MAmendola

Have an 09 ML350. Started the car Sat morning to move it to the other side of the garage. Went to start it this morning and it cranked about 12 times before it finally started. Sounded like it may be the battery but the car is only 9 months old. I shut the car off and it started right up.

Any one else experienced this?

Thanks

Mark

aggst1

It could be the battery. If the car is 9 months old, then the battery is over a year old but that doesn't mean much. Where are you located and what is the approximate temperature range where you park the car? How often do you drive it? Do you have any after market accessories installed?

MAmendola

I live in upstate NY. The car is parked in an unheated garage. It is driven daily except for yesterday. No after market accessories. My last MB350 was an 06 and never replaced the battery. The temp over the last few days has been around 32 - 35.

Thanks

Mark

aggst1

Ok, so you can't rule out the battery just yet. Yes, batteries should last 4-5 years but that's not always so. I have read posts where a battery failed 1 month after replacement from the dealer. You may want to take it in to run a battery test to see if that's the culprit or not. Another thing could be bad fuel? If not bad, how about condensation in the fuel line? I say this because I live in a similar climate (Western PA) and the weather has been terrible the past few months here as well.
Does this happen often or it just happened only once? If only once then
I would give it the benefit of the doubt. If it is a battery the problem will be getting worse the next few days or so. That's my 2 cents.

MAmendola

Thanks for the reply. This is the first time this has happened. I know your climate is similar, I am originally from the Pittsburgh area so I understand.

Hopefull it is a one time issue. I just got gas earlier in the week, so if it was bad fuel, I might have seen this sooner. Also when starting it was acting like the battery was not fully charged.

Thanks again.

Mark

Benzo 003

If the engine cranked or "turned over", it's not the battery, especially if it turned over 12X. If a battery were to be bad, it would not crank or hardly turn over at all.
If the engine turns over, then you have an issue with a lack of spark and/or the lack of fuel getting to the combustion chamber. Both items controlled by sensors and computers.
Since it started, then started again fine, I would speculate that a sensor was "out of whack", then corrected itself.
Unless it becomes a reoccurring issue, I would not lose sleep over it.