Long story short, I was left stranded in the freezing cold last night.

Turned the key to the glow position, wait a couple of seconds, turn it to crank and...nothing. The glow plug light goes off, but...nothing. No attempt to crank, no...nothing.

The tow truck driver I called tried for half an hour to get it to start. Using a test light, he finally declared that there was no power going to the starter.

What the heck is wrong this time? Could it be the ignition key? Seems fine, key turns back and forth fine

The neutral safety switch? How to test...I ran the shifter up and down its path, no go.

Glow plug relay? Does that energize the starter? I'm using one from an SDL...been working fine for the last month or so of daily driving. The only caveat being the light doesn't go off until the engine starts. No biggie, I thought. It works. New GPs.

I don't know guys. Maybe it's time to retire the old girl and get a Kia. Or something. I need a car that won't leave me stranded. I'm done freezing at the side of the road waiting for a tow. This time it was under $100. Sometimes, I visit clients that are $300 away.

Just kinda sad about it all. I've put so much into this wagon. Really love it to bits. But it's chipping away at my resolve. I miss my old 300. That was a dependable iron horse. This one, not so much.


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1987 300TD
1984 300D
755,000 KM and going strong
BC Canada

When was the last time you rebuild the starter?

How's the connection between the starter & battery, and the engine ground?

Up in BC I bet you have a little bit of a corrosion problem.

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

Good point. Never rebuilt the connection. When the tow truck guy peeled away the rubber boot, the connection points looked brand new. Like shiny brand new. I guess the rubber boot plus the engine cover at the bottom does a pretty good job.

We have lots of moisture to be sure. But a poor connection...would it suddenly manifest itself in a no-start, not even a weak crank situation?

I FORGOT to add...just prior to the stop, my blower fan quit working. I remember when my first GP relay quit on me, I had odd behaviour from the fan too. I wonder if it's connected electrically.

Oh and battery is strong.


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1987 300TD
1984 300D
755,000 KM and going strong
BC Canada

The "50" pin of the starter (bosch term) - gets power from the key but routed through the neutral safety switch.

If the person saw no power at the solenoid trigger (point 50) while cranking then most probably the neutral safety switch is bad or the wiring has an open in it.

Its a purple/white wire, test it all the way - you should be seeing 12v +ve going into the NSS from the key in start position (test with a heavy lamp like a headlamp bulb to make sure full amps are going through)

in P or N the nss should be routing this same 12V +ve signal to the starter for it to spin.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

If the shifter isnt in its correct landing this will happen ,it has to be spot on ..My current daily is this way.I will have to push the shifter all the way forward and go for the start .I relay sits at this location were the shifter comes to a rest in park.Something maybe preventing it from working ,its bad, or the shifter is not landing correctly( shifter bushings) .wagon on!

On the W123 there is a spot on the R inner fender that you could jumper across to confirm if your starter is the culprit. Search here for threads for jumping starter, or something along those lines. It helped me a few times before I changed a NSS. Will also save a tow, but may look funny if you are at a customer and need to lift the hood to start your vehicle.

Likely the front and/or rear shift linkage bushings are damaged or missing.

A damaged/missing front shift linkage bushing will create too much slop in the linkage and prevent the NSS from completing the starter circuit.

You don't need a special tool to press in a new shifter bushing (MB Part number 1159920310)
Just soak the bushing in warm water for a few minutes to soften it a little.
Make a press using a bolt, a nut, the appropriately sized socket, and few large washers.
Transmission Shifter Bushing Tool Helper. - Mercedes-Benz Forum
BTDT.

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78 W116 300SD 'Desert Rose' new as of 01/26/2014
79 W116 300SD 'Stormcloud' RIP 04/11/2022

Blower motor stopping can be a sign of an ad ignition switch as the contacts wear out.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I didn't have time to do anything as I had back to back meetings and left it at my buddy's shop. I really like the jumping starter suggestion...and will keep it for future use.

The symptoms are weird. I know about starte issues having worked with vws especially the buses with their long route between battery switch and solenoid. But this one was weird with no click no nothing.

Well my buddy reported that he could not even get the starter to spin on the bench. So he opened it up and found that 3 of the 4 brushes were not even connected! The wires were apparently just hanging there!

He's since soldered them back up but hasn't had the time to put the starter back together and try it. I sure hope this is it.

The question is, how can this happen suddenly? I mean, I am very sensitive to starting anomalies and there was absolutely zero warning on this. No slow starting no hard cranking no nothing.

The one thing was the blower quitting suddenly. But how does that have any relation to anything else? Notwithstanding the ignition switch going bad that is.



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1987 300TD
1984 300D
755,000 KM and going strong
BC Canada

It sounds like there are two pairs of brushes in your starter. Each pair completes a circuit through the armature, with the brushes as a sliding contact for electricity.

I think of the 3 connections that failed, the first 2 took out one of the pairs of brushes, and your starter still worked with the other pair. The third one that failed, no place left for current to flow.

Why do they fail? Use well past design life.

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CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

All of these things seem minor and point to lack of maintenance. I would buy another car and fix this as time allowed.

I have a 2012 VW TDI and a Dodge Ramsey and 2 SDs. When the Ramp needs a key, I go to any hardware store give them $2 and done. The VW requires some $150, a wait for shipping then more money to the dealer.

The SD alarm goes off, I unplug it and go. The VW takes $200 for a door sensor and 3hrs actual labor or more money at the dealer. I'm going to try keeping these vehicles 40 yrs when I'll quit driving at age 100+.

"Won't crank" is one of the easiest things to trouble-shoot and fix on any vehicle. Even on newer vehicles w/ key security, I think the starting circuit is fairly simple and independent. At least I recall removing the starter relay in my 2002 T&C and jumper'ing terminals 30 to 87 to crank the starter, and it has a key security where you must replace the whole computer if the key sensor fails. As mentioned, you can easily jumper the starter in your 1984 300D (is that what we're talking about?) by jumper'ing between 2 screws in the little black junction box in front of your battery (3 screws, 2 are on the same copper block).

Since several things aren't working in your car, I wonder if you ever replaced the crappy tin fuses the factory installed w/ gold-plated fuses. Doing so fixed many things in my two 300D's (windows, sunroof, headlamp, ...). Many posts and links to affordable ones on eb*y. Especially check #8 fuse for the cabin blower before it melts the fuse-holder.

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1984 & 1985 CA 300D's
1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport
1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans

On a 124, there is a three-wire block under the windshield cowling on the driver's side. From foggy memory, the middle wire goes directly to the starter solenoid, so applying 12v to that should engage the solenoid and make the starter spin. When I had a flaky solenoid, I could usually coax it to start with that method. The voltage loss through the ignition switch and NSS was just a little too much to provide enough umph to kick the solenoid.

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Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

This wasn't a solenoid, wiring or fuse issue. The starter just stopped working and the reason it stopped was quite simply the brushes lost their soldered connection to their wires. Resoldered and back in business. Yes, it was a minor thing, but no this could not be fixed at the side of the road. It required removing the starter and disassembling it. I was pleasantly surprised that it could even be disassembled and fixed!


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1987 300TD
1984 300D
755,000 KM and going strong
BC Canada