Great, 7 days into my purchase my car stalled and had to get it towed.

Got out of work, and it shut down within 2-3 minutes of leaving my office. I pulled to the side, waited about a minute and restarted no problem.

Drove home about 30 minutes, some stop and go, and last 10-15 minutes no traffic, it shut down again, pulled to the side, cranked over, stumbled on, then shut down within seconds.

Waited one hour for it to cool down and same thing, won't start. I had it towed to a shop, as I can't tow it to my property not running or they will tow it away. So much for doing the work myself.

Where do I start? Or what can I imagine it could be?

thanks guys.

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1995 E320 smoke silver / parchment

[QUOTE]Originally posted by yosshimura
[B]Great, 7 days into my purchase my car stalled and had to get it towed.

Got out of work, and it shut down within 2-3 minutes of leaving my office. I pulled to the side, waited about a minute and restarted no problem.

Drove home about 30 minutes, some stop and go, and last 10-15 minutes no traffic, it shut down again, pulled to the side, cranked over, stumbled on, then shut down within seconds.

Waited one hour for it to cool down and same thing, won't start. I had it towed to a shop, as I can't tow it to my property not running or they will tow it away. So much for doing the work myself.

I remember having read about the ovp. I will do a search on that in the meantime. .... Going by in a little bit to see if it will start now that it cooled down, after a couple hours

Where do I start? Or what can I imagine it could be?

thanks guys.

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1995 E320 smoke silver / parchment

Sounds like the fuel pumps' relay to me.

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Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe

Oh well, after 3-4 hours, it didn't start, just turned over, so could be one or the other. I know the fuel pumps were both changed last year, not sure if relays were changed also.

Will see tommorrow.

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1995 E320 smoke silver / parchment

The next time you try to start it, turn the key to the "on" position and see if you can hear the fuel pump energize in the back. If not, then there is a fuel delivery problem. Either the pump is dead, or it's not getting current. A bad fuel pump relay will intermittantly prevent the pump from getting power. You can check this by removing the relay and jumping pins 7 and 8 (I think) and seeing if that energizes the fuel pump.

Shop called and said it was the fuel pump relay. The socket was loose, and changing the relay.

Atleast we were on the right track of what it was. Too bad I couldn't afford down time to get the part.

THat would explain why it eventually just didn't turn over I guess? It just came loose. I could've just put it back if I had known where it was , oh well. Make sense?

I am going to have to familiarize myself with where everything is under the hood somehow.

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1995 E320 smoke silver / parchment

Replace both the Fuel Pump Relay ($20) and the OVP ($86). Should take about 10 min.

Although unrelated to the non-start but you can make a led/sw and check the various modules for fault codes. Pin 8 and Pin 14 are the two important ones.

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Zafar
94 E320 58000 Miles

Ok, got the receipt faxed.

Fuel pump relay $33... ok, I guess last minute thing

Labor - diagnosis, repair fuel pump relay socket and install new fuel pump relay - $150 that's two hours How the F? Even b4 they got to it, based on what I read on this thread, I would've checked the fuel pump relay and ovp... Where the hell did they start to have to take two hours??

82K miles service -- Bend over again, $140 for an oil change. The Mercedes Dealer would've actually been cheaper, just one hour labor they quoted me ...

Man what an expensive lesson.... so much for that shop I guess

Two f/n hours for a relay?!??! My 6 yr old could probably change in less time :p

Oh plus $40 taxi fair to work...

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1995 E320 smoke silver / parchment

They charge you for the knowledge and experience and not for the time actually expended on the job. Most people in this forum that had been around for a while would tell you (and some did) your symptoms sounded like the OVP and/or fuel pump relay. Being knew to the forum obviously you did not know. Hang around this forum and you will save $$$$. Shops are business entities and as such, they will charge you for their service. Some more than others. Where am I going with this?...find a good and honest independant and stick with him. Remember, MB's are not cheap to maintain. Shops and dealers will charge you, for the most part, the same hourly rate to fix a brand new Mercedes or a 20 year old Mercedes.

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J.H.
'86 300E

Given what I have paid for and gotten for my money over the years, you did OK on this one. You should read some of the other stories. It also sounds like they turned the job around quickly, so you got you car back promptly.

Remember, shops charge by the labor hour, which is different from the time spent. It takes into account the skills and equipment needed. So I doubt if they spent two hours on your car, but they did a two-hour job, if that makes any sense.

And welcome to the world of Mercedes. It's not like a Ford or Toyota where lots of places work on them and there is real competition. You are also perceived as able to pay, since you can afford to drive one.

So get used to this. As your 124 ages, you are probably going to encounter a variety of problems, especially with the climate control and injection and suspension. If I were you I would budget a couple of hundred bucks a month for maintenance and repair.

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Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe

$33 for a fuel pump relay?? When I replaced mine a couple of years ago, I paid over $100 just for the part!

FWIW, I went through my records, and the last couple of years on both 300E's came out to a couple hundred a month as well.

$1000-2000 a year would be about right for proper maintenance, spread over several years.

Before I bought the Benz, I had never seen repair bills over $1000.00: now I am no longer shocked by them!

This forum has saved me a lot of money thou and Phil at Fastlane has excellent customer service.

I had the fuel pump relay/OVP problem at the MB dealership. The car had been running fine, but when the service tech tried to start it, it would turn but not start.

That was a good place for this problem to start! Service manager thought it was the cranksensor, but I told them to check the fuel pump relay, and sure enough, taking the fuel pump relay out and inserting it back in fixed the problem at that time. Later on, it did it again and I replaced the OVP which fixed the problem. No issues since.

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Zafar
94 E320 58000 Miles

I remember starting a post about how to account for the cost of a W124. Last year I figured that it cost me about 10 cents a mile to operate the car over 27,000 miles. Then there is the cost per month that can sometimes not be a reliable indicator. This year so far the wagon is costing me about 5 cents a mile including some regular maintenance that goes with running a 220,000 mile car daily.

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dtf
1994 E320 Wagon (Died @ 308,669 miles)
1995 E300 Diesel (228,000)
1999 E300 Turbodiesel ( died @ 255,000)
2006 Toyota Tundra SR5 AC 4X4 (115,000 miles) rusted frame - sold to chop shop
2011 Audi A4 Avant (165,000 miles) Seized engine - donated to Salvation Army
BMW 330 xi 6 speed manual (175,034 miles)
2014 E350 4Matic Wagon 128,000 miles
2018 Dodge Ram 21,000 miles

It is sad to see what you said for a shop who has worked on your car, I mean 2 hours seems like what I would charge. I was reading and following your post and posters have said that you needed a fuel pump relay or OVP relay, but you still elected to tow the car to a shop, probably for the inconvenience of not having it towed away from your complex or no time or place to work on it. Anyway, I am sure they have done some checking and testing so that is a reason for having 2 hours in to a repair We are techs who know our stuff. So we can't just go around and throw parts in client's cars and stop when the car finally starts or is repaired. I understand you are a DIY kind of person, from your post, so you should have told the shop that. I have several clients of mine who are DIY people from this site and a BMW site, so I know that they seem to understand and read up. But there are things they can't do and need them done. So we get to work on their cars here and there. Usually give them a labour charge discount. We tell them to bring their parts because they seem to think it's cheaper. So maybe you should let them know that. $75.00 per hour seems fair, the dealer gets $100.00 per hour.


Oil change, change filter, check and top all fluids, lubricate throttle cable and hinges, check and correct tire pressure, rotate when appicable, check and correct tire pressure for spare, add mercedes benz washer solvent and fluid, remove and inspect brake pads and inspect rotor thickness, inspect hoses and belts. (82,000 miles service) all that for $140.00. The dealer here in Jaxsonville charges $169.00. I get $140.00 for it also.

It just seems that customers think that some of these guys at these shops should just give **** away. We just can't do that. We run a business. We charge what should be charged. We charge a certain amount of labor per hour. It's posted somewhere in the shop. So why do they bring their cars into these Mercedes Benz specialty shops and then make them look like jerks. Why not tow the car to your complex, then rent a car for 2 days so you can commute to work and back, and then on Sat. morning you can take your 6 yr old son outside with you and replace all the parts that you want. In your case you would have installed a relay and still had trouble with your connector. So technically you would still have the probem. That is why when the car breaks down the shop fixes them. When my grass needs cutting my lawn guy cuts it, and when the the computer breaks, it goes to the computer store. WE don't fix everything just cars. That is why we charge and get our labour charges.

Maybe you should do this: Sell the benz, get a Honda, they dont break down, and when they do you can go to PEP BOYS and work on it with your 6 year old son outside your home.

I respect everybody and for whatever they do, but to talk crap about a fellow brother in the business, I have to step in. Other shop owners and I always post and help on tech posts, just dont trash us.


Jerry

What?