OK I'm Back!! Weeks of trouble free starting and out of the blue last night it happened again. My wife left work, drove about 8 blocks, went into a store for about 10 minutes, came out and NO Start. Left if for 30 minutes and still no start.
Left it overnight and it started right up this morning.
2 things I know it is NOT. 1 - the ignition switch, 2 - the alarm module.

Do anyone know what is in the starting circuit that will give these symptoms: It is very intermittent as to when it occurs, Nothing seems to fix it other that just waiting. This symptom keeps brings me back to some electrical component??, I just dont know the MB system well enough to venture another guess.

Any further help????

 

Can you tell me how to remove the sidekick panel??
The problem continues and I think if I can bypass K38/3 this will solve the problem.
Thanks

 

Finally!! 6 months later. I finally figured out the sequence of the "no start" condition. Drive vehicle until it gets warm, park it for 15 to 30 minutes and "intermittently" it will not start. Leave it for at least an hour and it starts right up.
Took it back to MB dealer and explained the no start sequence. They agreed to take the vehicle and let their lead mechanic drive it until it failed. Well two days later, it failed. It has been determined the starter relay was the culprit.
We get the car back tomorrow so time will tell.

 

At last you've figured it out. I actually encountered the same problem before but the culprit was actually the radiator, so I replaced it with a new one. I've just read your post so I was not able to give you that suggestion.

 

All was not well!!!! A week after we got the vehicle back, the same problem occured. So much for MB dealers quote "It it malfunctions when it is here we can fix it". It would seem that an educated guess was done rather than an actual analysis when the failure occurred.
The dealer agreed to take the vehicle and have a mechanic?? drive it until it fails so they can hopefully?? fix this problem once and for all.
Time will tell

 

Hi. I wondered if you were ever able to fix this problem.

I have a 1999 C230 Kompressor. It started what sounds like a similar problem about two years ago. The initial pattern was that it would not start in cold damp weather (key would not turn, but various electrical items would or would not work). When I get it started, sometimes the turn signal and windshield wipers won't work (or suddenly start to work as I drive for a little while.) As long as I kept the car in the garage overnight, it would be okay. If I left it outside and it rained and was cold, it would have the starting problem.

Now it also seems to be cold and dry that bothers it. I had it in the garage yesterday, but the temp got down to low 30s. It would not start all day. Today it got to 40 degrees and I could get the windows and locks to work by using the manual key in the trunk lock. When it got to 45 degrees, it started right up - as if it never had a problem.

Mercedes is stumped and are suggesting the same thing. Bring it here and we will figure out what the problem is. But they have tried to before and failed. So far we have only replaced the battery and I haven't let them start replacing everything, since they don't really know what the problem is, but I am thinking that if I don't, I'll never get the problem fixed.

If you finally got yours fixed, I would love to know how!

Thanks

 

Hi,
My 1998 C230 is doing the same thing - did you ever find the root cause ? I am terrified to take this to the dealer after reading about your experiences

 

At first, they replaced the battery and they were confident that this solved the problem. I was not, and it did not.

I brought the car in again 2 days later, and reiterated the problems with the wipers, turn signals and windows. (miraculaously it started but nothing else worked). One of the things that I noticed was that the wipers and blinkers wouldn't work until I dropped my son off at school and he slammed the door. Right after that, everything would start working. This strengthened my feelings that it was something in the circuits in the front of the car.

They practically took apart the whole front part of the interior but finally found the problem!!! In short, there is a connector that controls the electric for these items. One of the pins from the connector was broken off in the female part of the connector. Thus, when it contracted in the cold, it "disconnected". As it warmed up and expanded or was "wiggled", it made the connection.

Pardon some of the gibberish, but I am going to copy what they wrote on the invoice:

Broken circuit 30 pin in connector x26/23 CP 4.0 tech 204.
Short test found codes P1603 and P1570 in the ME control unit, indicating CAN communication error and start enable not sent. ....found connector s26/23 under the passenger rt front carpet to cause the blinkers to be intermittent when wiggled. Disconnected connector and found the female end (I assume he actually meant male end) broken inside the connector for the circuit 30 power that goes up to the EIS. it goes on to say that he rewired the three circuits with new connectors. So I think I have 4 connectors under the floor instead of one. I am not sure why they did it this way, but it works.

The part # was: 001-546-99-41 Cable Connector. The total for the 3 connectors was $15.84. The labor was substantially higher than that.

I tried to tell them several times that I thought the problem was with some connection in the front of the car, but no mechanic has ever listened to a woman...

 

I'm having the exact same problem with my E-430, one minute it starts the other it will take 5 to 20 trys to get it going....kind of embaressing when peoople are around.
I hope somebody can explain this, I dont mind spending the money if it will fix the problem...but I've had a few bad expirences with the dealer,

 

I have the same intermittant starting problem as JOHNG and RICARDO.

I have a 1998 430E, and the problem has also stumped every dealership that has attempted to fix the problem. Each time, after replacing the battery, then the starter, the problem resumed.

Sometimes, it happens after leaving the car for as little as 15-30 minutes. Other times, it might be starting up in the morning.

If anyone has actually found the root problem, or better yet a solution, please post.

Thanks