GL 320 cold start
 

I have an 07 GL 320 that will not start tonight.

I am in Vermont and it is very cold, 0 degrees and windy. The battery seems fine, but it will not turn over. The Mercedes help said to put a blanket over the hood and try in the morning, and that it is likely the fuel has gelled. At what temp does this happen and what are the ways to avoid it if I can not park insde?

I have had the GL in this tempature before and had no problem. The fuel was purchased in MA so should have been winterized.

Thanks.

When you say it does not turn over, to me, indicates that the starter does not spin the engine. Is this the case or does it spin the engine and it will not start?

If it is spinning, and does not start, it is a combustion issue, fuel is gel'd or glow plugs are not heating. If it is not spinning, it is electrical; batteries or starter.

I do not think it is the the battery because light, radio... work. The first time I tried it almost turned over. Now, after the glow plug light goes off it just wines a bit and seems to try and turn over, but very slow. Mercedes said to wait until the temp goes up and not to run down the battery trying now.

It is -4 now but should go up to the mid 20s tomorrow.

So, it seems to me to be the later and hopefully a fuel issue. I will see tomorrow or I will have to call Mercedes again. But, given the problems I have had so far, squeeking breaks, rear latch failure (still happening), 2 recalls, and this I am starting to lose a bit of confidence in the car.

When you said whining, it makes me think batteries even more. A diesel engine requires many more amps to turn it over than a gas. Therefore, a weakened battery (s) and a very cold engine will result in this. The battery may have enough power to run all the electrical, but not turn over the engine. If your '07 has never had the batteries replaced, it would be just about be the right age for this to happen and a good cold snap could bring it to the surface. Since the batteries are not visible, I am assuming they have two batteries, like every other diesel I have owned. I have gone through this several times over the years with my diesels.

If you have another vehicle and some jumper cables, you might be able to jump start it or at least narrow the possibilities.

Thanks. I will give it a try.

Well, no luck with the jump. Also, it is now 30 degrees, so I don't think it is the fuel.

So, they are coming to tow it to the dealer (60 miles away) and I have to rent a car. Then, If they do not fix it by tomorrow, I will have to figure out how to get it back from Vermont.

It still just whines when I try to start it.

Not good.

Power Service anti-gel is available from almost any auto parts store or fuel station. It will prevent the gelling if your worried, altho that does not sound like your issue. I'm in Mass and my E300D started fine last night in 5 degree weather.

If the starter motor can barely spin the engine, it's not a fuel issue.

Whether lights work or not is meaningless as regards whether the battery is capable of spinning the starter motor and the engine.

Your description "whines" is useless. Does the starter motor turn the engine or doesn't it?

If it doesn't, owners manual contains procedure for jump starting, which seems the thing to try before having car towed away. Then you could drive the car to have the battery tested and likely replaced.

Ikchris, we try jumping it, it did not turn over. While I have had starters go on other cars, since I have not had a diesel before I do know know if it is the same. It seems to be, as you say below, the starter moter can barely turn over the engine.

As I have run out of options, they are going to tow it.

Thanks for the input.

:y+1 on the Power Service (white bottle). On my third diesel vehicle and no gelling issues ever using PS here in Wisconsin. Knock on wood.

your battery is weak/dead (regardless of the lights/radio/etc turning on)

you have been driving the truck mostly on short distance trips thus not allowing the battery to charge sufficiently.

a jump is very hard as the gl requires a lot of juice to turn over the engine at sufficient speed to fire it up. diesels rely on compression to ignite the air/fuel mix - thus if your cranking is not fast enough- no starting is possible.

you need to charge your battery with a battery charger over few hours.

alex
few cars

alx, that certainly sounds correct. Also, someone else told me that if it was not jumped for at least 10 minutes it would not work. Since I have never owned a diesel before I did not understand the difference.

The car had been used over the past several days a good bit. Could one possibility be the rear hatch? Since purchasing the car the rear hatch has not been closing properly. This occurs more often when it is cold. The dealer has made adjustments 3 times but it has never been completely fixed.

If I pull back slightly on the handle it engages and then closes. The only reason I bring this up is that on another post I recall someone mentioning that the improper function of the rear hatch had drained the battery.

In any case I will find out tomorrow.

Thanks.

Well, this morning, after sitting in the heated garage at the dealer over the weekend they say it started up.

They are unsure of the cause, but suggested it might have been the fuel not being winterized. I purchased it at Pride in Springfield Mass and have done so before many times with no problems.

They are going to take a look at the rear hatch and see if it was a possible cause since it never seems to work properly in the cold. Also, they (like several of you posting here) suggested an additive when it is cold. I would have liked the dealer to tell me about this when I purchased it.

be careful what you accept as an explanation.

slow turning over and not starting is almost always battery related.

diesel fuel might gell up (if not winterized), but will not slow down cranking by any mean.

btw, best proven diesel additive (pays for itself as increases cetane number, prevents gelling and atomizes fuel better for better mpg and lower sooth) is "performance formula" by stanadyne.

all my diesel vehicles have been running stanadyne for many years and i am very happy with the results

alex
few cars

sounds electrical. It was -26 F here on Saturday, no problems on pump Diesel with no additives...

My battery went dead 3 times. The first time I tried to jump it from the "post" under the hood and no success. (I didn't know it was a AGM at this time and had the charger set to lead-acid) I just put a charger on it and it started after 30 minutes. In the meantime, I called the dealer and they sent the service guy. When he arrived I had it running in the driveway. He stated that these can't be jumped from the "post" under the hood as the battery is a AGM battery that is very large and is mounted under the front passenger seat. To jump them, he said they usually put a cable on the battery under the seat and the "post" under the hood at the same time to get it to start. The high compression of the diesel requires a lot of amps to turn the engine over due to the high compression levels plus the long cable run takes even more amps. You may have enough to run lights, radio etc, but not enough to crank the engine. The second two times the battery went dead, I placed my smart charger with a AGM setting and a "jump" setting with 75 amps on the "post" under the hood and got it started within 5 minutes. I did this as it was much faster than waiting 45 minutes for MB service.

All that being said, sounds like the cold weather zapped your battery enough to not crank the engine as the oil was like sludge with the cold weather. I agree with the other poster that if the engine turns over and no combustion would mean that the fuel has "gelled".

Also, the MB tech stated the charging system onboard is a 60 amp charger and does a great job (altenator) but must be run long enough to fully keep the battery charged. He said the battery is under the seat to help keep the temp more constant on the battery as the AGM (absorbed glass mat) batteries are more prone to failure at temperature extremes. You may want to request a new battery under warranty if you are experiencing this sort of failure. (and hopefully not the tailgate battery drain like I had)
Good luck.

I spoke with the service manager again, and he was both nice and helpful. I related some of the thoughts from postings here and he agreed with most of what everyone said. While we do not have a definitive cause, it seems likely to be the rear hatch (which has now been adjusted for the 4th time)combined with the cold that zapped the battery enough.

Of course, I wish I had known that the jump needed to be much longer. I hope it does not happen again, but thanks to this discussion if it does I am much more informed. The last time I had an issue (squeaky breaks) someone here posted the service advisory which I printed and brought to the service manager and viola, fixed. The information network created by message boards helps level the playing field.

On a side note, the roadside assistance people have been helpful and readily accepted that the costs associated with this breakdown are covered under the warranty and trip interruption plan. Now I just have to get the car back!!!

Hope you have your car back and all is well. I had a similar issue in Stowe VT on 1/1. Was turning over but no fuel getting to engine. MB sent out someone to jump it but did not help. Had car towed to a local garage the next day to sit for a bit in heat and it started after a few hrs. Had filled up with fuel in NJ before start of trip but local mechanic said to fill up there as diesel has a different mixture due to lowere local temps. Dealer says no official fix from MB USA, has me concerned about goinb back to VT before I know of a solution.

Your service department has a strange DTB (dealer technical bulletin) where it appears MBUSA is simply taking a survey to compile a list of cold starting problems. The bulletin contains no fixes.

Yes, I did get my car back. I had to rent a car and drive to Burlington to get it. Mercedes covered it under their trip interruption plan.

After sitting in a garage for a few days it started up. When I first called Mercedes they asked if I could move it inside. I said I could not, and also, this would not be very helpful because there are many times (i.e parked at the airport, train station…) when it would be outside for at least several days.
As for the fix, they did replace the rear tail gate mechanism again; this is the 4th attempt at a fix. We considered that was a drain on the battery and caused the problem. Also, I picked up a bottle of the fuel additive for diesel when it is very cold. The next day it was also about 0 degrees, but it started up fine.

The service manager was helpful. He said that there were a number of calls from people from down south with a similar issue. I fueled up in Springfield Mass, so I would be surprised if that diesel fuel was not winterized.
So, I have had no other problems, but will have to see what happens the next time it is below 0.

I suspect there is a bad batch of fuel being distributed. This gelling issue is showing up suddenly in the last week. Mine CDI has always been parked outside, and last Friday was the first time ever it did not start. (Temps was -20F). On my way in to work that day, I say a bunch of Semi's with hoods raised on the highway.

On cold days, (-10F or below) it will crank a little slower and longer, but usually starts. Not this time. Cranked slow, but did not start. And it has been this cold in the past.

I have received replies from people west of the Miss. and in Canada who have colder temps, and they have no issues. I say the culprit is fuel.

From now on, I use the fuel additives. Can't afford to be stuck.

Maybe now MB could think about putting the block heater on the USA models??:X

I would guess that most diesel fuel is not properly winterized for the kinds of extreme temps we saw last week. In my case, I still had 1/2 a tank of fuel from a Murphy's station in extreme NW Illinois, where a sticker on the pump said it was protected down to -20F. I had no problems on even the coldest day.

GL320 Won't start
 

I have a 2008 GL320 that has also mysteriously not started on occasion (several in fact). This vehicle has been in and out of the service dept of our local MB dealer with no progress on diagnosing the problem. Very frustrating for both the service team and for us. Sor far, to my knowledge they have checked:

• both batteries
• the electrical system
• replaced back computer
• reprogrammed computers
• repaired back hatch (which continues to fail)

The batteries appear to discharge sometimes quickly (overnight) and it takes 20-25 minutes of boosting to get the car going.

I drive the car on long trips frequently and still the car may not start the following morning. Interestingly, the Car and Driver's Long Term road test also reported that the car mysteriously did not start AND that they had trouble with the rear tail gate.

My thoughts as of today: the rear tailgate mechanism is faulty and somehow leaching from the battery causing the battery to run dry over time.

I am adding myself to this post as well, as I was stranded yesterday with a GL that wouldn't start as well. The weather was maybe 25-30 degrees F so definitely wasn't too cold, and the truck had been driven a good bit before she decided not to start after sitting for an hour in the parking lot. This is the 3rd time she wouldn't start, and the dealer hasn't been able to figure out why. The only thing the tech saw yesterday was there wasn't sufficient fuel pressure while trying to start, so we'll see what service says once they open tomorrow and will report back. I, too, have noticed my tailgate latch not closing from time to time.

I have finally got word from my MB service department regarding the mysterious "no starts". They received this information after hounding MB Head Office:

1) APPARENTLY the rear tailgate latch mechanism is the only component in the GL that does not automticatlly shut-off after the engine has been shut down (unlike the headlights, radio etc.) If after the engine is shut off the tail gate mechanism has not latched properly it will continue to try to latch until the battery runs out...resulting in a a no-start.

2) The GL's tailgate latch mechanism has a specific "fix" which MB service technicians may not know about. The "fix" is acompanied by a german video which shows technicians how to perform it (our technicians were sure they were fixing the latch properly until they saw the video). Your service dept must ask for this specifically from MB head office...the information plus the video about the "fix"

3) Once this "fix" is performed it should solve the rear tailgate latch issues AND the no-start problem.

After several weeks of being in and out of the service department to address this issue I am hopeful that this is the final answer to the mysterious no-starts. If it is not the solution, however, I may be asking them to take my GL back. Yup-that's how frustrated I am.