98 Clk320 Sport

[Djkrayzee]

Hi can you help
Just got myself a clk320sport it starts first time from cold but after about 5 mins drive will not start ive changed the battery. the starter sounds like it turns a couple of times then jams. turn the ignition on and off a few times and it will start as good as a cold start. What could it be? Have been told the starter needs re-greasing with graphite grease could this be the answer?

 

[television]

Hi can you help
Just got myself a clk320sport it starts first time from cold but after about 5 mins drive will not start ive changed the battery. the starter sounds like it turns a couple of times then jams. turn the ignition on and off a few times and it will start as good as a cold start. What could it be? Have been told the starter needs re-greasing with graphite grease could this be the answer?

Welcome to the forum, and you have a nice car.

It is either a faulty battery.

faulty starting motor.

Faulty cable, we have had a couple of threads where the cable from the battery to the starter was faulty , this can be checked by use a jump cable from the - neg terminal to ground. or running a jump cable to the starter from the plus terminal.

Malcolm

 

[Uncle Benz]

Good thoughts from Malcolm about the cable. Check the fundamentals first. Are you talking about the 'auto-start' function, where you just flick the key and the starter runs until the engine starts??

Problems with this often come from the EIS (electronic ignition switch) or crankshaft sensor, since the sensor is monitored to detect the rise in rpm as the engine fires, thus releasing the starter.

The only other thing I have come across, although without any confirmed grounding, is that if a fault code is stored for the engine, the auto-start function often fails to work correctly. I await those who will shoot me down, but this has been my experience with the earlier cars that don't have a MIL.

 

[Djkrayzee]

Welcome to the forum, and you have a nice car.

It is either a faulty battery.

faulty starting motor.

Faulty cable, we have had a couple of threads where the cable from the battery to the starter was faulty , this can be checked by use a jump cable from the - neg terminal to ground. or running a jump cable to the starter from the plus terminal.

Malcolm

Hi Thanks for that the dealer i got the car from did get a new battery for me he thought i could be that. Battery was a good quality hi A/Hr but still no luck. The leads i have checked with a DVM and there is Less than a few OHMs between the battery and the starter and chassis and negative terminal. Can the starter be easily bench tested?

 

[Parrot of Doom]

I'd guess it needs to be tested with a load.

The starter on my last car was sometimes problematic, however a visit from the hammer of whack usually sorted it until I replaced it completely.

 

[television]

You could check that you have 12 volts on the starter motor solinoid,thats the small terminal when the key is turned, the same goes for the large one.

The resistance check is not a good way to check due to the large current that is flowing.


Malcolm

 

[bigasotonuk]

Hi,
If all your electrics are ok, remove and clean the starter (the ring gear, and starter motor engaging parts). I was told by an indie that certain Mercedes engines 'can' suffer similar symptons.
It is 'allegedly' caused by the tolerances being to tight between the flywheel ring gear and the starter motor dog.
The reason it does,nt work when hot is that the tolerance has decreased through heat expansion.
The indie who told me said he cured 9/10 times by cleaning the starter engaging mechanism.

 

[nismo786]

Hi

I had the exact same probelm with my CLk 320, it started fine at first from cold but as soon as I drove for few minutes and switched off, it souldn't start again for a while so i took it to main dealers and techie advised me to put heavy duty grease (Castrol Multi Purpose) to the fly wheel cogs, which i did and since then i had no more starting problems.

The main cause that fly wheel was dry and it wouldn't turn the crank.

So give it a try, you will have to manually turn the fly wheel though, i did it by quickly turning the ignition on then off, took a while to grease, but now it starts nicely all the time.

Good luck!

QC

 

[Djkrayzee]

Thank you to all have replied back on this problem. I have taken your advice and my baby is now running sweet. Many thanks again for your help.

 

[wscheffer]

The indie who told me said he cured 9/10 times by cleaning the starter engaging mechanism.

Would it not be better to shim the starter to create a greater tolerance between the starter's bendex gear and the fly wheel (Ring Gear)

This way you 're not always cleaning the starter from time to time