billyons

March 2010, I was headed to the gas station to fill up. My C320 said I had about 14 miles left on the tank. After a mile and half a mile from the station the car ran out of gas. With assistance from AAA, I filled up and was on my way.

About 2 weeks later I was leaving work and my car would not start. It cranked but would not turn over. While trouble shooting the car I replaced the fuel filter and pump relay with no avail. There were no error codes when hooked to an OBD reader either. I finally had the fuel pump replaced and the car ran great, for about a month. Then one morning it would not start. I took the beater-van to work and when I came home the C320 started right up. This sort of behavior has happened 5-6 times since the fuel pump was replaced.

On December 20th, I was leaving work and the MB would not start. The next day it fired right up. This past Tuesday I went to lunch and the car would not start when it was time to go back to the office. I had to get a tow home and as of 5 minutes ago, it still does not start.

Any thoughts? Is the 2001 C320 rear SAM prone to fail?

Also, the driver side lumbar controller stopped working. I do not know when that happened, but I do remember it working a couple months before running out of gas.

phister

Have you started with the essential trouble shooting like testing the battery, alternator, or starter. Does it try to kick over when the car doesnt want to start or it does make a ticking noise? Have you tried jump starting the car when it doesnt start?

It kind of sounds like a starter issue but not too sure. When a starter starts to go out it'll start the car sometimes and then it won't. But I'd start with the battery and go from there. Glyn will probably chime in and give some helpful advice.

Glyn M Ruck

The rear SAM on 2001 is inclined to fail. The problem sounds as though you have crap in the fuel system from running the tank dry. Check the new fuel pump under the back seat drivers side for US.

I presume the car cranks over but does not start? - please clarify.

LILBENZ230

Yes.. crank and turn over are the same thing.

FrankW

check the obvious... crank position sensor.

Glyn M Ruck

+1

billyons

I'll check the crank position sensor, but I do not think that is the problem. I noticed the fuel rack is not being pressurized.

ohlord

won't trigger fuel.For 40 bucks take the 15 minutes and at least eliminate it as the most likely suspect.cps usually don't throw codes

Glyn M Ruck

If the fuel rail is not being pressurised it's likely pump, or fuel pump relay (position A) in the rear SAM, fuse (No4) or a faulty fuel pressure regulator in your new filter.

billyons

One of the wires in the 7 pin connector that plugs into rear SAM for the fuel pump is fried.

A friend of a friend (who works on MB) came by with this huge Snap On OBD computer. Plugged it in and he went through many systems looking for something. No error codes were present. With no pressure in the fuel rail, he started trouble shooting the SAM. That's when he found the fried wire. He did a "work around" and the car fired right up. He said he'll pick up the necessary parts and finish the car in a couple days.

Glyn M Ruck

Great - so the pump was out. I wonder what fried the wire???

citiclown

*2005 C55* * Same w203 rear SAM*
Billyons, I'm having fuel pump issues as well, no power. No codes, cranks fine. Discovered a 7-pin connector that was "freid" the pin itself was black, and seemed to have melted the adjacent plastic of the female connector. The connector was quite difficult to remove due to the fusion of the female connector's plastic to the SAM's plastic. Going to download some diagrams and find out where it goes off to and what that pin affects.