What a horrible time for my Mercedes to fail me. I need to be at my University by Tuesday and the car failed while I was on that 600 mile journey.


While on the freeway, after slowing down, I accelerated moderately. There was no pickup. Soon I noticed no power steering. In short, the engine had died.


I pull over and investigate under the hood. There is a slight BURNING RUBBER /PLASTIC smell. I think I even remember seeing faint smoke from the rear of the engine.

I cannot start the car. The engine does not even turn! The car just makes a buzz sound and I hear something cranking, but strangely the v-belt doesn't rotate. Later I discover the rotor does not turn either.

I also checked the spark plug for spark. I removed one of the plugs and inserted a random Bosch spark plug just to test it out. No spark.

I know the battery is good. I had purchased a brand new one earlier that day. I did some fundamental testing of the ignition system from what I saw in the Haynes manual. Unfortunately my car is a '91 and the manual is written for 84-88. Some of the tests could not be completed. One of the tests may have revealed a bad ESU, but I'm not sure.


I think the important thing is that the engine won't even turn. I hear something rotating, but the v-belt doesn't turn and the rotor doesn't turn. If I had broken my timing chain, wouldn't the starter at least rotate the v-belt pulley?

Any ideas? I'm going to read lots of the manual...