triggerman

Please help guys, suddenly the engine in my car will not even turn over. All accessories and lights work perfectly and battery is fully charged and passes a load test. I get a faint and very short clicking sound coming from the drivers side area, lasts about a second and stops. Sounds similar to what a battery sounds like when its dead and you try to start it, but this clicking is far quieter. I have never had a starting problem at all with this car. It has 189,000 miles. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Adam

mgw_300e

did you try smacking the starter with something?

triggerman

Thanks for the reply. Actually I just got through doing just that. I smacked and tried it, nothing. Had the wife turn the key while I smacked it, nothing. If the starter is good it "looks" bad now! Also, all the fuses in the box on drivers fenderwell are good. Are there any other fuses or relays that I could look at? If so where are they? BTW, wiring harness is new, OVP relay is new, and various other new engine parts as of a few months ago.

Thanks guys
Adam

JrJammin

my car was doing something very similar to this... i found no help here on the forums and ended up taking it to the dealership.. it was the EHA Valve and the Air Pump - both needed replaced

shadowgriffen

DID you try the OVP yet????

I have written a ton of replys regarding this matter, use the search feature it will bring up.

ashman

Checkt he fuses. there is a fuse that is for the starter and if it is gone it can exhibit this problem. I forget which one it is but I believe it is on the top row. it may look good but it is bad. just check all the fuses by removing each one and seeing if it comes apart in your hands if it does then replace it.

This happened to a friends car once. and it turned out to be a fuse and it had full power on everything full battery and all.

That would eb the first place I would check.

mgw_300e

Yes:

shadowgriffen

Sugar pants, I will from now on read every post with EXTREME caution and patience before posting a reply.

PS: I still think you're

C43AMG

CPS - crank postion sensor ?

mgw_300e

You know I'm just busting your ***** <3

Hound

mine had a similar issue 2 weeks ago, turned out the car needed a new distributor cap and rotor, also replaced the plugs and fuel filter at the same time as well....

triggerman

I did check each fuse and they all look good and are intact. Also no single fuse is listed as having the starter on its circuit. Loaded it up today and took it to a shop and as I was rolling it off the trailer I thought "be funny if it started up" sure enough it fired right up! But I had them go ahead and pull the starter and am having it rebuilt. Thanks for the help guys.

ashman

Did you remove each fuse. sometimes they can get a hairline crack you cannot see until you remove it.

But if the shop discovered it was indeed the starter. then that is good.

triggerman

Had the starter rebuilt and it seems as of now that its fixed! These starters do last about twice as long as alot of domestic ones though dont they. My car has 187,000 miles and it appeared to never have been off the car.

shadowgriffen

I recently replaced mine at 227,000 was original.

triggerman

Well my car did it again. All accessories work, battery passes load test, replaced all acc. fuses with new ones, rebuilt starter, and the car as of this morn. will not turn over at all. Right now its just a 2 ton paper weight. Got an appointment with an indie. on mon. Anyone got any new ideas at all I could try before then? I am going to jack it up and check all ground straps etc. that I can find. Could it be ingition switch?

thanks guys
Adam

shahedC

Never had this problem with a Benz, but I did have it with my 2001 Pontiac Grand Am SE.

It turns out that the pass-lock sensor had failed. That's the device that prevents thieves from hotwiring the car.

The repair shop ended up replacing the ignition lock cylinder housing for less than 500 bucks total.

The car had over 120,000 miles on it at the time.

(I checked the fuses, battery, etc and even the gas tank was almost full)

Lancelot

I've had a similar problem with a 3 y/o van I drive for work. The dealership diagnosed it's ECU, starter motor, ingnition, and battery were all in the green. In the end it did turn out to be the battery; probably bent plates shorting out from time to time. If you can mount another battery from another car you should give it a try...

ZedStyle

i had that problem... what i do now is turn the key to accessory, and let all the lights on the dash light up. wait a few seconds (i usually wait until the airbag light goes off) then crank it anf it starts. it would failt o start every couple of weeks, but since i started doing this, it's been perfect...!

watch it happen again now that i've said it.

triggerman

Thanks, but that didn't work either.

cap'n jasper

Check the wiring to the starter. I know you changed the engine harness but the starter is on a separate one.

shadowgriffen

LOL Fuel pumps maybe??

mgw_300e

That was going to be my next guess, too.

Have someone turn the key to the acc position while you stand by the passenger side rear wheel. If you hear a two second buzz from under the car, your fuel pumps work.

triggerman

Fuel pumps would not apply here since the engine will not even spin over at all. I'm sure if it was a manual I could roll down a hill, pop it in gear and fire right up. I am going to inspect the starter wiring as far as I can find. Thanks guys

ashman

if the starter was just replaced, it could be the starter relay.

Do a search on mercedesshop.com and see if others have had this problem. there are some very talented people there who can give you tons of info on what to check.