I decided to make this another thread rather than attach it to my overheating thread. Needless to say, i am NOT happy with my car at the moment, although the no start issue is my own dumb fault for letting it go on this long. About a year ago, i parked the car at a fast food parking lot, came back out and it would not start. I figured out how to jump the starter using the terminal block on the passenger side of the engine compartment. Ever since then, on occasion, i would have to jump the starter using a peice of wire and that terminal. This seemed to happen most often after long, highway runs. In addition, sometimes if I turned the key back and forth repeatedly that would get it to start. Moving the shift lever has never had much of an effect, except for a very long time ago. After i replaced the shifter bushings, the neutral safety switch went completely caput(i might have knocked it around a little too much), the reverse lights no longer work, and when the car starts with the key it will start in any gear. Today, however, something more drastic happened. After about 3 hours on the highway, i pulled into a gas station to grab some food, came back out and it wouldn't start. I thought "figured this would happen, i'll just jump it"-WRONG. Even with jumping the terminals the starter would not engage. I then proceeded to get a broom handle, and tapped the top of the selenoid. At first it did not work, but after repeated, deliberate blows it turned over no problem. Every time i've ever had a starting problem the car has always been running for at least 1/2 hour. I should note that once i got the car home, it would not start untill it sat for a few hours, and then it has started fine using the key three times. I know i have a selenoid problem, but does it sound like somethign else is wrong as well? Today, it would seem is the first evidence of an actual starter problem. The other times the starter seemed to work fine, the problem was in getting the power there. So if in fact i also have a problem with getting power to the starter, is there anythign else other than the ignition switch, neutral safety switch, and a/c clutch cutoff(read that somewhere, true or no?) that could prevent the starter from getting power unless i jumped it?. Also, is it possible that in opening the hood it could jar the selenoid just enough to have freed it up these other times? I dont want to throw money down the toilet on parts i don't need, but at the same time cannot diagnose an intermittant problem that only occurs when the car is hot. I'm going to try to tackle the overheating issue tomarrow, and that way hopefully i'll only have one issue to deal with for the trip back up to jacksonville. Starters are hard to come by on the weekends. The starting issues combined with a weird overheating issue has me a very irritated and confused benz owner. Thanks for all your help, sorry if some of this is repetition of my other thread.
Ryan

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83 300SD.......sold
96 integra SE....sold
99 a4 quattro....sold
2001 IS300.......sold
2002 330i.........current.
2004 highlander limited....current.

I had the same problem until I had my starter rebuilt. $30 and 3 days later, never had the problem since.

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'85 300SD (formerly california emissions)
'08 Chevy Tahoe
'93 Ducati 900 SS
'79 Kawasaki KZ 650
'86 Kawasaki KX 250
'88 Kawasaki KDX200
'71 Hodaka Ace 100
'72 Triumph T100R

It still seems to be a solenoid problem to me. It was the banging on the top of the solenoid that finally got the unit to respond. Nothing in the starter will work until the solenoid piston moves to engage the starter power contacts. I have found on the old 220D that heat would adversly affect the solenoid operation. It also seemed that the cable contacts on the outside of the solenoid were sometimes affected by heat and I suspect various levels of moisture and corrosion. Just replacing the solenoid and using good contact grease helped a lot on the 220D.

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1961 190Db retired
1968 220D/8 325,000
1983 300D 164,150

VWBUGE,

How could you get a starter rebuilt for $30?

P E H

ryan,
i have exactly the same problem sometimes when the starter gets hot. cycling the key has gotten it to work again.
rickjordan also had the same phenomenon. look up his post on the subject. he solved it by replacing the starter. i still have my old starter, but am just waiting for the hot weather to have a no start situation happen again..

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1984 300D Turbo - 231k....totalled 11/30/07 RIP

P. E.,

There is a backwoods shop here that is well know to locals. A place called Black's rebuilds starters, electric motors and the sort. There is one guy that works the desk and three others that stand at their stations just rebuilding stuff. Got mine back in three days time all "buffed up " and everything. That was two years ago, not a problem since.

__________________
'85 300SD (formerly california emissions)
'08 Chevy Tahoe
'93 Ducati 900 SS
'79 Kawasaki KZ 650
'86 Kawasaki KX 250
'88 Kawasaki KDX200
'71 Hodaka Ace 100
'72 Triumph T100R

RG5384,

If you are sure its the starter or solonoid, and not the key switch, nuetral switch or wires, remove the starter with solonoid and take it a good shop for an overhaul or buy a replacement rebuilt starter with solonoid.

If the started cranks the engine fast, you can probably get away with the overhaul at lower cost.

P E H

I had a similar problem with the starter on my '82 300D. It seems that these Bosch starters, after quite a bit of wear, will not want to start when hot. A rebuilt starter solved my problem.

One of the things that confused my troubleshooting was that, as I checked various potential sources of trouble in the starting system, the starter was slowly cooling down. At some point it would start and would lead me to believe that I had found a bad component. I asked my indy about it and he explained the worn Bosch starter problem to me. Problem resolved....

Wes

Ryan:

First you have to fix the neutral safety switch, since the current for the starter solenoid goes through it. I expect that the screw that holds the switch operating lever to the transmission lever has fallen out, so that the switch itself does not move any more. The back-up lights work off the same switch -- this is why they don't work anymore. Crawl under and check.

If this is the case, vibration can move the switch a bit, and you lose contact, and the starter won't engage.

Rather than guess, you need to get either a multi-meter or a cheap test lamp. Connect one lead to the engine and the other to the starter solenoid connection and operate the key. If you get voltage, the rest of the system is OK and you need to get the starter out and the solenoid replaced. If no voltage, you need to fix the rest of the system.

If the neutral safety switch it buggered, you can bypass it (I don't recommend this, sooner or later you will start the car in gear and hit something). The key switch has also been known to fail, too!

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!