Bizarre event when starting 190E
 

Hi all,

Yesterday after work I went to start my 190E 16v, which usually starts fine but I've only had for a few months.

Ignition on - fine, radio comes on, ignition lights come on etc.

Turn to start position - dash lights, radio, everything goes completely dead. Turning the ignition off and on does nothing - the whole car is without power. Open door - the interior light doesn't even turn on.

After a couple of seconds everything comes back again. The radio has reset all the settings and presets so there was definitely a total loss of power for a good few seconds.


????

Ideas anyone? There's no alarm system. Can an OVP cause this as I'm beginning to think mine is a bit dodgy, but I don't think it has any bearing on the power to the radio.

Can a duff battery cause this? Should I get it changed? Could there be a risk of fire?


thanks

Russell

I would do a current draw test on that battery first. I have seen that happen. Battery has enough to do some stuff then when you turn the key and everything turns on and creates a surge in the current draw it kicks the battery down to a level that can not power anything. Sounds like a short in the battery. A current load test will let you know.

The OVP would not do that much. It only protects and powers certain systems, like ABS and the CIS-E ECU.

Yeah I guess I should test the battery.

The weird thing is, afterwards it started up perfectly fine, and started fine this morning too.


Russell

poor battery connection will cause this problem. had same problem with my 190e 8v, just cleaned the battery terminals and the problem went away.:)

Yep could just be a loose ground cable or loose connection at the battery. Check all connections and the two or three grounds from the engine to the frame.

Just found the ground cable had come loose (hadn't reattached it tightly after disconnecting battery!)

Weird symptom that it just lost all power then worked fine for a couple of days..!

d'oh.


thanks guys...