Hello there to you all,

I am a total newbie here and had a look over your site & looks like the place where I can get some good input.

I would really appreciate any guidance, input etcetera on my concerns with my E240 1999.

I have had the car for about three months 7 bought it used with around 80 000 kms. Today I went to see someone and parked outside their office, was out the car for around 30 minutes, got back in and it wouldn’t start. I also noticed that the starter motor continues to turn after I let go the key in “start” position, as if the keyswitch was not returning.

I sat for around 15 minutes and then tried again and off she went, drove about 200 meters and the engine died on me and again wouldn’t start? The AA came out and must admit was not impressed, anyway. After around 15 minutes again she started, this time it did not die again and I drove home the 30 odd kilometers with no problem.

As you will appreciate I am now very aware of the thing dying on me in traffic and we have our wee lad in the car a lot of the times so I would like to try to get to the bottom of this.

My first question is: Will this problem be “logged” in the car’s computer and be able to be interpreted once connected to the scanner or whatever the diagnostics are called?

My second question is: Has anyone experienced anything like this before and if so what was the problem?

Thank you for reading my post and a big thanks to you that offer input.

Cheers

Campbell in New Zealand.

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Recently bought my first Merc, previously a BMW fan. Bought the S wagon due to the 7 seater option.

Does your car have the SmartKey system? If so, try using a different key and see if that makes a difference. The failure of the key/EIS is usually a no-start, like you have, but the sengine dies immediately after starting, different from your symptom, but I'd give that a shot anyway.

Now, when you say "wouldn't start" what exactly do you mean? It's cranking and the engine is spinning, but it's not firing? Or is nothing at all happening? Be precise with your explanation and that will help quite a bit.

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

Yes I have a 1999 E240,(see johngel1 post) just purchased a new smart Key, and it sometimes starts the ingine then stops, so took it to the local dealer and supplier of said key, they took the car for a day , and then supplied me with a new Smart Key, but it has done it again (only once so far),the old smart key seems OK, but I feel that there is still a problem,