2011 GL450 not starting - new battery
 

Hello everyone. After reading my fair share of posts here, I decided to make the jump on a 2011 GL450. The prior owner took meticulous care of the vehicle and it is in great shape. When I went to test drive it, I pulled to the side and hooked up the scanner to double check, and everything looked legit. I made the purchase and drove it home, picked up my wife, and went to grab lunch. When we came back from lunch, it would not start; all the lights on the dash light up and everything still works (AC, Radio, etc.), I took out the start button and tried with both keys. It makes noise like it's pushing the fuel where it needs to be but when it's time to start, nothing. No noise at all. Now, I don't consider myself a mechanic but am fairly decent at troubleshooting so I spent the rest of the evening into the night, driving over and checking fixes that I found online. The good is that I have tried a lot of things. The bad is that I'm out of ideas and am no closer to really knowing what the issue is and am not ready to spend a fortune at a mechanic to chase it down.

Things tested/results: Keys have new batteries and will not work with the KeylessGO button or with the keys. Both methods act like it's going to start and then nothing.
Checked all of the ignition/starter fuses.
New battery installed last year (verified with dealer), battery tests confirm, both under load and not under load. Tried to jump to rule out further and still doesn't start. Battery also looks great.
Pulled negative terminal and left off for a few minutes because it's below freezing and I read that there are sometimes issues with starting in cold.
Can shift from P>D/N/R>P with no issues.
Pulled codes again from OBD2 and nothing is showing.

I think that's all, but I may be forgetting something else that I've tried. I think the next step is the starter but it's sitting in a parking lot currently and I don't have the means to get under to check it and as it started perfectly fine every time I drove it when I was looking to purchase and the two times I started it after it was purchased, so I don't know if that's it. It also makes no sound like it's attempting. The previous owner was one of those folks that took it to the Mercedes service and did everything they suggested plus more so it has had every single service interval item done since it was built. It has 80k miles on it and the last service record at the dealer was at 78k, before it was sold.

Any suggestions of what to try next or what it could be? Thanks in advance!

I read and searched, looks like another EIS problem.

Does it work when reset by removing Neg battery cable?

Could be a failing starter. Also I would recommend reaching back to the person who sold you this car and ask them how many times this happened to them.

If unplug Negative battery cable still can’t start, could be a Starter as Max said.

look for replacing starter thread, kind of 1-2 hrs job if you are handy.

Took 1.5hr for me to replace mine.

good luck

When you turn the ignition switch to Start (crank), you hear absolutely nothing?

80K miles is low for starter failure, and the starters usually fail in their brushes, meaning the crank becomes weak. One of the two brushes would go bad first, dropping the motor power by half.

Complete failure of the starter, that is, the solenoid stopping working, is unusual but cannot be ruled out.

It is possible there is a blown fuse on the starter (solenoid) circuit. Should that be the case, you would need to find out why the fuse blew. Possibly the cold weather made the solenoid sticky, and it went overcurrent in an attempt to engage.

Thanks for all the replies already. I'm trying to make sure I reply to all of them so apologies if I miss any.

I tried this last night for the 30 seconds and again for ten minutes, both from other posts I've read across the internet and the forums. Neither of those worked. I'm hoping it's either not EIS or that it's covered by the dealer I bought it from. Not holding my breath on that one but still.

I reached out to the service department where it was taken care of and originally purchased. They looked through all of the records and saw no complaints ever of it having issues starting. The tech I spoke to said that the original owner still has a car that is serviced there and he will reach out to them and ask the question and let me know. The fortunate/unfortunate part is that there is a 2000 mile/6 month gap from when it was seen at the MB service dept and when it ended up at the lot where I found it so there is a tiny bit of a blind spot to me.

Thanks. I like to think I'm handy until something I'm working on completely humbles me.

Sounds and actions with the key: When I walk up, the doors unlock as I reach for the handle. When I get in and put the key into the ignition, the steering wheel moves to the right position and regular lights on the dash. Position 1 and you can hear the pre-start systems start with low, normal German sounds. Nothing out of the ordinary at all. Position 2, all the lights light up (diagnostic style) and will stay on, including low gas light, despite having half a tank. I've waited 2 minutes to see if any go out or change color or blink and none of that happens. Twist to crank and I can hear the fuel pump start moving fuel for a couple seconds and then stop because nothing else is happening. It's the same sound that any modern car I've owned makes so I don't think it's suspicious, but I'm new to the Merc. After I let go of Position 3 and let it go back to 2, all the diag lights stay lit on the dash. Radio, AC, lights, seats, seat heaters, etc, all work. I can shift out of P and back with no issue.

The mileage and how well it was taken care of is the thing that makes me weary about it being the starter as well. As I said earlier, the previous owner did every single service imaginable and even the service manager was shocked while looking through the records, so that added on makes me doubt the starter was straining. I know the times I started it, there was no issue. I checked every fuse that had "starter" labeled on it and they were all good. I didn't pull the starter relay yet or order one because I haven't been able to find one local and it will be Monday before I can get some. If I don't have headway in getting the dealer to help out/give direction before end of day today, I'll start ordering other stuff to test.

One of the next things I've been wondering and trying to find good info about is: do those cartech MBII scanners pull enough info for me to possibly see if there's a system that failed that my regular OBD2 reader isn't seeing? Like if it is the EIS, would that catch it. Is there one that I should look at instead? I'm still in that place where I want to get it fixed rather than start a bunch of stuff at the BBB to get them to buy it back, because it was such a good find and I like it so much but I'm also not above walking away if necessary and don't want to buy a bunch of stuff to chase down an issue on a car that I end up having to walk away from.

Thank you all again for the help. I tried to search the forums but haven't found many with the exact issue or a good solution.

Welcome to my world. See my thread "weak spark" if you want to see a man humbled - and redeemed.
There is another lesson in there: You have to be patient and resourceful.

Very detailed. Good job. Just to confirm, when you turn the key to Start, when it should be cranking, everything remains the same, including there being nothing from the starter?
So you have a more in-depth understanding: The EIS communicates with (one of) the engine computers, which send a low power signal to the relay (in the fuse box), or the EIS connects directly to the relay, which activates the solenoid and acts as an even larger relay to energize the starter motor windings. You can bypass the starter relay by inserting a little jumper across the terminals the starter relay was closing. You can also swap the relay for some other, or plug in one of the spare relays you will have soon if not already.

When I was draining my fuel tank in hopes that I merely had a tank of bad gas, I inserted such a jumper to bypass the fuel pump relay. It is just a short length of 18 ga wire with spade lugs on each end.

If you put your finger on the starter relay, you will be able to feel it click when your assistant turns the key to Start.

It seems a little odd to me that the EIS would fail at just one function - signaling the starter relay - and otherwise work normally.

This starter issue does not seem like a fatal flaw to me. I can't imagine this thing being worth walking away from, as long as the body and interior are in good shape. Cheer up; they are well made machines, very solid, easily able to go well north of 200K miles with proper care and feeding. They age well.

However, if you are needing a vehicle you do not foist a fair amount of attention on, you had better look elsewhere. As the seller undoubtedly figured out with his dealership visits, cost of ownership will go orbital if you are not self sufficient. There was another guy who recently posted that the dealership wanted $1500 to change the thermostat. He ended up getting it done for $300 total. Heck, I did such a fix in my buddy's driveway here in Idaho; the only reason it dragged on was because I did not heed the warnings about the o-ring and had to get a replacement radiator hose. The last big mistake I made was paying an independent shop $800 in labor for a fuel pump replacement I could easily have performed myself. You have a 10-11 year old machine there that simply is not new. If you don't want to be a mechanic, you're in the wrong line of work.

Things like switch signals tend not to be the sorts of things MBII is interested in reporting. Frankly it would be easier to just put a volt meter on the relay activation terminal. I ended up getting the Autel when I was frustrated with diagnosing the Airmatic system; while the MBII can report things like pressures, the Autel allows you to command the valves to open and close to see effect.

I don't know what scan tool you are currently using, but I predict you will be floored by just how much more the better tools tell you. However, If I were you, I would forget about additional diagnostic tools for the moment and concentrate on old school problem solving. Like I said, I doubt MBII will be much help in this particular situation.

Wow! Thanks for all the explanations and help with my OCD in getting this figured out.

In all my years troubleshooting, I've learned to be pretty resourceful and also honest enough to know when I'm in an area I'm not familiar with. No worries about me being over-confident in the MB world. Take me back to carburetors and manual transmissions... yeah, still won't be.

Correct. If I do the KeylessGo button, it acts like I just turned on the accessories and same if I turn the key all the way. (The caveat is: nothing that I can hear with the hood up and window down.) Dash lights don't dim, don't turn off, and there are no noises/alerts. Nothing that sounds like a seized engine or trans and it's straining.

Just to be sure, this is the relay that's piggy backing the starter, buried in the engine bay, or is the the little relay in the main engine fuse box? Just to note; I am absolutely horrible at using the right terminology, even in my day job that I've done for most of my life. I can tell you how it works, but don't ask me to remember the name or trust that the name I give back is right.

I was searching again down the list and noticed that there is one more starter fuse that I did not check, the 105. I will check that while I do the rest of that.

I have been trying to keep it positive, which I'm learning is harder to do when mean time to fail is less than two hours, and when the new-to-you car isn't parked at my house. More so when I'm not comfortably familiar with any of the troubleshooting steps that need to happen. My troubleshooting runs out at "is there battery/is there spark/is there fuel" so there is much to learn here. I can't remember the last time I took something to the shop that didn't require specialized tools or equipment and I'm all over the maintenance part of owning one. The added bonus of how well it has clearly been kept is more than enough alone to keep it in my driveway/garage.

I'm just using a basic OBD2 scanner now to pull any MIL codes and watch for fuel/air/exhaust issues while running. I was reading on the MB and saw that it can pick up all the sensors and didn't know if it was smart to look at something that could help diagnose easier, and I will now wait until later. I read about that bulletin that came out in '13 to replace certain '11-'12 EIS modules and was sure that the prior owner would have done that in a heartbeat, but it presented the same from what I saw. I had only been starter hesitant because of the complete lack of noise and how in the limited times I started it, how strongly it started. I will go down that route and check the other fuse and go through the other advice you've given. Hopefully, I can give the "It's alive!" cheer sooner rather than later.

This now reads like a key/IS issue. The fact that you picked it up from a lot and not the owner doesn’t really have any bearing but like I said who knows what happened to it in those 2000 miles that it sit out in the rain and get water everywhere in the electronics?

Failing starter will at least try to give you some thing and it doesn’t read like you are getting even a click or a little womp womp.

However an absence of a starter replacement in this car’s history would indicate that it could be time to take a closer look at it.

I thought I replied to all this with what we will call "clever quips" and act like I can do those. To try and answer all of that: Correct. When I either push the button or turn the key, it doesn't make any sounds like the starter is seized or bound in any way. Honestly, it sounds like someone stole the whole starter and it's just missing. All the other sounds are the normal pre-start sounds every other German car I've had made. I will try the finger on the relay trick next time I'm over at the car and see if it moves, and will also try the jumper trick. The issue is also that I'm not familiar enough with all the parts that it takes to start the GL so I get lost on where to look.
As far as the scanner I use, it's a pretty basic app that will just pull DST codes and let me clear them so anything is a step up from there. I work IT so I didn't know if the other scanners would let me test like it sounds like the Autel does. That may be a purchase shortly down the road. I haven't given up on it and was voicing frustration from having a car for 2 hours/20 miles before it's stranded. The upkeep in its past is enough on its own to keep me at it. As I learn more about the systems, it will be easier to stay positive through it. The fact that the key turns and the only thing that isn't happening is the starter starting pushes me heavily toward it. I'll do some tests on it and keep my fingers crossed for that to be all that there is. Once it's alive and back on the road, I'll add pictures to the section on the forum to prove I'm not a psycho, making up random issues to make everyone scratch their heads like I have been the last 36 hours.

Depending on the time of day, I flip back and forth between these two. The no sound is the thing that keeps me from the starter solely and the key turning and doing everything else keeps me from >50% EIS. I checked it out thoroughly before purchase and saw no indication of any water/leaks/soaking; not to say it didn't have some and they cleaned it up. Not that I'm ruling anything out because this is a great mystery and every clue is helpful. I will have my wife do the starting tomorrow where I can be face deep in the engine bay to hear if there is some sound that I'm missing being far enough away, while trying the other things I just added to my list.

Thank you all for all the replies and suggestions. I'm trying to learn this car like I've learned every other car I've owned and haven't met many folks that don't love them. Going from having ignition switch>relay>starter to the 700 stops the GL has to make from key>start gives me a lot of new things to learn and I'm pretty excited about that.

It may seem daunting but there are not in fact 700 stops between the key and the starter. Ultimately it boils down to an archaic structure. Whether it be the ignition switch or an intermediary computer, voltage is applied to the starter relay, which switches a larger current to the starter solenoid, which simultaneously engages the starter gear with the flywheel and energizes the starter windings.

No need to post a bunch of pictures. Just be clear and terse when describing.

Make sure you have identified the correct fuse and relay. Verify the fuse. Check the voltage being applied to the relay. Check the relay-switched voltage (which is fused). Bypass the relay with a jumper.

On the last point: If the starter has not failed, which I think likely, you can get this thing up and running - and home - with a wire crimper, two spade lugs, and about two inches of wire. But be careful - don't bang your head on the hood when the engine cranks!

Ok, new status that is making me feel more confident that it’s the starter. I jumped the relay with the key in position 2 and heard a “thunk” from the starter. Is there anything else that could be other than the starter/solenoid?

So you mean it cranks when you bypass the relay with a jumper? That means you are more confident it is not the starter.

That means it is either a fault in the relay or whatever is responsible for getting voltage to the relay. Swap with a different relay.

Next check whether you are getting voltage applied to the relay.

If you bypass the relay and can get it to crank with the key in run position, you should be able to start and drive home.

Sorry, in my excitement I said that the wrong way round. I jumped the relay and it didn't start but it made a "thunk" sound that I hadn't heard from inside the cabin. I checked the voltage as best you can with a multimeter jumping a relay and it read 14 (not 100% confident it was accurate because of method used) but I was solo and it was the best I could do.

If you bypass the relay and it does not crank, but makes some weird one-off noise ("thunk") then it almost certainly is the starter. Probably the solenoid, which both engages the starter gear and closes a relay to energize the starter motor windings.

UPDATE: We're back in business! In searching locally for starters to try and replace it and the instructions, I found a local indy shop that had tremendous reviews and they quoted me $700 to replace it with an MB starter. Seeing as I couldn't get an offbrand around here before mid-week, I just bit the bullet and did that. They had it replaced and running within two hours of them getting it and it is now sitting pretty in my driveway, where it belongs. I had them also do a thorough check-up while it was on the lift and they confirmed that everything else looked great. The told me that they have had more than a few starters fail around 80k miles so it fit. It's funny, though, because as excited as I am to have it back and running, I don't know if I'm more excited that with the help of everyone here, we were able to figure out what it was before it was picked up. I cannot thank everyone here enough. I'm gonna stick around and hopefully be as helpful to others as I learn more and more about the GL.

Cool. For as an involved of a DIY that would be; that’s not a bad price.

Yeah, I'm hitting that age where I like not having cuts all over my hands all the time so I've shifted from "I'll take it to a shop if it costs less than $x" to "I'll take it the the shop if it takes more than x hours, and it counts on my hands/back not hurting for days after." I'm good with that.

It’s an MFer of a job if you don’t have your own lift. Hang onto that Indy.

I actually didn't think it was that bad using the directions someone wrote up on here. If you follow the directions, you can get just get it in/out without any major removals. There was one bolt that had to be removed about 1/8th of a turn at a time, but otherwise, it was straightforward. I have a quickjack to get it fairly high off the ground though. It would have been less fun with jackstands.

I may get to do mine again. I gambled on a AutoZone rebuild because I couldn't wait for a new Bosch from FCP Euro, and it is starting to have a hard time cranking the engine over on hot restarts.

I got the starter done with $50 Durable RhinoRamps at Homedepot.

i had a similar issue
 

my 09 gl550 was giving me a similar issue, low voltage on the accessory battery was causing a bunch of systems to not function / throw codes. threw a battery charger on the chassis and pos terminal in the engine bay and a few hours later was able to start the vehicle. no idea if this is any help but figured i’d throw it out there.

Replaced my starter a few months ago, and it's starting to not be able to start hot again. Pretty sure it's the battery this time though as once in a while I'm getting a "Drive to workshop without changing gears" error. I'm sure the low voltage of the battery is messing with the TCM.

I picked up a Noco GBX55 during the last Black Friday sale and it's been awesome for situations like this (i.e. quick stop for gas, etc). If it doesn't start, I just hook it up to the jump start points and it starts even faster than a brand new battery. Afterwards I just leave it charging in the car while driving. Will be doing that until I'm able to get around to picking up a new battery.

Congrats. It's a good feeling, isn't it.

Add "starter fail at 80K" to Things We Had Not Seen Before But Now Have.

The starter bit me yesterday. In my case I had been hearing a couple of symptoms for a little bit. One: slow and extended cranks more often than not and two: the starter kept engaged for a short time after engine start. Yesterday it started a couple of times and on the third attempt to fire the car up I got nothing from it. Dash lights on but no sound from the motor/starter. Tried with KG and the key. Battery was at 11.58V, tried jumping the car, but no luck. Had the old Gertha towed on a flatbed to a shop which diagnosed bad starter + approx 700 to replace. Starter is from CarQuest, limited lifetime warranty. ​​​​​​​On a side note, the failed starter in the car is not original or MB, I was told by the shop. My car just clicked 160000 km. Starters are not mileage sensitive. The more you start the car, the more they will wear. Grocery getters will tend to have more starter replacements than long road trip warriors. Seems like I got a grocery getter.