Turned the engine by hand while lubing ring-gear w/ Fuchs heavy spray lube, then spun it with the starter by jumping relay connections in ECU box to make sure the lube is distributed but that didn't change anything. How much is too much lube on the ring gear? I'm having to apply it through the rubber-plugged hole on the bottom of the bellhousing as the starter on this 4matic car looks to be problematic to remove!

There's also a noticeable delay when turning the key to the 'start' position, like a ''one-thousand-one" pause before the starter cycle begins.

I give up, off to Hans und Fritz at the nearest dealer, 70 miles away, the first time since '03 or '04. I suspect it's the K40 and/or ECU and I hate to just start buying parts...