I have a 2008 C300 with 77,000 miles. I drove the car home from work Friday parked it in my parking garage went out this morning and it wouldn't start. The key locks and unlocks the doors the lights come on and the dash lights up. You can insert and turn the key but the car will not start. The stering wheel is locked and the drive is locked in park. I tried jumping and it did nothing I dident think the battery was bad but went and had it checked anyways. The battery checked out ok. I check the fuses that are associated with the starter and they seem to be ok. I'm not sure what to do next and not excited about having it towed to the dealership. Any information would be helpfull.

 

You key sensor and steering wheel lock sensor may be bad. $800-1600 depending on what's wrong.

 

Welcome to 25Million Km's of testing W204, then it drops you out of nowhere. Same symptoms as mine at 72 000Km. Waiting for a steering lock unit(EIS).
Get your ID book, car registration and original sale papers ready, and be prepared to wait at least two weeks for parts from Germany.1st they waited for a Service Key, now they wait for the EIS.

 

EIS failure seems increasingly common on 2008 models for some reason.

 

When these kinds of failures occur early in a product cycle, it often comes from a change made at the supplier, or a late change to a new supplier, which did not get fully represented in the program vehicle development testing. Sometimes the change is made as a cost reduction, and the "engineering judgment" did not anticipate problems, or the supplier made the change without informing MB. I am sure there is an engineer at MB responsible for the part whose career path has slowed down and/or a supplier who's had to eat a significant part of the warranty for those which failed within 48 months.

 

I am so glad I got rid of my 2008.

 

Well, don't forget, the 08s are the oldest 204s out there.....will be interesting to see if this part fails in the next couple years on later versions..

 

Rightfully so. Benz has been using EIS for quite a long time now and not even in the darkest days of the early W203s did there seem to be so many failures in one particular model year. The 2001-2002 W203s are the source of constant issues for the owners on the W203 forum but EIS problems are not all that common.

It is too bad that the owners are stuck with the big repair bills so little time after warranty.

 

Turns out I have a bad electronic steering lock, or at least that's what they think it is. So it's getting replaced at $925 and hopefully that fixes it.

 

This definitely is a reoccurring, well known issue so why is their not a Recall? I had documented cases of mine, even though it is an intermittent problem, Both dealerships I use for service have it documented numerous times in detail in my file. I also provided them with date stamped video proof. They were always unable to reproduce the problem, but provided me in writing it would be replaced at no cost if it completely fails.

 

I breathe a sigh of relief every time my car starts. Sorry to hear about your issue.

 

Hey JBailey, i kinda of had the same situation you did when i went to start my car in the morning, and this happened to me once prior to the final dead start. What i found out was my dealer told me that the 2008 C300 are recalled for a Solenoid Cam, and this was covered under that recall. I would check that out with them if you can still.

 

Did you get a C300 again, after that happened. Im planning on getting rid of mine as soon as im not upside down on my loan, I have to admit i do like the 11 and up models as they ride nicer and feel nicer, but Benz's are too expensive; like my rusted lug nuts which are not covered under CPO and they cost $10 something per each lug, thats over $200 per set, man i miss my 8th gen Si.

 

i just bought an 08 with 30,000 miles. i am subscribing just incase this happens to me.

 

I have a 2008 C300 with 57,000 miles. Had the no-start issue happen earlier this week. Had it towed into the dealership and was informed I have a bad EIS. Was quoted $1,069 to fix it. I have no choice but to proceed with the repair. I have subscribed to the thread in case anyone hears of a recall and we can get a refund for those of us who have come out of pocket for this same issue. I had a 2002 C320 Wagon before this car and had no issues with it, so I am quite disappointed with this happening to this car.

 

Yeah there is a recall, the dealer should know that for all 08' C300's, its called a Cam Solenoid and mine was covered under the CPA warranty before i recvd the recall notice.

 

I had my steering lock sensor changed at around 85k miles.

 

Yikes, so its out of any CPA and ext warranties right?. Man I'm seriously thinking of trading out my car within a year or so, the parts for benz's are really expensive.

 

Man, I just bought an '08, really hope I don't have to deal with this. Is there any way to do a preventative check on this you think?

 

It is not a recall. It's a campaign which is quite different.

And it's the camshaft solenoid seals. Some leak and some don't so MB is going to replace all of them. And it's all M272 engines.

 

For those that have had this problem, is your car South Africa build or Germany build?

 

The car would not recognize the key, it would not start and the steering column would not unlock. Had to be towed to the dealer. They told me the ESL needs to be replaced at a cost of $1,100. I told them that I feel this is a known issue and they said they would have mbusa call me direct to discuss on Monday so we'll see how that goes. My car is a 2008 C350 with 40,000 mi on it and is 7 weeks out of warranty.

So I spoke with the MB dealer's Service Manager and he contacted MBUSA and we are each paying a third of the ESL replacement cost. My portion was around $300 and I was very happy with the resolution. They ordered the part on Monday and I was able to pick up my car the next day.

 

The same thing happened to mine - C220 CDI, manufactured in Germany.

Maybe there was a way to tell that the problem was coming because the buzz sound when you enter the key drastically changed (became slow and prolonged) a couple of months prior to the fail. Since it was during the winter, for some reason I thought it was the battery that could cause it but since it wasn't that bad I decided not to change it. A few months later, the steering lock unit failed...

 

Ah i see, they fixed mine under the camshaft solenoid recall, whatever they did it fixed it all and was also under my CPA warranty.

 

Mine is at the dealers for 6 weeks.. They have not been able to figure out what is the issue. I agree - this should be a recall