I'm gonna start off by saying have done my research and I have a couple questions that I could not find anywhere.

First of its my moms car it's a 2008 Mercedes c300 luxury with 101,000 miles. I said it was my moms car because she doesn't know how to take care of it. She forgets to get simple things done like oil changes and other regular maintenance. That being said I do most the maintenance and it has never given us any problems.
It started last night. I took it to get a oil change and I parked it in our drive way. Later that night she called me and said it wouldn't start so I checked and it detects the key in the ignition but the steering wheel doesn't unlock and the radio doesn't turn on it just say to take the key from the ignition. The lights all work and it locks and unlocks using the keyless entry. The car is 100% stock.
I've read that it can be either steering wheel locking assembly,Electronic ignition system or the camshaft position sensor. I know that there could be other reasons but these are the most common and fit the best with the symptoms.
My questions are. Are there any test I can do to single out the problem? I'm hoping it's something cheap and simple to fix like the camshaft position sensor but I know that it's highly unlikely. Also I told her to try the spare key but she lost it somehow. I just need to get this fixed as soon as possible. I don't want to share a vehicle with her right now and I don't want to deal with the Mercedes Benz dealership because so far after speaking on the phone they have not been helpful at all. I've also talked to European car repair shops who say I need to take it directly to Mercedes to get it fixed. Also does anybody know of a good cheap shop around Austin or San Antonio that could fix this for us without having to deal with Mercedes directly?

 

Also I forgot to say that it is not throwing any codes on the dash. I haven't had time to go in with a scanner yet.

 

2008...
high mileage...

It's the dreaded ESL/EIS failure.

Take it to the dealership. Looking at $1000-$1500 for repair.

 

oh, well **** i didn't want this to happen but its whatever. I guess its time to convince her to get a new car maybe a c63 or something else cool. I hope theres a local shop that can do this because i really dont want to make her pay to get it towed so im gonna have to trailer it down somewhere to get it fixed.

 

Check the car battery mine had the same problem bought a new one n problem resolved!

 

Thanks man I will try that. I really hope that it works because I hate mercedes dealerships and the way they over charge and ive been talking to european repair shops and they seem to be trying to rip me off harder than mercedes saying that they need do a diagnosis that cost extra on top of the replacement of the faulty ignition system just to make sure there are no other problems.

 

They will need to do their own diagnosis to determine what is needed. Sounds like you are guessing and it may be a pretty expensive guess if you are wrong. If it were mine, i'd pay the diag because if they're, wrong its on them.

 

Gavinmay, I can tell you from experience, you won't want to even look at another Mercedes when you get your bill. They got me for 2 grand. Look on here and other forums about the others with this same problem. You at least got some mileage out of it. Mine was 35,000 miles, 2 months out of warranty. Nothing from MBUSA! I got it back Thursday and traded it in on a BMW 335 on Saturday. Much better car! From what I read, Mercedes is the only one qualified to perform the diagnosis. Be smart--don't buy another Merc for your Mother! Good luck!

 

So--What was the outcome,Gavinmay?

 

bluehardtail, Im sorry for not replying as fast as i should have. I completely forgot that I was A member of this forum until I checked my email. I usually dont drive this car because I have A diesel truck but it seems to be pretty reliable and hasn't really caused many problems.
The EIS was all covered under the CPO warranty and it only cost us $16.00 because one of the headlight bulbs had to be replaced. This was about 9 months ago and everything was good until last month. I noticed that the brakes were warped so I took the car in to see if I could get any work done under warranty. My mom wasn't able to go in with me to the dealership and im not 21 yet so they said they wouldn't be able to let me leave with a loaner car so I brought my grandmother who Isn't able to drive. At the dealership they were very understanding and realized that it would be okay to let me drive off in the loaner which was extremely helpful and it made me realize how helpful the customer service is at these dealerships.
Anyways, back to the car. I took it in for the brakes and A few days later my mom got A call from the dealership saying that there was A lot more wrong with the car and we would have to pay to fix the driving light that Mercedes had issued A recall over. She ended up paying the $2500.00 bill without really knowing what she was paying for or even questioning the if anything was under the CPO warranty.
Right now the car has 118,000 miles and is still running pretty well and is in decent mechanical condition other than A radio dial being broken and one of the window regulator starting to go out. Hopefully after this car goes she decides to get something A little cheaper to maintain and can be repaired at home since i'm ASE certified and am definitely not new to working on vehicles.
Also congratulations on your 335i. im actually considering getting either A 135i,335i, or 550i when I graduate from High school but hopefully A little easier to repair at home and quicker than the naturally aspirated Mercedes v6.