I have a 2004 Mercedes E240 Saloon (Petrol, Automatic) with 78,000 miles that I've owned since 20,000 miles. Yesterday the engine cut out at traffic lights. The yellow 'engine fault' light went on, but the console showed no malfunction. The engine turned, but would not fire. Ten minutes later, the car started fine, only to cut out again as I did a left hand turn into my road. Same symptoms. A few minutes later the car started, and cut out as I slowed to reverse. After one more repetition, I got it into a parking space.
Recently in the mornings I have sometimes seen the warning that convenience functions are disabled to protect the battery (for a few seconds) while starting. The night before the cut-outs, the interior lights would not turn off as I drove the car away from parked (although after stopping, locking and re-opening, all was fine). The car has never had any mechanical problem and its only previous electrical problem was a malfunctioning sunroof motor after I flattened the battery about 3 years ago (for which my local Mercedes franchise quoted £700 for a motor replacement, and which I fixed by googling for the reset procedure!).
(Actually - Just remembered - about 2 years ago at around 60,000 miles, the car did something similar as I was in a queue to leave a car park. Embarrasing, but after a couple of minutes, all well. Never repeated until yesterday. Also, I half-filled the tank with 97 octane fuel at a garage I never normally use the previous evening, 5 miles before the symptoms started. )
Recently in the mornings I have sometimes seen the warning that convenience functions are disabled to protect the battery (for a few seconds) while starting. The night before the cut-outs, the interior lights would not turn off as I drove the car away from parked (although after stopping, locking and re-opening, all was fine). The car has never had any mechanical problem and its only previous electrical problem was a malfunctioning sunroof motor after I flattened the battery about 3 years ago (for which my local Mercedes franchise quoted £700 for a motor replacement, and which I fixed by googling for the reset procedure!).
(Actually - Just remembered - about 2 years ago at around 60,000 miles, the car did something similar as I was in a queue to leave a car park. Embarrasing, but after a couple of minutes, all well. Never repeated until yesterday. Also, I half-filled the tank with 97 octane fuel at a garage I never normally use the previous evening, 5 miles before the symptoms started. )
