S-Class (W221) 2007-2013: S 320 CDI, S 350, S 450, S 500, S 550, S 420 CDI, S 600

2008 S600 - Randomly not starting when hot

Old May 5, 2018 | 06:36 AM
  #1  
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2008 S600 - Randomly not starting when hot

Hello all

In the last 3 weeks the car has failed to start on 3 seperate occasions. Each occasion being about 7 to 10 days apart, and only when the car has been hot.

For instance, the last time it happened 2 days ago this is how it went.
  • Started the car up in the morning with no problems
  • Drove it about 2 miles and turned it off, started again 5 minutes later with no problems
  • Drove half a mile more and turned it off, started again 10 minutes later with no problems
  • Drove it another mile back home and turned it off, started up again about 2 hours later with no problems.
  • Drove another 2 miles, stopping and starting it again with no problems.
  • Drove 90 miles and then turned it off for 5 minutes, started no problem.
  • Drove another mile, turned it off for 20 minutes to pick my neice up from school, came back to it and it would not start. Tried and tried to crank it about 10 times over the course of an hour but it would not start. So i left it there.
  • Went back to it 4 hours later and it started up fine
  • Been 2 days now and its been ON and OFF fine with no issues.
  • BUT, i know its going to do this again in another few days and god knows where its going to leave me stranded at that time.

First time it happened, i did not scan it. Second time it happened near the garage so i scanned it with a SNAP-ON machine, fault code it below. Third time it happened, as described above, there was no fault code

"Instrument Panel - 9135 - Fuel tank sensor tight installation recognition: The signal from the fuel tank sensor 2 is not plausible"

Anybody make sense of the above code, do i need to replace the sensor in the fuel tank, the module or the entire sender unit?

Thanks
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Old May 5, 2018 | 06:43 AM
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Originally Posted by w4sim
Hello all

In the last 3 weeks the car has failed to start on 3 seperate occasions. Each occasion being about 7 to 10 days apart, and only when the car has been hot.

For instance, the last time it happened 2 days ago this is how it went.
  • Started the car up in the morning with no problems
  • Drove it about 2 miles and turned it off, started again 5 minutes later with no problems
  • Drove half a mile more and turned it off, started again 10 minutes later with no problems
  • Drove it another mile back home and turned it off, started up again about 2 hours later with no problems.
  • Drove another 2 miles, stopping and starting it again with no problems.
  • Drove 90 miles and then turned it off for 5 minutes, started no problem.
  • Drove another mile, turned it off for 20 minutes to pick my neice up from school, came back to it and it would not start. Tried and tried to crank it about 10 times over the course of an hour but it would not start. So i left it there.
  • Went back to it 4 hours later and it started up fine
  • Been 2 days now and its been ON and OFF fine with no issues.
  • BUT, i know its going to do this again in another few days and god knows where its going to leave me stranded at that time.
First time it happened, i did not scan it. Second time it happened near the garage so i scanned it with a SNAP-ON machine, fault code it below. Third time it happened, as described above, there was no fault code

"Instrument Panel - 9135 - Fuel tank sensor tight installation recognition: The signal from the fuel tank sensor 2 is not plausible"

Anybody make sense of the above code, do i need to replace the sensor in the fuel tank, the module or the entire sender unit?

Thanks
A few years ago my 2003 S55 had very similar issues. Random no start for no good reason.
It ended up being the fuel pump. The next time you get a no start condition check to see if you have any fuel pressure in the lines.
My guess is you will not.
Good luck
Johan
I just realized it was for your W221 not your old W220. Sorry for the confusion.
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Old May 5, 2018 | 06:47 AM
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Originally Posted by DRTYLNDY
A few years ago my 2003 S55 had very similar issues. Random no start for no good reason.
It ended up being the fuel pump. The next time you get a no start condition check to see if you have any fuel pressure in the lines.
My guess is you will not.
Good luck
Johan
I just realized it was for your W221 not your old W220. Sorry for the confusion.
Thanks Johan, surprisingly the W220 S55 never gave such a problem, but your answer does make sense.

Im going to see if i can find a fuel line thats relatively easy to take off whilst trying to crank it, but thanks for that suggestion anyway.
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Old Jun 4, 2018 | 01:11 PM
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Man, if you were getting the "crank position sensor" code I wouldn't be surprised. I'm dealing with that now, but I'm getting that code and it happens if you try to restart a hot car within 10 min.
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Old Jun 5, 2018 | 07:02 AM
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Originally Posted by lionsfan54
Man, if you were getting the "crank position sensor" code I wouldn't be surprised. I'm dealing with that now, but I'm getting that code and it happens if you try to restart a hot car within 10 min.
I've given the car to 2 seperate Independant Mercedes specialists, both with STAR and yet neither of them could pinpoint the problem.

The second one gave the same opinion as yourself that it's quite possibly the "Crankshaft Position Sensor" as well, even though no codes came up. But his explanation was that this sensor does not always throw up a code, especially when doing it randomly after a week or so like this.

We both agreed that its less than a £100 to get it done, even if its just for the sake of it. I've bought a genuie Mercedes sensor, trying to locate where the old one is so i havn't swapped it out yet, but rather ironically, the car hasn't failed on me since starting this thread

Thanks for that pointer anyway, very much appreciated.
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Old Jun 5, 2018 | 07:05 AM
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Originally Posted by lionsfan54
Man, if you were getting the "crank position sensor" code I wouldn't be surprised. I'm dealing with that now, but I'm getting that code and it happens if you try to restart a hot car within 10 min.
Out of interest, is yours failing to start all the time after being hot, or just sometimes?

Like i said, mine was doing it about once a week quite randomly, after a very long trip.
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Old Jun 5, 2018 | 08:39 AM
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Originally Posted by w4sim
Out of interest, is yours failing to start all the time after being hot, or just sometimes?

Like i said, mine was doing it about once a week quite randomly, after a very long trip.
It will fail to start if I drive it, get it nice and warm, shut it off and then, within 5 min, try to start it again. A second attempt will result in a good start (so far).

You CPS is locate on the transmission bell housing, on the driver's side. It can be done if you're reasonably handy. A shop should charge 2 hrs or less labor.

Funny (not funny really) story is that I pro-actively replaced my CPS on my car about a month ago. "well, it has 90,000 miles and is 11 yrs old, I should replace this part before it leaves me stranded". Now the NEW CPS is causing problems. Grrrrr. I should have just left it alone!
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Old Jun 5, 2018 | 09:24 AM
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CKPS and CPS are at fault on other vehicles I have worked on...so it's a solid hunch to start there. Beautiful car btw.
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Old Apr 21, 2020 | 06:06 PM
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Did you ever find the cause of this problem?
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Old Apr 23, 2020 | 06:24 AM
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Originally Posted by 07CL550Benz
Did you ever find the cause of this problem?
I think I did!

After a few more months of this random starting issue it then starting misfiring from time to time as well. Seemed like one of the coil packs was giving up and that could also be the issue with the no start (I kept telling myself).

In the end the misfire turned out to be the Ignitor Unit for the coilpacks that sits in the middle of the engine. After replacing that I neither got any misfire issues or any non-starting issues. So im pretty sure it was that unit which was in the early stages of failure.

Changed it about 2 years ago for a brand new unit from the dealers and the cars been fine ever since.
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Old Apr 23, 2020 | 12:37 PM
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dead coil packs on the v12 hits most owners (a very common failure) any decent diagnostics should show it
they are stupid money US$1k per bank
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Old Apr 23, 2020 | 04:14 PM
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Old Jul 30, 2020 | 06:58 PM
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Just when I thought it was all going great its all gone back downhill again with the starting problem. I've started a new thread below, so if anyone can offer ANY help it would be very much appreciated.

https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...ml#post8120759

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