E320 CDI Odd Behavior
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Joined: Mar 2023
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2005 E320 CDI
E320 CDI No Crank No Start
Hey everybody, new member and new to Mercedes
I'm not the best at explaining, but I'm gonna try, so just bear with me on this. I just bought a great looking Mercedes E320 CDI, with 299k miles on it, that ran perfectly. Well I drove it to work, with no issues. Then when I went on my hour break, I sat in the car, with my key on, and listened to music. It got chilly so I started it up with no issues and I let it warm up. Turned it off, then saw a better parking spot closer to the door so I went to start it again.
With the key in the starting position, it didn't do anything. Dash lit up, and I got a message about the ESP and ABS needing workshopped. Then I saw a message about a low battery, so I turned it off.
Well I went back in, and had someone bring me another battery, later in the day. Well at this point it's really cold out, in case that's important, and when we get the battery in, same thing happens. Except now my fan goes crazy when the key is on and it'll give a warning to turn the engine off before it overheats, despite it not running. Another thing I've noticed is that the glow plug light doesn't come on.
Well I just figured that it had something to do with the security. So I used my manual key to lock and unlock the doors. Well this made it start cranking and it even started. Great, right? Well no, cause it starts up then immediately dies, like it's not getting any fuel, but it's got plenty of pressure and it's definitely getting fuel. Something else I noticed is that it will also start if I wiggle the relays under the hood and the analog clock is spinning backwards when I have it on.
Now it will only try to start randomly. I can turn on the key 20 times and nothing will happen, but I can walk away and come back and it'll crank right up then die.
It's just got me really puzzled and I'm looking for any advice on what it could be or what direction I need to look.
I'm not the best at explaining, but I'm gonna try, so just bear with me on this. I just bought a great looking Mercedes E320 CDI, with 299k miles on it, that ran perfectly. Well I drove it to work, with no issues. Then when I went on my hour break, I sat in the car, with my key on, and listened to music. It got chilly so I started it up with no issues and I let it warm up. Turned it off, then saw a better parking spot closer to the door so I went to start it again.
With the key in the starting position, it didn't do anything. Dash lit up, and I got a message about the ESP and ABS needing workshopped. Then I saw a message about a low battery, so I turned it off.
Well I went back in, and had someone bring me another battery, later in the day. Well at this point it's really cold out, in case that's important, and when we get the battery in, same thing happens. Except now my fan goes crazy when the key is on and it'll give a warning to turn the engine off before it overheats, despite it not running. Another thing I've noticed is that the glow plug light doesn't come on.
Well I just figured that it had something to do with the security. So I used my manual key to lock and unlock the doors. Well this made it start cranking and it even started. Great, right? Well no, cause it starts up then immediately dies, like it's not getting any fuel, but it's got plenty of pressure and it's definitely getting fuel. Something else I noticed is that it will also start if I wiggle the relays under the hood and the analog clock is spinning backwards when I have it on.
Now it will only try to start randomly. I can turn on the key 20 times and nothing will happen, but I can walk away and come back and it'll crank right up then die.
It's just got me really puzzled and I'm looking for any advice on what it could be or what direction I need to look.
Last edited by Yode_Bob; Mar 18, 2023 at 03:31 PM.
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 337
Likes: 20
From: Charlotte, NC
2005 E320 CDI, 2015 GLA 250
Does it have a lot of door dings? If not, maybe it was upset that you wanted to move closer to the front door and started acting up.😜
Try disconnecting the battery and cleaning the terminals. Even a slight amount of corrosion can cause giant problems. Also check the state of the second little battery under the cabin filter.
Good luck,
Peter
Try disconnecting the battery and cleaning the terminals. Even a slight amount of corrosion can cause giant problems. Also check the state of the second little battery under the cabin filter.
Good luck,
Peter
