prkid

I could use some help from your collective knowledge please. I have a 2001 SLK230 Kompressor.

We had a bad storm recently that dumped a lot of rain. The water rose above the rear axle and to mid of the front axle (car was on a slight incline). My first inclination of the rising water was my car alarm going off. I started the car to attempt to move it but had nowhere to go so shut it back down and disconnected the battery to stop the alarm. The next day, when dry, I reconnected the battery, started the car and could smell something electrical badly burning. Shut it down. Now the car's fog lights stay on, the jacking alarms switch inside stays lit and there is no gas going to the injectors - I verified this by removing the braided fuel line and turned the ignition over.
Turns over just fine - no drag - just no start.

Can anyone give me an idea of where to begin finding the short, or what may have burned out and it's location please? I've checked the fuses in K56 and the fuse box. all are ok.

I'd appreciate it. Thanks much!

jeans01slk

Flooded Car

When subjected to deep water(above the different component covers under the car), you have the recipe for an electrical disaster if you turn on the ignition! Obviously contacts immersed in water will short out.

Hindsight is always 20/20 but a better and safer approach is to disconnect the battery and do nothing else until the flood has passed. Jack up the front as high as you safely can and then let it down and jack up the rear.

I would start with the triangular plastic cover under the right rear of the car. Remove it and you will find the fuel pump and fuel filter. You may get a face full of water when you take it off. Most likely your fuel pump is shorted out if the contacts look burned or melted. A new one is about +/- $250. Change the fuel filter while your at it.

There certainly could be a number of other electrical issues but I would start with the fuel pump.

Best Regards and Good Luck

leapyfish

PSE, its in the trunk and controls the alarm.
do a search for PSE.

robfox14

Really obvious comment here, but it might warrant being mentioned. Check into your insurance coverage. If your auto insurance covers the type of catastrophe you recently encountered (i.e. flood, water main break, etc.), the company might just pay your dealership to go over everything with a fine tooth comb, fixing and warrantying everything, and costing you nothing but your deductible. Might be worth looking into.

prkid

Well, thanks to all for replying. My insurance will not cover this, so I'm forced into fixing it myself.

I pulled off the cover to the fuel pump and like others before me, no voltage to the pump. In reading other posts, they talk about the k40 as a primary culprit. will check this next. any other suggestions? Not sure how I would lose a k40 via this mechanism, but I'm game at this point.

Is the black box next to the pump and fuel filter the PSE unit?

prkid

I checked out the K40. That was NOT it. all diodes, resistors and coils check ok. The solder looks brand new so I guess I was one of the lucky ones with that box.

Anyone have any ideas, I'd appreciate it.

prkid

Leapyfish, you were correct that the PSE unit was bad and causing the fog lamps to stay lit. It was FULL of water and everything in it was completely corroded. I'm ordering a new one.

I resoldered all the K40 components just to be sure and put a VOM on the pump. When the key is in the detente that lights up the instrument panel, I briefly get 12V then zero, but if I turn the car over, it stays at 10.8 volts the entire cranking cycle.
after turning it over a few times I felt the pump and it was HOT. I'm assuming this shouldn't be so perhaps I have a bad pump? Anyone with an opinion on this? I would have thought that the voltage would stay the entire time the dash was lit...

prkid

Well, for all those future readers who find an issue checking if they are getting voltage to their fuel pump, read on.....

In taking a volt ohm meter to the car and to the K40 Module, I've discovered that the 5 pin connector (numeral B just below and to the left of the large orange 40 amp fuse is the one you want to play with. Inside the k40, it feeds the relay that is almost directly above it, the second to the right. The very front one is for the horn. By front I mean the relay farthest to the right of the blue fuses when looking at the top of the fuses, not the bottom of the board.
Anyway, back to connector B - Pins 1 and 2 are both hot - 12V constantly. Pin 3 (orange with green stripe) is what the relay feeds with voltage when it closes. So, if you need to feed voltage to the pump long enough to ensure that you have voltage there, or that the pump works, you can pull off connector B and jumper pins 1 and 3 or 2 and 3 to bypass the K40 module and feed 12 volts to your pump. Only do this long enough to check that things are either ok or not. If its ok and working, you can bleed the schrader valve for the fuel line this way to get fuel to your injectors VOwithout running the engine.

Either way, you can tell if your pump is working or be able to put a VOM meter on it to verify no wiring shorts.