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#1
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Is it the Battery or the alternator??
hey all.. I am new to this!
here is the secnerio.. I got a 1973 280c the other day. it was running fine. it has been running and starting fine everyday so far (about 5 days) I drove it to work at 05:30am thursday and parked it. I just got back and when I tried to start it there was no power! (i verified that nothing was left on, lights etc...) The weather has been cold. it was -20 to -25 (celceus) for the last 2 days here. I got a boost, and it started right away. I turned the lights on, and heater and started to drive it. I made it to the stop lights and had to stop. (about 1km away) when the light turned green, i accelerated, started to make my right turn, and it died! I got another boost, and kept the heater, lights etc off and drove home fine! when I got home and turned off the car, i tried to start it again, and there was power, but not enough to start it! so.. would the alternator be dead?(how would I check this) would the battery be frozen? or is the battery just dead? (as in wont take a charge anymore) any thaughts? where to begin trouble shooting.. Thanks in advance |
#2
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Your local auto parts store will do a free diagnostic check for you to determine if the battery or the alternator has gone south. They load test the battery and look at the output of the alternator. I believe even Wal Mart will do this for you for free.
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BENZ THERE DONE THAThttp://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...c/progress.gif 15 VW Passat TDI 00 E420 98 E300 DT 97 E420 Donor Car - NEED PARTS? PM ME! 97 S500 97 E300D 86 Holden Jackaroo Turbo D 86 300SDL (o\|/o) |
#3
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1st step. Check battery cables.
2nd step. Clean and tighten battery cables. 3rd step. Check ground connections and cable feed to starter. 4th step. NOW begin to diagnose. Alternator belt tight or worn out? Usually the red charge light will come on if it's an alternator or belt related failure. 90% of all non-start or non-charge conditions are cable related. Many, many times I have seen a perfectly good battery replaced and the owner thinks the problem was solved because the car starts now. Of course it does! When they replaced the battery they had to clean and tighten the cables on the new battery. Eliminate the obvious. When you have the car running put a voltmeter on the battery posts. If it reads above 12 volts the alternator is charging. As the battery receives a charge the voltage will increase to about 14.0 volts. |
#4
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hey all, thanks for the input.
another thing i noticed this evening was this.. when i turn the key, the battery light lights up bright red (engine not running) before actually starting the engine. once it is started it goes out.. like it should.. if the engine is idleing, the light is VERY dimly lit (just faintly lit) if i give it some gas, it goes out completly. (untill the engine goes back down to idle) so it seems to me that the rpm's need to be higher for the light to go out completly.. any suggestions now? |
#5
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Quote:
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Question Authority before it Questions you. |
#6
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that is quite a good possibility!
thanks for your help! (now I just have to figure out how to tighten it!) |
#7
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Hello baker,
I had the same problem in my w108, with the dim voltage light, and poor battery recharge. Turned out to be a faulty voltage regulator, which simply wasn't allowing the correct current feed back into the battery (alternator was fine) - cheap & simple to fix, just a new bosch regulator required. |
#8
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A bad cable can make it die immediately. Intermittent contact is the culprit. It may be a bad connection, so first clean and scrape the battery terminals and cable ends. If the problem goes away, great, if not changing the cables might be in order. I would have the battery tested although if it was weak you would get a weak crank.
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MB-less |
#9
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My car has some gremlins in it, and I'm positive they're being caused by bad battery cables. I replaced the negative (ground) cable, which seems to have rectified some of the bad behavior.
Just the past few days my battery has been getting lamer and lamer, and today it pooped out completely. I managed to get the car to AutoZone, where they checked it out and the alternator seemed to be OK. I did get a new battery (because the old one was a generic recycled model with only like 400 cranking amps), but I also bought a positive battery cable (that goes to the starter) and intend to replace it as soon as I can get the car somewhere warm enough to work on it. The old cable is crappy as all-get-out, and I'm sure it's built up a ton of resistance over 38 years of service. (Hey, guys...isn't there a third cable, like from the engine to the body? Anybody?) Anyway, good luck!
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Carmody Wichita, Kansas USA Air Capital of the World 1968 220 (my first MB!) |
#10
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There should be a braided metal ground strap running from the starter mounting area to the frame just below or in front of the passenger side firewall.
It should be attached to either the starter, the transmission mounting or one of the exhaust manifold mounting bolts. |
#11
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Thanks, Mike D! I figured there was probably a flat braid somewhere. Once (if) the weather warms up a notch, I've got my work cut out for me.
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Carmody Wichita, Kansas USA Air Capital of the World 1968 220 (my first MB!) |
#12
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*** I'm having a very similiar problem... ***
Same issue - won't start - just "clicks" - put the JCs (jumper cables) on the terminals, Varroom! No "Battery" light on the dash or anything.
Now the history... When the problem first started - JC'd the baby, drove it down to the "Battery Mart" store in town (They sell the Interstate brand - ALWAYS worked well for me!) - the tech. put the "Load-Tester" (LTr) on the terminals, loaded the battery to 800 CAs, THEN he had me start the Benz. It fired right up! He determined that the battery was just fine. (No name on the battery - just the lable saying it was a "660CCA" unit.) He then put the LTr meter in the Volt position and found the alternator doing its job following the Load-Test itself - the voltage was coming back up - in about 2 minutes, everything was stabil. Popped both cable clamps off the terminals, burnished them, reattached and sprayed the red corrosion goop over the clamps. No charge for any of this! I left him a $5.00 on his counter when he wasn't looking. Ran fine for about a day... Now I get the "click-click-click" sound. Drop the JCs on the terminals (The starting vehicle is my S-10 - just idling) and as I mentioned before, Varroom! Bad cables, internally, under the insulation? And is the ground strap located in a similiar area on a '77 280E? Thanks for the feedback... Respectfully,
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. . M. G. Burg'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K .'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K ..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K ...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K ....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K .....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K ......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp .......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125 . “I didn’t really say everything I said.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~ |
#13
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*** 12 oz. of ... ***
DUHHHHH!! I found the problem ... I remembered something similiar, back in '85, that happened to others around me.
It turned out that the battery needed water in all but one of the cells. I popped the caps and sure enough, low level in 5 of the 6 cells. Ended up putting in approx. 12 oz. of distilled water. Popped the jumper-cables on, started the Benz right up, drove it for about a 1/2 hour, parked it for the night, next morning (and every morning or so since then) she starts right up like nothing was ever wrong. This is the same battery that I jumped and had Battery*Mart test and proclaim "not bad" ... And all it needed was a little drink. (But, then again, don't we all!)
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. . M. G. Burg'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K .'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K ..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K ...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K ....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K .....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K ......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp .......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125 . “I didn’t really say everything I said.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~ |
#14
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Ignition switch
or a worn out starter. When the bushings in the starter are worn, the armature isn't aligned under load, and draws excessive current.
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1970 280S M130 engine- good runner 1971 250 M130 engine- #2 rod bearing, gone 1971 280SE (blown engine,parts car) 1977 German 280S W116-only 33 years old |
#15
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Did the guy at BatteryMart ask you if you wanted fries with 'dat ????
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