I just bought this vehicle about a week ago. I took if to a Mercedes "specialist" before buying it since it was bought privately and has only 44k miles. The mechanic gave it a clean bill of health (except for needing front barkes and rotors) but structurally, mechanically it was fine on all points. I have driven the car about 4-5 times locally as I work from home and it runs very strong..a few little areas of help needed such as replacement bulbs and a sunroof issue but for the most part car is strong. Saturday, I got up and washed the car and ran the car for better parts of the day and no problems... Today, Sunday I go to start the car and nothing..no click, click nothing...the car has juice..radio comes on, air blower, headlights everything comes on but it seems no juice is reaching the ignition... I am confused...the only repair I have done is replace a tail light bulb that burned out. I did use the cruise control yestreday but thats it...the car will not go into Neutral even with the key on and foot on the brake..any ideas....

The shifter should go to the other positions with the ignition in the "on" position (and applying the brake to shift out of park)

This is almost exactly what happened to me when I bought my E320. The problem with my car was with the starter lock-out circuit, more specifically the K38 relay. This relay is located behind the insturment cluster (bascially straight back from the fuel guage).

To test the k38:
remove the insturment cluster
remove the relay (behind some carpet/foam sound insulation)
short pins 30 and 87
plug it in and attempt to start

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Daily Driver: 02 E430 4MATIC
In the family: '03 E500 // '04 ML500 // 64 220SE

Thank you for the information..I guess I should've mentioned my car is in the driveway with a slight incline...nothing severe but I figured this may have something to do with it. I will try your recco in the morning...Is this relay known as the fuel pump relay and is it a "stick em up" dealer only part? I have searched but cannot find a K38 relay anywhere

If the car won't crank, replace fuse #5. The car won't crank if this fuse is blown or fractured.

You should inspect your fuses as suggested, take each of them out and make sure there is no hairline cracks as often they look "good" but are NOT.

The k38 is also known as the starter lockout relay. I tried to replace mine and it didn't solve the problem (the problem is somewhere else in the alarm circuit I guess). I just soldered the short in place permanently and haven't had a problem since. In fact, in Canada the car was not equipped with the relay.

Here is the ignition schematic:

http://www.190revolution.net/prem/skiier3_9/E320/94%20E320%20Ignition%20Schematic.pdf

The colors are inverted for some reason, but you can still read it I hope.

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Daily Driver: 02 E430 4MATIC
In the family: '03 E500 // '04 ML500 // 64 220SE

would this fuse be near the firewall of the engine compartment?
thanks for all the help..........

My wife's wagon had a worn shifter bushing that caused "no start". Shifting through the shift gate and back to P would fix it. There is also a 3 wire harness that runs from the firewall to the starter and triggers the solenoid. The harness on our 95 has cracking insulation. It hasn't caused a problem yet, but it will be repaired after I work out a few other bugs. Wiring is turning copper green.

Good Luck,
Todd

I wnet downstairs and popped the fuse box and sure enough fuse # 5 blown...onward to the auto store in search of this little 8 amp beauty..will keep posted of results..thanks to all for all the help...

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Showing up every day isn't enough. There are a lot of guys who show up every day who shouldn't have showed up at all. - James Caan

it amazes me that people spend all this money keeping their autos spotless and usually well maintained...I opened the fusebox on my 320 and I swear it seems like it may be the first time it has ever been opened in over 12 years...
The long and short of it is fuse # 5 was the culprit, changed it out and she fired right up..thanks to all for all the input

__________________
Showing up every day isn't enough. There are a lot of guys who show up every day who shouldn't have showed up at all. - James Caan

Glad to hear you've fixed it!

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Daily Driver: 02 E430 4MATIC
In the family: '03 E500 // '04 ML500 // 64 220SE