busterl

I own a 2000 E320 4 Matic Wagon, I love this car, with about 67K miles its been mostly trouble free. A currious condition has started happening, usually after rainy conditions. When inserting the key fob to start the car, you can hear the steering lock release, but you cant start the car. Can this be as simple as a fresh battery in the fob, or something more sinister? Can the fob battery be changed by myself or must this be accomplished at the dealer. Second, I fear sinister because this does'nt happen at every start, it can go for a week or two and then not start. Also before on start my power locks would drop, they no longer do this. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,
John

fosmith

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but I don't think you need good batteries in the key for the ignition switch to work. The batteries are to power the signal for remote activation of the door locks. In any case, it's easy to change the batteries. The owner's manual shows how to remove the battery tray from the key and you can get the batteries at any drug store.

Fred

Musikmann

Ditto to Fred regarding the batteries but some other part of the key could be going bad. If you have a spare key start using that to see if the symptoms persist. If not your key is bad; if so it's time to look at the EIS (electronic ignition system).