My mom's 1986 560 sl (60k original miles) has been sitting for about a month. She says it ran fine last month. She tried to start it last week and the battery was weak. A friend put jumper cables on it and tried to start it for 30 minutes, it almost started, but didn't. It sounds like the battery stopped working althogether.

I came to visit for Tgiving and she asked me to take a look. Before I removed the old battery, there was no power at all - no interior lights, no buzzer, no nothing. It's like the battery was not installed. When I took the battery to OReilly Auto parts, they said it was only reading 3v. They initially said the battery was still good, and put it on a charger for a couple hours, but then said it would not hold a charge and gave me a new battery (old battery was only 1 year old).

I installed the new battery and still get nothing - no buzzer, no lights, no interior lights -just like there is no battery.

I found a comment online about checking the fuse in the overload relay, so I checked that fuse and it's good.

It seems like there is a major fuse or relay that is bad, since the car acts like there is no battery installed.

EDIT: I'm embarrased to admit the problem, but since nobody knows me, I'll admit it - I left the black plastic cap on the negative terminal of the new battery. In my mom's dark garage, I didn't even notice that I left the cap on when I put on the negative terminal. No wonder it didn't fit very well. Anyway, the plastic cap is now removed and the battery is hooked up correctly and the car runs fine.

Stuff happens! good fix & honest to boot!

__________________
MERCEDES Benz Master Guild Technician (6 TIMES)
ASE Master Technician
Mercedes Benz Star Technician (2 times)
44 years foreign automotive repair
27 Years M.B. Shop foreman (dealer)
MB technical information Specialist (15 years)
190E 2.3 16V ITS SCCA race car (sold)
1986 190E 2.3 16V 2.5 (sold)
Retired Moderator

Sounds like something i'd have done! Just after i got my C230, i was unable to get the "key" out of the switch after i backed in the garage one night. Checked the owner's manual, this forum, another forum--found nothing. Went back out to the garage, noodled around for a few minutes...NOTHING. Started gathering a few items to move them to my wife's car when i noticed the shift lever was still in Reverse--shifted to Park and all was well with the world!!

__________________
Earl McLain
'02 C230 Kompressor
'89 560 SEL "Frau BlueCar" (retired April 2004)