Greetings everyone,

I am a newbie to the forum so I hope I am not posting to the wrong section.
I have a 2006 CLK200 Kompressor Sport Pack for about three years. Currently its 164000kms. Three days ago, I could not turn-on the ignition and have the ESP and Tyre Pressure failure messages on the screen. But no check engine light. I pulled the key off, re-inserted it and tried again and everything worked fine. Yesterday, while I was driving very early in the morning with my headlights on, the white tone back lit of my cluster started flickering. I noticed that the flickering weakens when I accelerate and gets stronger at stops while idling. I thought the problem is electrical rather than an aging instrument cluster. I got to my office's parking lot, turned the ignition off and pulled the key out. And then re-inserted it and start the engine. I noticed that the odometer "after start" screen reset itself. Also the clock on the left side reset itself.

I went to my indy service today, they tried to diagnose the problems through Star but no error messages were found. Alternator seems to be charging fine. Flickering dash lights got back to normal as well. So, I drove back to parking lot and stopped the engine. When I pulled the key out and re-insert it afterwards, I noticed the after start screen reset itself again. The clock started re-adjusting itself too.

My battery is new and original specs. My voltage regulator (MB original) also changed about 2 years/30000kms ago. So as far as I know, I have to check the alternator (still factory original). Do you have any suggestions about the cause of the problem(s)? Have you ever noticed any problem on your cars like the ones I explained above?
Sorry for my long message but I really want to sort this out as this car is my daily drive.

Thank you.

 

One of the following: bad battery, bad voltage regulator, bad alternator and possibly bad ignition switch.

 

^ +1. Regardless of the age of the battery and lack of codes, I;d check voltages - 12.6v at rest, no less than 11v during cranking and 14v at idle. Anything lower and I'd start looking at the battery and/or alternator.

 

Thank you for the replies. Voltage regulator and battery has been tested. No problems found. The car was fine during my 30km trip yesterday. I haven't noticed any problem this morning at the same route. Maybe it was a temporary problem?

 

Maybe. These cars are known for phantom electrical gremlins. But testing a battery at rest and under load is so easy to do that it would be silly not to do it.

EDIT: Oh, i misread and you have tested the battery.