Wife was driving my 05 C230 when it completely shutdown at ~30 mph; no power steering, no electronics, etc. Pulled off safely, thank God. Waited a little while, then it started right back up as if nothing was wrong.

It's got 130k mi, and has a newer battery (last year) and a new OEM alternator about 6 mos. ago.

Any idea what's up? CEL has been on 0102 (if I remember correctly due to a MAF error that I am fixing this week). Would the malfunctioning MAF cause this? Thanks for any help.

 

So gauges stopped working too?

 

Yes, everything. Essentially died.

 

An fuel trim or air flow issue like that might cause an engine shut down, but not a complete failure of everything including electrics.. this is very weird. I am not sure on this one.

 

Wow, a total system failure across multiple computers is pretty weird. The only thing I could possibly think is maybe loose or corroded battery cables/ground cables. Or maybe even a battery that is starting to fail. If you able to get it to a autoparts store they can probably test the alternator and battery. Even though they are both pretty new, things happen. But other than those ideas, I have no idea! Sorry

 

No CEL on? Have you check it via STAR for stored engine codes? When it happens the cluster, lights and the audio was on? It is very weird for all the systems, ECU, front and back SAM, CANBUS, to shut down the same time. Go to your workshop and plug it to Star system. It will tell you what happened.

 

I had issues after a big rain when nothing worked at all, but then after a few days things dried out and everything worked, but not this.
I would check all major electrical connections, battery, and alternator to see if they are tight and clean!

 

Is this the wife's car? If so, and you're thinking about a divorce or getting rid of her one way or another,... it might be a good idea to load up on her life insurance, now.

But seriously,.. if it's what I think it is,... it will happen again,... maybe not today, maybe not even tomorrow, maybe sometimes next week or even maybe sometimes next month,... but rest assure, it WILL happen again. Sometimes it'll be a no start condition,... and sometimes it'll be car stalling (complete shutdown) when it's being driven. And as time go by, it will happen more frequently,... until, it just won't start at all.

Ask your wife for some more details! When the car did a "complete shutdown while driving",....
- " no power steering, no electronics, etc"? Define "no electronics". What exactly are the etc??? A million things can happen to these cars, we can't help you unless you tell us exactly what happened. We can't read your wife's mind!

Also,...
- Did the car felt like it was stopping by itself,... not slam braking but coasting to a stop,... maybe like the transmission going into lower and lower gears,... but it'll come to a complete stop within 10-15 seconds without you hitting the brakes!,... because you were too busy hitting the gas with no results!
- Did the instrument cluster on the dashboard light up like a Christmas tree? What where the malfunction errors? (IE: Coolant Visit Workshop, BAS/ESP Visit Workshop, then a third one for ABS Visit Workshop or Engine Visit Workshop, etc,..)
- Did front radiator fan turn itself on in high mode like a turbine engine? This will be loud from engine bay,... quite noticeable.

 

Happened to me several times. Car died while driving and restarted after about 10-15 mins, ended up being crankshaft sensor!

 

I am not sure if the crankshaft sensor would kill all electronics. My car died at a stop light and after three restart tries it started and drove fine. I still need to replace the crank sensor.

I am not sure what the issue that the OP is describing.