'94 E420-Starting Issues

[KyGuy]

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