About a month ago I replaced the starter on the 240D and up until yesterday everything worked fine (new bosch starter). My son borrowed my car to take our riding lawn mower with trailer to mow the yard at the business where he works. On the way he stopped to get gas for the mower, and the car would not start (just click...no turnover). I went to help and we pushed it to get it started. When he got to where he was going he parked it on strategic hill close to the business, but it started normally....and since it has been cranked a half dozen times with no problem.

I am a bit apprehensive about the new starter...I may have a lemon? Is it possible that the starter got a little hotter than usual with the car towing the trailer (only aboout 5 miles) and the heat froze up the solenoid for a bit?

What should I do...wait for problems - I don't seem to have much choice???

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1976 240D
1987 560SL
2007 E320 Bluetec
1998 C280 (now son’s car)
1982 240D Manual - Sold

franklyspeaking,

I just went through this while registering a "new to us" 1986 190E 2.3-16 we bought on Ebay. It was in the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles parking lot to be inspected and suddenly nothing worked. No lights, no dash lights no start. I checked the battery terminals and found them loose! We had driven the car home from Maryland and never had a problem. It sat parked for a few days waiting for the plates and the inspection, so I was pretty confused for a while. After tightening the connections to the battery, the lights and dash lights worked, as did all the rest of the electrical equipment, but starting attempts just made a click noise.

I could not even jump start the car and started getting a lot of unsolicited comments and suggestions from people in the lot. And I knew in a few minutes the inspector would be out to check it and starting is part of the inspection...

After carefully looking at the connections I noticed the positive clamp on the battery was a two step affair. There was the large clamp that fits on the battery terminal and there was another clamp that held the positive cables (a big one and a little one) to the clamp. The cables were pretty corroded and the clamp was loose. AFter cleaning these and tightening them up the car started fine. And it has continued to do so for several days now.

The point here is if the starter is new, I would look carefully at the connections. A bad connection will cause a significant voltage droop when the starter motor tries to draw the Amperes needed to spin the engine over. This will prevent the starter from turning and give you a result that looks a lot like what you saw.

With a little agitation like what is probable with a push start or normal Diesel driving, the connection may have been slightly better, enough to allow a successful start. In any case I would not count on the present "fixed" condition to last without finding out what caused the previous experience. Good luck, Jim

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Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

Ditto the bad connections. Seems most people (not just MB) forget to also clean the connections at the other end of the battery - the starter. Also check the braided ground strap - that one is the culprit for a lot of "unrelated" issues - if it is badly corroded then you will save a lot of aggravation down the road by replacing it.

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daBenz - 1970 220D