C220CDI Starting Problem

[kevinchard]

My low mileage C220CDI (30K miles) is 6 years old, serviced privately on time (3 times) by a reliable mechanic using genuine parts gave no problems until yesterday. The car is parked in a garage and yesterday morning started ok but then I stalled it reversing. After that not able to start the car. The key fob works ok. The ignition switch recognise the key and all the dash lights come on including the preglow light but key on position 3 ignition switch is not firing.There is a clicking noise in the background coming from the on board computer I presume but not 100% sure. Any suggestions please on how to trouble shoot "step by step" in order to identify the fault and fix the problem without having to go to Merc garage?

Same symptom when tried to jump start, so the battery is not suspect.

It is a WDC203 model, came out of the factory in South Africa in Dec 2001,
personally imported to UK via Mecercede-Benz Hamburg, Germany.

Kevin

 

[kevinchard]

My low mileage C220CDI (30K miles) is 6 years old, serviced privately on time (3 times) by a reliable mechanic using genuine parts gave no problems until yesterday. The car is parked in a garage and yesterday morning started ok but then I stalled it reversing. After that not able to start the car. The key fob works ok. The ignition switch recognise the key and all the dash lights come on including the preglow light but key on position 3 ignition switch is not firing.There is a clicking noise in the background coming from the on board computer I presume but not 100% sure. Any suggestions please on how to trouble shoot "step by step" in order to identify the fault and fix the problem without having to go to Merc garage?

Same symptom when tried to jump start, so the battery is not suspect.

It is a WDC203 model, came out of the factory in South Africa in Dec 2001,
personally imported to UK via Mecercede-Benz Hamburg, Germany.

Kevin

Anybody out there? Please help!

 

[dragon]

Get it diagnosed, the quickest way to find the symptoms.

 

[television]

I will see what I have on this in an hour or two.

 

[television]

Kevin,,try fuse 52 its a 50 amp fuse in the front module box

Fuse 53 is the starter fuse for diesel engines

 

[colechelle]

Starter i would say, seen loads of them!!

 

[kevinchard]

Okay thanks Malcolm & Cole for the infor. I'll check the fuse tomorrow.

Kevin

 

[kevinchard]

Checked the fuses and they are okay. So I called my breakdown service. They tried the jump leads with one battery did not work. Then they tried with two batteries and the car started okay. Took the car for a drive to charge up the battery but travelled three miles only and turned back because of faults display on dash. There are now four faults:
Battery/Alternator visit work shop
Light Sensor visit work shop
Electronic Stability Program ESP not available
Brake Assist BAS not available.

I think all the lights were flashing on and off at times during the Light Senor Fault message on dash board.

Battery is now flat so I need to buy a new battery. I checked with Mercedes and my car not affected by the battery fault re-call.
Anybody knows what to do to do to reset the above faults once the battery is renewed?

 

[colechelle]

ESP and BAS turn lock to lock twice and re-start, light sensor poss due to voltage, alternator on poss due to jump-starting has fryed the reg in the alternator!!!!

 

[television]

Fit the new battery and see what happens,as Colechelle,the ESP lamp means nothing, and easy

 

[kevinchard]

The battery renewed and the car is okay after resetting ESP, BAS faults. During the battery change I had a standby battery connected to +ve and earth terminals. However the the +ve supply croc clip got knocked off when the old battery was removed from the car because of the, weight. size and the location of the battery. So I carried on and fitted the new battery without any standby power. To my suprise the radio. clock, etc were not affected and did not have to be reset or reprogrammed except for having to reset the above faults by applying full sterring lock left & right couple of times. The old battery appears to be ok and fully charged. So I am not sure if the problem was actually sorted by battery renewal or just power off & on during battery change which might have reset the electronics! With more and more computerised electronics is this a software lock up problem similar a computer? Because the battery is so heavy and its position on the car I have not botherd to try out the old battery again to see if it will work.
By the way thank you very much for all the helpful contributions.

Kevin