arcticfox

Hello all,

This is the second time this has happened in 6 weeks. Car is a 2014 E63P with 4500 miles.

After work, I go to the car and it won't respond to the remote. I use the physical key to enter. The car is completely dead, as if the battery was stolen. Even the door locks won't work.....totally dead.

I get a jump, and after being hooked up for a few minutes, it starts. I drive home (20 min) and the car starts fine in my garage. There are no error messages etc.

last time this happened (roughly 6 weeks ago) the dealer said the battery was fine and that the ecu indicated an accessory was left on. How in the hell do you leave anything on in the car? It seems to shut everything off after shutdown. Furthermore, I never use the map light, etc. and I know the doors were totally shut, etc. I have been diligent by making sure nothing is on in the car when parking. I KNOW nothing was left on and I know all the doors and trunk where closed fully.

I am taking it in again in a couple days to have them try to find the electrical drain. However, being as these instances happened 6 weeks apart, I am leaning that this is some sort of electrical "fault" with one of the sensors (such as IC pump temp, etc.) that is causing something to continually run (for 8 hours).

At at any rate, I am curious if anybody else has had a similar experience or recommendations in what to look for.

Thanks!

iownedu

Are you pushing the start stop button twice when you park and turn it off by chance?

TTMerc

You're saying that you going into work then coming back after work the car is dead? Thats pretty quick. Ive left my 14' on a day or so with IC pump running full blast and aftermarket amp powered and started like nothing. I did have an issue with previous car that the terminals were loose and ground didnt have a good connection causing a drain. Check all main connections on the battery in front and rear

sleeperZ96BT

Not a direct relation, but my wife's GLK occasionally will act 'dead' (requiring physical key in) for 3-5 minutes and after repeated pushing of the stat button it finally starts up. I always figured that it was just the fob and button trying to get synced back up for some reason. It was wicked embarrassing the one time it happened when I drove a co-worker home. Awkward.......

shardul

iTrader: (1)

Has the ECU been tuned?

PeterUbers

Do you hear a fan constantly running after your car is off?

10speed

I do ,not sure what it is but something is running until I lock the doors, I think it's the Intercooler pump not to sure , but it does run often and I always hear puffs of air come out from the rear every time I'm deal it ,lol

iownedu

That's the auxillary coolant pump, it's by the passenger side headlight.

arcticfox

To answer the questions:

I only hit the stop button once....everything was off. I have been vigilant in making sure the car is completely off every time as this happened several weeks ago. So I have been very cognizant when shutting down, making sure no lights are on, all the doors are closed, etc.

The battery and connections were checked by the dealer a month or so ago when this happened last. Battery checked fine with a load test. All seemed in order. The ECU indicated "an accessory was left on". However, I contest that....I left nothing on, all doors were closed, etc.

When I approached the car, the fob would not work. I used the physical key to open the door. The car did not respond to the start button. i pulled the button out and inserted the key and attempted to start it. Like I said, the car was completely dead. No lights, no nothing....as if there was no battery at all. As soon as jumper cables were attached the alarm went off and the dash lights came on, etc. but trying to start the engine only resulted in clicking. I left the cables attached for about 3 minutes or so, then it started after about 2-3 seconds of cranking. car started fine when I got home after a 20 minute drive (just like last time).

I do not have a tune on the car. It is totally stock.

I did not notice the cooling fan being on when i parked. It was about 40 degrees outside too. So if it was on, it shouldn't have been on long. Same with the IC coolant pump (which I have heard many times before after shutting down).

I am taking it in Friday morning for another load test, etc, etc.

I am suspecting that there is a glitchy temp sensor or similar. ie: if the coolant temp sensor is reporting coolant at 240 degrees, that fan will run until it come into the proper range. Also, if the IC Coolant temp sensor sees too high of a reading, it will cycle that pump until it comes into range. That is the only logical conclusion I can come up with at the moment.

Being as the same thing happened about 4-5 weeks apart, it leads me to believe this is intermittent (obviously) and probably related to a faulty sensor. I guess I will see when they have some time to mess with it.

I will report back with my findings....hopefully a resolution/cause.

10speed

I'm sure they will figure it out , Good luck, I know things like this are frustrating,for ****s and giggles did you check to see if your trunk light is out when it's closed? Just pop one of the rear seats down so you can see in,I'm also wondering if there is a bad cell in the battery, it can do wacky things like this, You might want to change the battery for process of illumination .

arcticfox

No, but if it did stay on, I would be seeing a drained battery more than once every 5-6 weeks....

There have been 7+ day stretches when I have not driven the car, and it starts fine.

arcticfox

I dropped off the car on Friday morning. They reported that the battery and charging system tested fine. They search through the TSB's ("bulletins" according to him -- I assume he meant TSB's) and said they found one that applies to the situation.

Apparently with a certain software version (mine), the power steering pump (it's electric) can turn on and run when the car is off in certain situations. This obviously can cause a complete draining of the battery. This would also explain the intermittent nature of the issue.

As a result, they changed the software and are keeping it over the weekend to see if the ecu records any drain (ie: the last two times it reported an "accessory" was left on). I should hear back tomorrow, and possibility pick it up. I will report more info when I get the car and can speak with the SA, and see the paperwork.

Zavato

Back in the day, when I had a Toyota (1970's!), the most sophisticated bit of electronics in the car was my AM/FM radio. Certainly our newer Benz's are vastly superior but there's no denying that there used to be a whole lot less to go wrong.

Hopefully your dealer will sort out your issue.

arcticfox

I picked up the car today. They kept it over the weekend to check for any draw (they found a .3 amp draw Friday). They found no draw after the weekend, so the software fix did/should do the trick.

For future reference if somebody encounters this, they noted there were four bulletins regarding my type of issue. They found one applicable to my particular car:


Thus, they Performed a software update of the electric power steering software per:

Topic: LI46.35-P-057738 Version 1 (software check of power steering software to see if an update is applicable). Found version to match the bulletin...performed software update.


Others that MAY apply:

Topic LI51.10P-054089 Version 3 -- Relates to the IBS (?) control unit and faulty rotary switch. (not an issue with my car apparently).

Topic LI54.10-P-051681 Version 2 -- Performed Guide test EZS 1 & 2 (GT EZS 1 & GT EZS 2) -- Passed (not sure what this relates to, but that is the techs notes).

Topic LI82.95-P-056655 Version 8 -- Not applied to this vehicle as software version is different -- (again, not sure what this relates to)

I hope this helps if any of you run into a battery drain issue in the future....