I searched through hundreds of dead battery threads and no starting threads but couldn't come up with anything conclusive.

Here's what happened.

I went to check on my SD that I keep stored at my other house about 20 miles away. I carried my "booster box" with me because I knew that the battery was weak, more like dead. THe last time I tried starting the car it would turn over but it would not turn over fast enough to fire and I ended up draining the last drop of juice out of the battery so I knew I would need the assistance of my "booster box".

Long story short, I hooked it up, turned it on and the interior lights were bright as the morning sun. I went to start the car and after glowing it for 30 seconds or so I turned the key on over and nothing happened. Dead silence! No clicks, buzzes, or grunts. I immediately smelled wires burning. I did not see any smoke inside the car and none outside but I know what wires smell like burning. I quickly got out of the car and removed the "booster box" from the car.

I do need to let you know that I DO have the instrument cluster removed but no wires from the cluster were touching anything. I checked that before I hooked up the "booster box". I don't have the first clue as to where to look to investigate this. I did NOT think to look in the fuse box to see if anything was destroyed there. I really didn't know what to do. I am totally lost on automobile electrical stuff.

I am not too worried about the fact that the car did not start. I am more concerned with what I may have fried and if I put in a new battery will my car burst into flames. Help! Please! Help!

Kevin

I have always found that it takes a lot more out of a battery to start a car than to light all the lights. I would suggest either jumping the car from a running car or recharging the battery before you try starting it again.

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1983 300SD
200000miles

First, you can relax. You did no damage to the vehicle.

Trying to jump start a M/B with traditional booster cables is similar to attempting to pee into a cup from six feet away. You might get lucky, but................

The problem is that the cables contact the terminal posts on a couple of sharp points that dig into the post. These points are ill suited for delivering 850 amps. In fact, a battery clamp, with full contact around the post, will warm slightly when it needs to deliver 850 amps.

Now, imagine the local temperature of those points that are trying to dig into the battery terminals when you turn the key to "start". They get so hot, in a localized area, that they actually burn the tips of the cables and smoke any foreign material that might be there. This is likely what you are smelling.

It would be impossible for anything in the vehicle to be overheating unless you connected the cables incorrectly.

So, the solution is to remove the bad battery, charge it up overnight, at home, in a warm house, and return to the vehicle with a fully charged battery.

The only way I have ever successfully jump started a M/B is to connect the jumper cables to a very strong source (100 amps or more) and let the source charge the battery for at least 15 minutes. Then, with the battery starting from a point that is not completely discharged, a jump from a vehicle, or another battery, might be successful, if you can get it started in ten seconds or less.

I will try the suggestions you have given.

Kevin

Don't forget that with the instrument cluster removed, you will have an open oil pressure gauge fitting ready to hose you with nice black Diesel oil when you start the car. Just a friendly reminder

I do not share Brian's optimism that you did no damage, i.e. your description: "THe last time I tried starting the car it would turn over but it would not turn over fast enough to fire and I ended up draining the last drop of juice out of the battery"
don't try to start MBZs like this-it only takes a minute to kill a starter.

The last time I did this, I fried the starter. If you search here, you will find the long and sorted tale of how I fried two starters in a row with a dying battery.
If you know your battery is dying, you need to change it immediately. You will then know if the starter is dead. Don't mess around, these starters are pricey, and a royal pain to change.

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Think Alternative Energy!
300CD '80 (now gone but not forgotten...)

I can't see how low voltage/low amperage from a battery would fry a starter unless:

Your solenoid was fired by the battery and then did not release, causing voltage to flow from the battery to the windings without enough energy to turn the engine over.

This scenario would fry the windings.

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You can get farther with a smile and a gun than you can with just a smile.

1984 300D
1985 300CD
1980 300SD
1993 SL500

Mine is a 126 chasis. Mine does not have the same type of gauge that a 123 has. Mine is electrical. In other words...no oil line. Thanks though. I appreciate your input.

Kevin

Well, let me say that the process of jumping the vehicle did not, in itself, cause any damage. Whether too much cranking killed the starter is something that I cannot determine.

Let's just hope that my optimism proves to be correct.

I just went through this on my 116 300SD. When jumping it I fried the wire going to the starter. You might want to start there before ordering a new starter, like I did.

I wil try a new battery this week.

On a more interesting note... I was inspecting a '91 420 SEL, 149,000 miles, this past week that I had been thinking about purchasing and had a question about the tranny. Long story short, it needed to be rebuilt. After an inspection by an extremely reputable tranny shop it was revealed that the reverse band had come apart damaging some more of the internals and causing a pressure loss keeping the car from maintaining fourth gear. The tranny guy quoted me a price for the rebuild and said if I could get it cheap enough then I would have a great car. I told him I was not going to purchase the car so he wanted to know how much it could be bought for. I told him $950 ( It was an extremely nice car that belonged to a long-time close friend of our family so that's why it was so inexpensive plus the tranny needed work). I had already talked to the tranny man about my '82 SD and the B2 piston problem it has so he told me if I could get him the title for the car he would pay me $1,000 for the SEL PLUS rebuild my tranny in the '82 SD AT NO CHARGE WITH NEW MERCEDES PARTS! No charge for parts OR labor. I said YES!!!. I made $50 bucks off of the SEL and have the SD arrangement documented so I now have an "82 SD I paid $500 for and it looks and drives great(with the exception of the tranny flaring). It could use a paint job but looks pretty darn good like it is.

For those who think I should have kept the SEL... I just couldn't see myself driving a gasser.
Kevin.

The small wire at the starter? Is that the one?

Kevin

I hope I did not sound flippant; this problem just reminded me of a day I would rather forget.
I would not order a new starter untill I dropped the old one from the car, and tried her. If you open it up, a fried starter will often be easily recognizable by its smell. I sure hope that is not the case as well.
But in my case, I got one with a lifetime warranty.
Good luck, and let us know!

__________________
Think Alternative Energy!
300CD '80 (now gone but not forgotten...)

The wire going to the solinoid, wasn't real small.

I am not too worried about it. I have 5 or 6 of those lying around from where I bought engines and parted them out. I just hate trying to change one out if that be the case.

Kevin