1994 E420 No crank - New Starter
 

Could tell something funny when cranking the car, sometimes it would click and at the second try it would crank. One day it would not do anything. Thankfully in my driveway, so I think Ok, starter went bad finally.

New starter, very good battery, fuses all Ok.

Turn the key, nada, absolutely nothing and all the lights stay nice and bright.

Try to start from under the car (jump starter), it cranks.

NSS is fairly new (less than a year), nothing on D or N.

I assume, may be something bad with the starter solenoid. Go to store and get another starter. Same issue.

2 bad ones in a row?, possible but unlikely. Before I go and try to get a third one, any suggestions?

I am absolutely stumped on this one.

alarm immobilizer ......

The alarm immobilizer is the culprit?

And how do you solve the problem by immobilizing the alarm immobilizer?....

Thanks

K38 starter inter-lock relay is behind the instrument cluster & is easily defeated.

Try searching for K38 relay

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/tech-help/269799-how-disable-alarm-1993-w124.html?highlight=disable+alarm

Just try it. if it does not work, at least you know it is not the culprit.....

good luck

May be I was so angry last night, that I could not see well, I did like 10 searches for "no crank".

As usual, you guys are great. And thanks.

I have seen conflicting information on where the K38 is.

I want to make sure before I take the cluster out.

In this car (1994 E420) the relay is located behind the cluster or behind the fuses?

AS I posted "behind the cluster".

that is one for MBdoc to answer......(edit: he just did)

But i imagine that if you cannot find it behind the fuses, it would be behind the cluster?

I am still hungover.....

Thanks guys

Shorting pins 30 and 87 did not work.

I also cleaned and replaced all fuses.

What are my options now.

ouch!!!

anyhow, i am no expert on this by any means, but what brand is your neutral safety switch? a Mercedes shop i know told me that for that specific application, only a genuine Mercedes part will work and last.. after market units will fail within a couple of months,,i have seen this happen on a friends car by the way...two times, the after market switch failed until the a genuine part was put in..

Beyond that, maybe the ignition lock is starting to go bad? I don't know, other more experienced members will help i am sure......

sorry to hear this..

Let me try wiggling the Shift lever, hold on.

A question, should the alarm system be unplugged (passenger side footwell) for the K38 trick to work?

Just unplug it to try...it takes a second.....if not, put everything back together...

Ok still dead in the water.
This is what I tried:
1.- Unplug K38, shorted wires 30 and 87 - nothing
2.- Cleaned all fuses and replaced - nothing
3.- Unplug alarm - nothing
4.- Also a combination of the above - nothing
5.- Kept my hand on the K38 relay while turning ignition on feel it click - nothing

Looked for the x27 connector (I guess my car does not have one, as I could not find it near the brake booster, or anywhere in the engine compartment). This is the only test I have not done.
Would like to do this test before I go and get the third replacement starter in 2 days. It is a royal PITA to remove and replace in this engine, very little room for just about anything.

I forgot to share: The last couple of times I replaced the starter, car will crank 3 or 4 times and starts the car. Then it goes dead, does not work anymore. That leads me to believe the starter is the problem, not the NSS or anything else. I have been working under the assumption a "newly rebuilt starter" cannot fail after 3 or 4 starts.

I guess I have to stop buying rebuilt crap at autozone.

Silly question-

But do you have power from the ignition switch in the start mode? Sometimes switches flake out. Not common, but it does happen.


M