fdk110

A few days ago, my 2003 E500 abruptly shut off while I was driving on the highway and despite repeated attempts, it did not start back up.

I had it towed to a shop where they determined that the fuel pump was dead. Since it has two pumps, the recommendation was to change both. One day after picking up the car, the same thing happened again.

Towed the car again and this time the scanner showed a defective mass air filter. And now the radio was also comatosed. It did turn on and "Mercedes Benz" appears on the screen but no sound. Pressing the silver button that opens the CD changer cover, does not do anything. Almost as if it has no power.

After changing the mass air filter, the car appears to drive OK but the radio is still dead and the shop could not figure it out.

All of this sounds like as if the car got hit with an electromagnetic ray gun which blew all of these components.

Additional information I can offer is that the guys at the shop are not the most advanced, but honest to a fault. I think they really believed that the pump was dead.

My question is has anyone seen anything like this? And any ideas on what could be wrong with the radio?

Shifter

Lol. Ur car only has one pump on the passenger side. Lack of education. The drivers side is a sender unit.

Your audio system "most" ring is down causing the issues. Need that properly diag to figure the cause as it could be a variety of things.

JP500

how many miles on your E500?

fdk110

It has 142K miles.

JP500

damn, so there was no warning signs before you got on the highway that the fuel pump was going to die? like any loud ticking sounds or something... just curious because I have the same car as you do and im headed on the freeway in about 45 minutes, lol.. I do only have 70k miles on it though, but still just curious if you noticed anything strange when you started the car and then when you accelerated afterwards.. thanks for help

vettdvr

Just because the pump doesn't work doesn't mean it is the pump. There may be no power to the pump. CPS signs a signal to the BCM that engine is running to power relay that turns pump on. It could be one of many items that prevent the pump from running. Does the pump come on for 5 to 10 sec when the key is first turned on? It should to prime the fuel rail and powered by the Control Module which has a relay. There are also fuses that power the system.

The fact that the radio is giving issues could also be a power supply issue.

You might need to take a deeper look at the definition of "bad pump" Did they run after taken out of the tank. Those pumps are very reliable and to fail two is very improbable.

Plutoe

Remember-------" I can offer is that the guys at the shop are not the most advanced, but honest to a fault. I think they really believed that the pump was dead."

I know this is all in hind sight and the kid has already pooped in his pants----however here we go again-------Oh I can diagnose and fix that mentality---expensive to the owner, but BS Billy loves you-all!!---honest to a fault---lets take the same hill twice

vettdvr

A pump is dead if it doesn't run. There are many causes for not running.

Plutoe

My opus was started because the OP used the words "believed that the pump was dead"----the word believed left me with the impression that "the guys at the shop" did\still not know the pump was\is dead----they without testing replaced the pump and to this date we still do not know whether the original pump is\was dead!!

Do you know??

fdk110

Nope. This all happned in a few seconds. No warnings. No check enginge lights.

fdk110

As a follow up, I took the car to the dealer and had it scanned. Everything was OK. As far as the radio was concerned, the worksheet said that they "performeed a hard reset of the command. Performed a restart of the wake up line. Cleared codes." And it is working fine now.

In response to the comments that the root cause may have been in the power system, I did question the guys at the shop, and especially after they said that the MAF was also defective. They said that prior to changing the pump they did not see any fuel coming out of the pump and that was their validation that the pump was bad. When the car died a second time (due to the MAF filter), they claimed that they checked the pump again and this time fuel was coming out.

I am still at a loss that what could had caused all this. If there are any electronics circuitry in the pump and MAF filter my eletromagnetic ray gun theory may not be far off.

ozusa

MAF = Mass Airflow Sensor. It is not a filter. Although it does have mesh at one end to stop tree trunks getting sucked into the engine if they make it past the air filters.

A car can run pretty roughly with a bad MAF. But it probably will at least run.