car wont start - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

frogboy · #16 08-15-2003, 06:16 AM

I had a weird experience with my car not starting when I first bought the thing, and you know what it turned out to be? I was looking at it the whole time, it was that the fuel line was clogged. I looked at my secondary fuel filter, that small plastic thing, and it was completely black with crud. You might have crud in your tank from condensation. After letting it sit for a couple of days without starting, you might have just aggrevated the problem and gotten a clog. I would try replacing the primary and secondary fuel filters, and see where that gets you.

hope that helps

autozen · #17 08-15-2003, 12:57 PM

Adiaw,

Maybe it's time to get local professional help unless you enjoy frustation.

Thomaspin,

I agree with your philosophy, but I think 15,000 miles is premature. PEH has been fortunate to get such longevity from his fuse. Regardless of never having over 50 amps or 80 amps draw depending on which glow system you have, these fuses fail. The reason they fail is what I like to call the beer can effect which also happens in transmission bands. As current passes through them during the glow cycle they expand. When they cool down, they contract. Do that enough times like bending a beer can bacck and forth, and it cracks. If this were not the case why have I replaced litterly hundreds of these fuses over the years while never having to do anything else to the affected glow system? I used to give them to tow truck drivers and sometimes they got nice tips. If you don't want to change it periodically then just carry a spare. As long as you carry spare parts their counterparts will never break. I think it's Murphy's Law or something.

Peter
Auto Zentral Ltd.

P.E.Haiges · #18 08-15-2003, 01:21 PM

Adiaw83,

If your GP stay on for only 3-4 seconds, that is probably your problem. I think that would be caused by a bad GP relay.

If you connect wires to the GP directly from the battery and the car starts, the GP are not being energised by the GP relay. Does the relay click on and ~45 seconds later click off? Did you check the fuse inside the GP relay?

P E H

adiaw83 · #19 08-15-2003, 04:50 PM

the 80A fuse inside the relay is fine ill listen for the clicking.

adiaw83 · #20 09-26-2003, 11:15 PM

I know this post is incredibly old but I had to bring it back. The car was working for a couple days but now It wont start again. last time i tried but the engine didn't turn. I'm gonna get the battery charged and try to replace all the fuel filters tmmorow.

P.E.Haiges · #21 09-27-2003, 12:23 PM

adiaw83,

Can you turn the engine by hand (socket wrench on crankshaft bolt) easily? Maybe you have a bad starter. Or it could be a corrosion problem at the battery terminals or at the battery cable to starter or to ground. Could be a bad battery too.

If the starter won't crank the engine and it turns easily by hand, you have an electrical problem in the starter circuit. Don't bother changeing the filters, it won't solve your problem.

P E H

adiaw83 · #22 10-08-2003, 03:10 AM

I'll try that out where exactly is this bolt located though? There is definetly a bit of corrosion at the battery through. The wire is exposed right after the terminal and it does not look very healthy.

P.E.Haiges · #23 10-08-2003, 11:16 AM

adiaw83,

If you mean the bolt to turn the engine by hand, it is located in center of the vib damper on the front of the crankshaft. You need a 27mm or 1 1/16 1/2 drive socket and rachet and maybe a short extension. If you don't have the 27mm or 1 1/16 socket, get a deep one and you can use it for the injectors.

P E H

psfred · #24 10-08-2003, 09:19 PM

If it cranks very slowly and the battery runs down fast, get new battery cables and have the battery checked -- any of the "chain" auto parts stores can test the battery. If it's toast, or the cables are bad, it ain't gonna start well.

Peter

adamb · #25 10-08-2003, 10:12 PM

When cleaning the battery terminals, it is also just as important to clean the positive end at the starter as well, just as the other gentleman mentioned. BUT, please don't do what I did and break the post off the solenoid because it was corroded on there, and, I was too lazy to get up off the creaper and get a wrench to hold the bottom nut on the post. I used JB weld and it's been great ever since - been over a year.
I second everyone elses opinion and would replace the GP relay, but first I would turn the key on and off several times to try to heat up the plugs a lot. I would also plug the car in if you have the heater, if you can't figure out how to fix it.
If it were me, I would simply replace all the GPs and relay. It is cheap, easy, and would most likely be the problem.
I can't afford the time loss so I replace stuff unnecesarrily some times, but hope to one day be like PEH and get the most out of stuff by diagnostics rather than replacement as a hunch.
Cya, Adam Bush

P.E.Haiges · #26 10-08-2003, 11:47 PM

adamb,

Actually you are doing a diagnostic by replacing parts but you are doing it the expensive way. What if replacing tha GP and GP relay does not fix the problem? What do you replace next? The starter, the battery, the engine?

Its always better to do a non replacement diagnostic first so you only replace parts that need to be replaced. There are too many mechanics that just replace parts instead of finding the actual cause first at the expense of the customer.

P E H