'94 E420-Starting Issues
 

Greetings-

I'm having some "issues" with my E420.

In mid-July while driving home from work it started showing odd dash light combinations and died at an intersection and I had it towed to a local shop with a descent rep that specializes in German autos.

I had strong battery but no crank at all. The shop went over it and you’ve gotta love it when the mechanic says, “I’ve never seen this before”. They found no power to starter and a fuse #5 was cracked. Replaced the fuse, but still no crank.

They removed instrument cluster and front lower interior panels and steering lock assembly to test ignition switch. Found voltage at ignition switch in Position 50. They found the starter lock out switch smelling burnt and not operating. They then tested the starter lock out circuit and found the ground feed to the lock out relay from control unit “not there”. They then traced the wire to connector X35-7 and repaired the connection at X35-7. Bingo, starter then worked. About $600 US.

That’s 7 weeks and about 1000 miles ago. Friday I come home from work, do some chores and later head for the grocery store. Go to the 420 and no crank. I diddle around with the selector, roll the car back in gear, nothing works. Saturday morning I go, “WTF let’s give it a shot.” Fires right up.

Today I take the car on a drive to one of my daughter’s soccer tournaments north of Seattle. Everything’s fine until we pull off I-5 to get the kid some food and come out of the gas station/food stop and – no crank. I go through the stuff I did Friday night and again, nothing. I’ve shut down radio, A/C, etc. Finally “one last time” and it fires up.

Drove straight home without shutting ‘er down.

Starter lock out? Should I make this shop cover the labor on this? Thoughts?

Thanks

Did you try "N" ???????

Yes. Wiggled the selector in both N and P. In both cases it eventually started in "P".

Back up lamps work??

Car, of course, started right up and back up lights worked with selector in "R".

Check ground cable from the car body to the engine - it maybe loose or corroded.

Thanks, but the car is very low mileage and corrosion is not an issue nor are loose connections from battery.

Go back and re-read myarmar's post. Note that he was referring to the cable between engine and body, not the battery cable. Weird intermittant electrical glitches are often caused by faulty grounds.

The other thing worth doing is changing out all your fuses. You've already had one cracked one. Sometimes they "look good" but have hairline cracks, which cause absolutely unpredictable electrical glitches.

Steve/et al-

Apologies, it was late last night. Will have the body/engine cable and fuses checked.

Fuses are all good. Used magnifying glass on each one.

Will check body/ground cable this weekend.

Car, of course, has started each time since I posted. Perfect ;)

E420 No Start - Update
 

Failure has returned and have done the wiring check (myself and shop) and now the recommendation is a new starter. Questions arise:
1.) Has anyone experienced this problem of intermittent failure to start? (I call it “short cycle” because if the car sits for 10-15 minutes between shutting off and attempting to start there is no problem. More than 2 and than 10 minutes almost always results in no start.
2.) If Yes, has replacing the starter solved this problem?
3.) Is replacing a relatively easy DIY job?

Thanks,

Yes,

My E420 left me stranded on a car dealer's lot, right next to a car that I was thinking of replacing it with (must've got jealous or something).

It intermittently failed to start a number of times but I ignored the warnings.

It would click but not crank then if I kept trying it would finally crank. Tried the P to N thing but didn't help... replaced the starter...

When my starter went out (at about 60k miles) it just failed completely -- no intermittant period.

Having talked to the tech who replaced it, I'd say it's NOT a straightforward DIY job -- he had to disassemble part of the front end to access the starter. Everything's packed in pretty tight in the engine bay of a W124 with a 119 engine.

Steve & Holson-

Thanks for the quick response and good info. Looks like we'll be replacing the starter next week. Will try Fastlane for parts.

Best Regards,

Starter might be bad although I have yet to replace one on a 119 engine.

I would worry about the starter wiring harness we have done a number of those on the 119 engines. I also would worry about the K38 relay behind the instrument cluster. This is the starter lock-out relay module and it passes the neutral safety switch starter signal to the starter whenever the ALARM agrees it is appropriate.

I would also hope the ALARM agrees it is appropriate.