from working to not working over night. I had a new battery but with all the horror stories, was fearful of putting it in myself. I followed the instructions in this forum and 1/2 hr. later I had a happy ML430.

WOO HOO, on the road again.

DrX

You're welcome. You know, it's not so much the battery dying suddenly - the gradual loss of voltage eventually affects the electronics. The radio forgetting the code is a clue, but I imagine you've had other gremlins too.

MIKE_ML430

i had a new engine put in and the car ran perfect then i got it inspected the first time still ran fine but they said they couldnt get a full reading cause i have not driven it enuf. so i drove it back and forth to work with no problems then i took it back for reinspection and this time the inspecter did the process differant and after he put it on the computer it would no longer start. i drove in and after he did what he did now it wont crank or start after i had no problems starting it be for that.

all the dash lights come on but nothing els no crank no start its not even tring to turn over i dont know what to do?

sandra1

Yeah, if you have no power at all, it's a battery connection issue most likely.