I was driving along and all of a sudden then engine cut off, switched it off and started again it seemed to work, this happened a couple of times. This is very symptomatic of a crank sensor failure. So as I have experienced this before I luckily had bought a crank sensor anticipating this problem happening! I changed my crank sensor about 3 years earlier and since then I had done something in the region of 60k miles (yep in my big old E430 V8). It wasn't a Mercedes Original so maybe that's why it failed so quick, so I would recommend either getting a Mercedes one or an OEM quality one.
I couldn't remember what bits I needed to change it , I remember last time I struggled but got it done, difficult access on the V8s.
This post is just really to help anyone in a simillar position to me. It really is fairly easy to be honest, once I figured out what tools I needed it just took me 5 mins.
Ok first thing is location, it is located in the rear of the engine passenger side (for non UK drivers drivers that's the drivers side!) see attached picture.
Here is an image of the crank sensor (once i disconnected the connector, its just a squeeze and pull out jobby) when I shoved my phone into the engine bay to take a good picture.
Notice the bolt, you will need an E8 bit for this, this will make life soooo much easier!
I could undo it by just sticking the E8 bit directly on the bolt and undo it by hand but that's because I did not over-tighten it last time. What you may need to do is connect the E8 bit on the end of the spinner handle ( I googled the name, see image its the thingy with the handle) .
You can see the from the image below where the handle is, its a bit of a tight fit.
You may even need a ratchet to put on top of the handle if you cannot get any force or traction
Let me know if you want better pictures I just wrote this post quickly.
I couldn't remember what bits I needed to change it , I remember last time I struggled but got it done, difficult access on the V8s.
This post is just really to help anyone in a simillar position to me. It really is fairly easy to be honest, once I figured out what tools I needed it just took me 5 mins.
Ok first thing is location, it is located in the rear of the engine passenger side (for non UK drivers drivers that's the drivers side!) see attached picture.
Here is an image of the crank sensor (once i disconnected the connector, its just a squeeze and pull out jobby) when I shoved my phone into the engine bay to take a good picture.
Notice the bolt, you will need an E8 bit for this, this will make life soooo much easier!
I could undo it by just sticking the E8 bit directly on the bolt and undo it by hand but that's because I did not over-tighten it last time. What you may need to do is connect the E8 bit on the end of the spinner handle ( I googled the name, see image its the thingy with the handle) .
You can see the from the image below where the handle is, its a bit of a tight fit.
You may even need a ratchet to put on top of the handle if you cannot get any force or traction
Let me know if you want better pictures I just wrote this post quickly.
