HELP! Dead Car.

[Chrishazle]

The S204 C220, key in ignition and dashboard lights up, turn key and nothing happens. Same with both keys, thought it might be her key which has not been used for quite a while, but tried my key - which worked perfectly yesterday, no difference.

Car was used yesterday for a decent run, parked up about 2.30pm after the 25 minute drive home from the pub.

Where do I start looking?

 

[Tony Dyson]

Battery!

 

[Chrishazle]

It's less than a year old, mad rush as wife had Dr appointment so quickly got the SLK out, will put the charger on her when I get wife home from Dr. I came home to close garage, must run back now to collect her.

 

[D5meister]

Battery terminal or terminals dry/not tight.

 

[Chrishazle]

Home now, time to get the battery charger connected.

Funnily enough, I bought a battery condition tester from Lidl last week as it might come in handy some time!! It's showing my battery at 1/2 charge!! Connected the charger, immediately showing 10 amps. I know MB's are temperamental about low battery voltage so maybe tha's the problem, and a few hours on the charger will sort it. don't want to use the charger's boost start facility in case I fry some of the fancy electrics in the car!

 

[Wighty]

Would moving the gearbox out of P and back into P again help ?

 

[Chrishazle]

Can't move the gearstick! See edited post above, looks like it's a low battery problem.

 

[Rory]

I had the same fault when test driving a brand new S203. Locked and unlocked the car and it was fine.

Not sure what the usual failure mode is, but isn't the EIS (electronic ignition switch) a known iffy thing on '204s?

 

[Chrishazle]

I've locked and unlocked the car a few times, as well as opening and closing the boot, not made any difference. Luckily been able to close the boot over the cable feeding the charger, so leaving it for some hours to see what happens - have to take SWMBO to the hospital for an X ray!

An hour or so back the charger was still pulling 5 amps, the battery condition tester (charger off) showed fully charged but still no joy trying to start - turn the key and nothing happens, even Comand does not open at position 1, no lights (auto headlights) at position 2 and nothing from the starter motor. Suspect it may be calling my breakdown company tomorrow as we have Home Start, with the added amusement that SWMBO wants a supermarket run tomorrow which will be fun in the SLK (rather less boot space than the S204!!).

 

[LostKiwi]

Sounds like a bad EIS.

 

[Chrishazle]

Decided to try the car before we took off at 2.30, key to pos 1, Comand etc all fired up, key to pos 3 and car started! Switched off and left the charger connected until we got home, then swopped the charger for my new Lidl conditioner and will leave that overnight to get the battery back to full charge.

If it is a dodgy EIS, what's involved in changing it for a new one? I did a quick search on here for EIS and W/S204 EIS and found nothing useful!

 

[Chrishazle]

A search on t'other side flagged the possibility of it being the ESL rather than the EIS, but I haven't tried the steering to see if it's locking and unlocking - and it's hissing down now so that can wait for tomorrow! If either/both are dodgy looks like a hafty bill to replace, assuming I can find someone local other than MB Ashford to do the job!

 

[fabes]

@alexanderfoti
He's in Sevenoaks I recall?

Message him on here

 

[Chrishazle]

Paddock Wood IIRC, not too bad assuming the car is driveable....Which car will I use for the supermarket run tomorrow morning, we'll see!!

 

[vtaylor78]

Paddock Wood IIRC, not too bad assuming the car is driveable....Which car will I use for the supermarket run tomorrow morning, we'll see!!

If it’s the SLK, it won’t be “A Big Shop”

 

[Chrishazle]

Well, hopefully the time on the battery charger and about 16 hours on the conditioner has done the trick. Car started OK just now, steering is unlocked, conditioner showing battery fully charged and tester showing the same, also showing charging function OK with engine running. Supermarket is only 8 miles away so won't be a long run today, hope I don't have any more fun with the car!!

Only slight concern is that I did not hear the steering lock disengage when I turned the key - or when I turned the engine off. Engine running I turned the wheels to confirm steering was unlocked, that worked OK, don't know if I should hear the steering lock or unlock and despite owning the car for 8 years can't remember if I've heard anything before!!

Thanks for the help folks - the forum wins again!! (fingers etc crossed!!).

 

[Tony Dyson]

Good news and I hope that's an end to it but I would be wondering what caused the sudden discharge of a healthy battery initially, perhaps worth a once over as Post No 4 suggests, look for heat damage, poor connections at the battery and Pre-Fuse box?

 

[Chrishazle]

Thanks Tony - I'm hoping it's simply that through little use, despite the decent run on Sunday, it was just the battery voltage being a little low - it's a 100AH Yuasa installed less than a year ago - see my post about Halfords connecting a small battery to the OBD port while changing the main battery and causing problems that cost them £174!! The other possibility seems to be the EIS/ESL playing up - maybe it's voltage sensitive. We'll see what happens today and onward!

 

[alexanderfoti]

Does sound like ESL potentially. When you insert the key into the dash, you will hear the motor noise for 1 second or so. If you don't hear the motor runs then that is likely the cause.

 

[Chrishazle]

Well, I can't say I hear a motor run (will listen carefully next time I put the key in the ignition), but the car has been fine this afternoon - 4 relativly short runs, so 4 starts and shut downs, no sign of the steering locking so maybe as Alex says the ELS has failed, luckily in the unlocked position - but all appears normal!