LocalGhost

Hello All;

My first post, quite happy (until today) 1999 ML320 user here.

So I returned to my car from the store with my groceries today and... It won't crank at all! Totally out of the blue .

Power is not a problem, new battery (4 months old), lots of power. Everything works, all lights and controls are OK. Alarm and central locking all good.
The small LED to the left of the radio blinks once, which means the car is "armed" to start. Only it won't.

The lights won't even dim when I turn the key into START position. There's no clicking nor any other sound.

I checked some of the fuses, but with heavy snow and falling darkness i gave up an left the car in the store's parking lot til tomorrow and took Uber home :-)

Although I am quite savvy around cars, I have no serious experience with ML - had no problems with it car since I got it two years ago. Any suggestions on what to check before I have it towed tomorrow?
I have a feeling it's a the starter itself, but there was absolutely no signs of it dying, it was always full of life and powerful before. Strange.

Any suggestions welcome.

corkshoppe

i had to have my aam reprogramed to my key, look on here and see if you have any symptoms of key not communiaction, and also any easy fix is the cps, when it fials your trunk wont turn!

LocalGhost

I was told that the small red LED next the radio blinking once (after turning the key to "1" position) shows that electronics / immobilizer was "armed to start" successfully, meaning the key communication is OK (and mine does). But thanks for your reply! Will look it up, and cps sensor as well.

Maj. Dundee

Do you have the truck with you or did you tow it to a shop?

LocalGhost

Well, the truck has been towed away, but it's my friend's shop and I am allowed to work there on it myself. Actually I am going there tomorrow. Any advice on where to start? :-) Thanks in advance.

EDIT: I also checked the car with regular OBD scanner, there's nothing except for some pending code for o2 sensor (but it's been there before).

Maj. Dundee

When you turn the key all the way on (not start) do all the telltale lights come on?

LocalGhost

The car is acting totally normal. The lights go on, then some of them go off (SRS/airbags etc). Just as usual. It just won't crank.

When I turn the key into START position, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAPPENS. No clicking, no dimming lights, nothing. Zero. Nada.

Maj. Dundee

OK, if all the lights illuminate on the cluster, then there is only a few tests to do.

First fashion a 6" piece of heavy gauge wire with spade terminals attached. Spade terminals can be bought at any automotive store. DO NOT USE BARE WIRE.

Then remove relay K8 (starter relay) from the fuse box and swap it with relay K1 and see if the truck starts. If not................

Remove relay again, turn the key to pos. #2, and insert one end of the jumper wire into slot #85 and test the other end of the jumper wire and see if the test light illuminates. Post results.

Then turn the key off and remove from ignition. Insert one end of the jumper wire into slot #30 and the other end into slot #87 and the eng. should crank over if the starter is good. If it doesn't crank or it does crank, remove the jumper wire after 2 seconds of testing. Post results.

If it doesn't crank you must look at the starter and look for corrosion at the braided ground wire or any corrosion on the starter solenoid.

Please note, the slots in the fuse box contain silver contact points and the jumper wire must contact these points for the tests to be successful.

LocalGhost

Thank you so very much, sir!
I followed your troubleshooting guide. It was the starter itself. $241 for the part and 1.5h of work later my ML is back from dead :-)
I was expecting this to happen sooner or later, as it was the original starter - 16 years old and 250k mileage. Can't really complain.
The only misleading thing was its sudden death. All the starters that had died on me before (and i had my share) were at least giving some warning signs - this one simply stopped working. Oh well.

Thanks again for your time and effort. I am new to this forum, but I love it already! Will be contributing as much as possible.