No Power....zero power - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

arnoneh · #1 10-15-2011, 06:46 PM

My battery on my '79 300D was on it last legs. Had it tested and it needed replacement but I didn't have time to deal with it this last week so I just kept topping it off overnight with a trickle charger.

After checking around on battery prices and warrantees, I decided to go with AAA's deal, basically the same price with a little better warrantee and they install it. They came out this AM to put it in....before he put the battery in, I tested the car....everything was normal and it started but a little weakly. I turned the car off, the AAA guy installed the battery and then told me to try it....now no power: no dome light, now dash lights, no glow plug lights, no warning buzzer.....nothing.

He told me there was something else wrong with the car and that it would have to be towed.....but wait, it worked one minute and then 5 minutes later, after he installed the battery, absolutely nothing.

He left, but after going around with AAA on the phone, they sent a field supervisor out. He was great and spent about 45 minutes with me trying to figure out what happened but still we couldn't figure it out. Now I'm without a car and I have to have it towed to the mechanic on Monday.

Has anyone ever heard of such a thing happening? This has totally puzzled me. I was hoping to find some sort of a fuse that got blown, but can't find anything about a main fuse in the manual. Any ideas are appreciated.

Thanks -harv

t walgamuth · #2 10-15-2011, 07:16 PM

You might check the glow plug relay. If it sticks on it would discharge the battery in a very short while.

dude99 · #3 10-15-2011, 07:54 PM

Dumb question, but did he hook the terminals up right?

dude99 · #4 10-15-2011, 07:54 PM

could also be a starter issue....

ngarover · #5 10-15-2011, 07:55 PM

no power to the whole car? I would be checking the battery cables themselves and making sure that they where one, good, and two, connected. You could have this effect if either were broken etc. Maybe in the movement of them the bad one gave up the ghost. Cables don't last forever and can get corroded inside etc.

vstech · #6 10-15-2011, 08:43 PM

a 79? there's nothing to go wrong but a TOTALLY blown out fuse box or a melted starter junction box!!!
IF he installed the battery backwards, and since MB stupidly uses black wires for BOTH terminals, he could have put the battery in backwards, and connected the wires that way, and melted your alternator, blown every fuse in the car, and also destroyed your instrument cluster... even melted the ignition switch...
or it could simply be a bad screw in the terminal block on the fender...

Biodiesel300TD · #7 10-15-2011, 09:08 PM

I'd check that your battery and chassis grounds. It could be that taking the cable off the terminal and moving it around broke the wires.

hockeyboysomers · #8 10-16-2011, 11:08 AM

Did you check the new battery to see if it had any juice? It is possible the new battery was defective. I would try an other battery, or some jumper cables. They might not start the car but should be able to light the dome light. Good Luck

kerry · #9 10-16-2011, 11:32 AM

X2 on the ground cables. Did they check to see if the battery had voltage? Did they trace the voltage downstream from the battery at all.

surveyguy · #10 10-16-2011, 11:58 AM

Did ya find the problem yet Harv? Maybe you already had it towed to the shop and you're letting them diagnose it on Monday. Probably best to not touch it until they figure it out since it appears the AAA dude is liable.

Heck, maybe the battery he put in it was totally dead. maybe it is broken inside, or was defective from the factory. did they remove then check the battery voltage???

barry123400 · #11 10-16-2011, 07:07 PM

Of the supervisor that showed up and fooled around for half an hour or so. If he did not have a voltmeter or even a test light you may be into serious trouble by now. After all what is a supervisor for aaa? The guy that answers their phones?

I now have to almost pre qualify anyone touching anything I own. I am starting to surmise less than half of them have the faintest clue of what they are doing. Yet they think they do. If you did not witness his arcing the battery across the terminals or using a meter or testlight he should not have been under your hood.

Unfortunatly it is not paranoia but reality. Once the damage is done it falls on you usually. Or alternativly take the effort to find people with knowledge. The saying that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing is not misplaced.

When you change a battery yourself. Find and identify the negative cable by its going to ground. That is the cable that must go on the negative terminal .If you cannot locate the ground connection.

Follow the positive cable down to the starter terminal to identify it for sure. It of course will always be the positive cable. This methology applies to any car manufactured since the nineteen fifties. They all have had negative grounds since.

Unless the first guy was too rough there is a good chance the new battery was dead as well. Installing your old weak batttery if you still have it properly would let you know if you do not have a voltmeter or test light.

Also a coathanger temporarily contacting the negative and positive posts on the new battery should produce a heavy spark. You just touch it for an instant.Kind of brushing it across the terminal. No spark the new battery is dead.

My own personal disaster reciently is my tire changing shop. Instead of heating the centre of the wheel to get it off as it was rusted on the hub pretty bad. He persisted in slamming the top of the tire side until the strut mount let go. A few reasonable force hits should be all you administer before moving on to another method. Not everything you have got behind the blows.

Technically this might even damage the sidewall cords of the tire as well. Nothing like a high speed blowout later with that tire. Miss the tire and hit the rim at that force level is going to bend the rim pretty well also.

Where the rubber is vulcanized to the metal cup let go. Then he was starting to do the same on the other front wheel. I explained to him reasonable hits where okay. But if they failed you should not hit as hard as you are. You then have little control of the sledge hammer and taking out a fender is also possible. He got the torch and the other stubborn wheel almost fell off a minute later. Of course the destroyed strut mount was my problem.

layback40 · #12 10-16-2011, 07:51 PM

To have nothing at all, the new battery is either totally dead or not connected. No other choices.
It could be the connection on the terminals or where they connect to. A cheap multi meter would let it be fault found properly. The "supervisor" should have used one.
Did you watch him during his 45 minute play with your car? ~ Very unwise not to.
This is not a tow to a shop type of problem. A competent DIY person should have it sorted in no time. The fact that it is all dead makes it much easier to find.

Some one is going to make some easy $$$ out of this.

To answer your question ~ has this happened to any one else ? Yes, it has. We are changing battery's here in machines nearly every month. If you have terminal connectors with corrosion on them or an earth connection with corrosion, it will happen. Its not good enough to clean it on the outside. Did the AAA guy clean your connections before he put the battery in?