Slapper

Hey gang. My wife's GL450 ran great for years. Few days ago car would not start. Key turns all the way, all power comes on but not cranking. Not even a clicking sound. I've scoured the internet and tried everything from a myriad of forums and videos. Need help.

New battery in Key FOB
I charged up the battery for 24 hours and it's fully charged. Still no start. Tried jumping, nothing.
Key turns in ignition
Steering wheel is not locked up
Checked every fuse and all good
Car powers up (headlights, dash, radio, AC, etc.)

I've read many mentions of the EIS system going bad that can cause starting problems but nothing is locked up. Key turns fine all the way to crank position but nothing. Not even a click. Steering wheel is not locked up. No warning lights of any kind in instrument panel. Ran an OBD diagnostic with no code warnings (I know mercs need STAR but don't have one). My wife did run out of gas couple weeks before this happened but started right up with gas added. I don't know why this would cause issues but I'm not ruling anything out with these complex electronics.

I hear a mild "bizzzzt" sound after trying to start it from what seems like the rear seats. Thinking this is the fuel pump activating. I also here it after taking key out of ignition.

Is my key FOB IR bad? I've read this could cause a no start but key FOB seems to be operative at least for locking, unlocking and rear lift gate. I only have 1 set of keys so can't test it with spare. I'm out of ideas and don't want to get this towed to a dealership to get ripped off, nor start buying bunch of stuff just to try different theories. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

TX07GL450

Did you rule out Starter problem ?

pjw1967

+1

Slapper

I've ruled it out at this point because I don't hear anything. Not even a click. Totally dead silent when trying to turn the key to crank. But I'm willing to try and test anything at this point.

alx

Starter rarely dies itself. It is usually the starter relay. You need to verify 12 volts at starter when engine is supposed to crank. If 12v are not present then Eis needs to be troubleshot and you need star/ das for that.

Slapper

Would STAR diagnostics pick up the issues that my OBD didn't?

angelglo

I had the same problem when my gl would not start also. No solenoid activation at all. Starters are fairly simple. Starters have hade virtually the same design for almost a century. they are just mini electric motors with brushes that can sometimes get dirty. You can try the good old hammer test. Just hit is with the hammer to dislodge the dirt from the brushes. This is only if the brushes got dirty.

If its your solenoid, one way to test it is to reach under and touch the POS term to the S term. the diagram shows how to do it with a screw driver. (ignore the rest of the diagram as this is testing it removed from the car). if your starter is no good, it will not activate. I'm almost sure it is not your positive terminal lead from the battery since that never goes out. If you did get the solenoid to activate, it will be downstream and could be other issues. The easiest to check is mentioned above which would be the relay.

These do go out. I replace mine a few months back. One of the symptoms I had was that the starter was labored. This would have been an indication of a starter going bad.

pjw1967

Thanks for the above. I was afraid to suggest the hammer trick as I had no knowledge of MB starters till now. Many moons ago I would use the hammer trick when I was an AAA tow truck driver part time. Mostly happened with GM products. Drivers would look at you like you were crazy when you told them to put the car in Park or Neutral, put on the parking brake, hold the key over in the start positon and wait till I hit the starter with a hammer. Would work most times. Told the drivers to park their car where a tow truck could get to it in the morning as their car was likely not to start again.

Slapper

Thanks angelglo! I'll give the hammer a shot.

Could you elaborate a bit more how to test the solenoid? All I have to do is to touch terminal S and B with the shaft of the screwdriver to activate the solenoid? Sorry I'm really mechanically challenged.

angelglo

Yes. That is all you have to do.

what you are essentially doing it supplying power directly to the S terminal via B terminal. this eliminates the entire starting system between the ignition, neutral safety switch and its relays. The B terminal has direct current from the battery. Once the solenoid is activated, it pulls the plunger inside the solenoid closed which simultaneously pushes the starter gear onto the flex plate and closes another switch which causes the starter motor to spin.

or you can go the long route in testing which involves a volt meter and another person turning the key.

BTW, if you use the screwdriver, I suggest you tape up most of the screw driver except for the last couple of inches. that way, there is less likelihood that you will ground it out on anything else. Also you might get some sparks. wear eye protection. If your starter is good, you might get started by it actuating.

Rod Lazarte

Im having the same problem on my 2011 gl 450. What did you do to fix the problem?

Mark Pasieka

why is their no information on the starter relay anywhere? removing it would give us access to the starter terminals at a more convenient location where we can jumper the relay to see if it kicks over the starter... it would also permit measuring resistance and seeing if the solenoid on the starter is dead.

antiguangenius

I is the starter relay..... pull it jump the two BIG terminals, PAY ATTENTION the TWO BIG terminals

pawker

same exact issue with my wife’s car. 2010 just like yours. Looking to see if you got it figured out. I found a bad starter in mine and replaced it but still not cranking. Please let me know if you found a solution. I’m at my wits end here.

Mark Pasieka

sorry about double posting before... does anyone know how to delete a post? thanks for the likes, makes me want to contribute.... spent another 4 hours watching you tube and found this video... God I need a better scan tool to figure out the logic status of the relevant terminals for starting Mercedes vehicles, I plan on recording a video of what the starting relay terminal voltages when I am in an ambient it starts in and also doing the same when Chicago artic blasts prevents the car from starting... this way you guys could deduce your vehicles status using a cheap digital multimeter.

I attached my open office document I always maintain as I work on a vehicle helps me keep track of what I need and does not get lost as quickly as notes on paper in my world. the first 14 pages may help you else where but page 14 is relevant to this post... see end of attached document for relevant screen captures of this last video. The first 14 pages of WIS captures from my WIS bootleg... Has anyone figured out how to print from the virtual machine viewer to an actual printer connected to your actual machine? I have been tediously taking screenshots and pasting into a word document and its supper tedious and not efficient...

if your only going to watch a few seconds start at 24 minutes 07 seconds


NOTTICE THERE ARE NO ELECTRONIC STEERING LOCK NOISES as he cycles the key! maybe im not supposed to hear them but then WHY DOES MY STEERING WHEEL NOT LOCK... not screaming just going nuts here... 4 years... i have had heaters in the car over the battery and that acquisition module thinking it would make a difference IT DID NOT... might want to try putting a heater under the ignition switch next time.... metal does have a coefficient of expansion and contraction and the reads in the ignition switch COULD be affected by low temperatures that would contract metal.


this guy talks forever , misdiagnosis and then finds something that I will need to verify with a better scan tool,, if I find my carsoft MBII I believe it should be able to show these terminals but have not confirmed..

hope the formatting did not get screwed up for the open office document, but I had to re-save as a word doc to upload for this forum as the forum does not permit .ODT file extensions to be uploaded.. I got a format loss warning when I did so... it looks ok after saving but I am using open office to create and view my documents.

eric_in_sd

Regarding printing from WIS: Print to XPS within the VM. Then with the right settings in your VM, you can drag and drop the xps file into a folder on the host machine and print from there.

Mark Pasieka

Eric, I have tried to save the XPS files to various locations on the virtual machine's drive and folders... I cannot seem to find them on the actual machine.. did a search for xps on the actual machines drive C and the file created from printing in the virtual machine cannot be found... if you have done this and could assist in being a bit more specific, this should allow me to participate in the forum more efficiently and would be greatly appreciated.

eric_in_sd

You won't be able to find the files anywhere in your physical machine. They only exist in a RAM space (or chunk of hard disk space) set aside for the virtual machine.

Drag and drop the xps file from the VM Explorer to the physical machine Explorer. You can do this by dragging to a side-by-side window. Wherever they land, you can print them from that location.

You may need to enable this mouse pointer integration in your VM.

Let me know if you still can't make it work. I am no expert but did manage to get this working.

Mark Pasieka

guys, I replaced the starter relay, and it has been starting in cold weather since without issues $14 dollars at northside imports. the one that was in their was made in CHHINA and the one i got from Northside imports had a bunch of information ground off it, curious why they did it, maybe they do not want anyone to know that an electrical equivalent exists which is probably only aa dollar for another car.

eric_in_sd

There have been more relays manufactured than people have lived on Earth ... and yet Chinesium has an incredible tendency to make unreliable even the most basic of products. The relays are one of those things that ought to be test swapped at the beginning of most any electrical repair.

Prince Somorin

Please which one is the starter relay? Thanks.

Max Blast

I

Prince Somorin

On my GL450, when I turn the ignition switch it automatically breaks fuse #105.

I’m at a loss here.

Also the switch looks different from all the ones I see on YouTube.

eric_in_sd

Change the starter relay before breaking apart the EIS.

I suspect 105 is the starter relay actuation while 122 is the current being switched. If the coil inside the relay has degraded, it may have shorted out.