I decided to make this another thread rather than attach it to my overheating thread. Needless to say, i am NOT happy with my car at the moment, although the no start issue is my own dumb fault for letting it go on this long. About a year ago, i parked the car at a fast food parking lot, came back out and it would not start. I figured out how to jump the starter using the terminal block on the passenger side of the engine compartment. Ever since then, on occasion, i would have to jump the starter using a peice of wire and that terminal. This seemed to happen most often after long, highway runs. In addition, sometimes if I turned the key back and forth repeatedly that would get it to start. Moving the shift lever has never had much of an effect, except for a very long time ago. After i replaced the shifter bushings, the neutral safety switch went completely caput(i might have knocked it around a little too much), the reverse lights no longer work, and when the car starts with the key it will start in any gear. Today, however, something more drastic happened. After about 3 hours on the highway, i pulled into a gas station to grab some food, came back out and it wouldn't start. I thought "figured this would happen, i'll just jump it"-WRONG. Even with jumping the terminals the starter would not engage. I then proceeded to get a broom handle, and tapped the top of the selenoid. At first it did not work, but after repeated, deliberate blows it turned over no problem. Every time i've ever had a starting problem the car has always been running for at least 1/2 hour. I should note that once i got the car home, it would not start untill it sat for a few hours, and then it has started fine using the key three times. I know i have a selenoid problem, but does it sound like somethign else is wrong as well? Today, it would seem is the first evidence of an actual starter problem. The other times the starter seemed to work fine, the problem was in getting the power there. So if in fact i also have a problem with getting power to the starter, is there anythign else other than the ignition switch, neutral safety switch, and a/c clutch cutoff(read that somewhere, true or no?) that could prevent the starter from getting power unless i jumped it?. Also, is it possible that in opening the hood it could jar the selenoid just enough to have freed it up these other times? I dont want to throw money down the toilet on parts i don't need, but at the same time cannot diagnose an intermittant problem that only occurs when the car is hot. I'm going to try to tackle the overheating issue tomarrow, and that way hopefully i'll only have one issue to deal with for the trip back up to jacksonville. Starters are hard to come by on the weekends. The starting issues combined with a weird overheating issue has me a very irritated and confused benz owner. Thanks for all your help, sorry if some of this is repetition of my other thread.
Ryan

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83 300SD.......sold
96 integra SE....sold
99 a4 quattro....sold
2001 IS300.......sold
2002 330i.........current.
2004 highlander limited....current.