Has anyone heard of a K-40 relay? I have a 1998 E-320 not 4 matic. Someone mentioned that as a possible intermittant starting problem item. It is suppose to be under the hood. Any feedback guys? Thanks, J

 

on the left side under hood toward back. cover on it remove cover and you wil see a fuse box that is your K40

 

What kind of start problems?
any codes?
Tell us the symptoms
lots of things to check before K40
ohlord

 

Thanks Ohlord,
About 6 months ago E-320/1998 ( infrared key ) would " very seldom" when going to start/crank, just make a odd sound almost reminissant of a dead battery.
( this was a very intermittent event ) say once every two weeks.I checked for codes, or pending codes. NO CODES? I carry my OBD onboard.

I replaced the CPS. Thump, no crank on key turn continued.

I took the car to my battery shop for testing, battery tested fine. I had purchased a number of items off a friends totaled/rear ,very low mileage ML320. A starter was one of the items.
My car has 140,000 miles so I switched out starters.

Car has continued to do it's thump on crank thing, expecially when it needs to be started when hot. This thump on cranking has become more prevalent. Car will do this dead battery thump song and dance say 2-3 times, then start like when it was new?
I took the old starter down to my starter shop, it tested good. He did rebuild the selonoid OEM bosch, now I have a good spare.

A neighbor ( I don't know well ) who works at our local stealerdealer ( parts dept. )suggested that when installing the CPS it should have been "tuned" to the flywheel? Then suggested the K-40 relay. My stealer friend did say it was probably NOT the EIS, since when they go they just go. He told me the EIS replacement could only be done by the dealer, because of the "little orange key" a $1,200.00 plus job. $550.00 just for the EIS.
I personally do not believe it to be the EIS.

Thanks Ohlord for any imput into this situation. -J

 

i would lube the flywheel with lube like an aniseize. if you hear a squeek or chirp when turning the key before crank you might hear that sound. common problem. check that too. dealerships should know about it.

 

Tune the cps?that's why he is in parts...
cps is a hot run problem usually.Car runs you drive car stall or you shut off and fails to start till cool.
Cam position sensor can cause problems like you state,although I may be not getting it completely.It turns over fine and does not catch or it clicks like a dead or weak battery?
Have you removed the battery cables and cleaned them?Checked the ground wire?
Someday we will have virtual garages like the holodeck that way the friendly teck from MB above post and I the backyard shadetree could solve it in a jiff
ohlord

 

Thanks Guys,
The grounding is perfect, as is the battery terminals. I will keep you posted. I will be lubing the flywheel this weekend. Yes a chirp and a click then a thug. Really weird. Will let you all know how it turns out. -J

PS Darn it how do I upload a Pic? keeps saying file is to large!- LOL! I can fix the car, but can't work the computer!

 

Open the ppicture in paint go to Image stretch skew and reduce it 50/50 then go to file and save as original file name plus an A or something so you dont modify the original then go below and check the embed pic box and the click to upload find the pic in the browse box hit upload and presto,resized pic should be on its way.See!
65% or 60% may be the largest
ohlord
need to view it larger hit the attachment message


[IMG]local://upfiles/22389/CCBF0A5F5D82423D8DE06A4EC6534DAB.jpg[/IMG]

 

you can also try... this is how i do it anyway... go to your pic than open the pic you want... then right click the pic than go to edit. than another window opens than you go to the top of the tool bar in tools or one of the options above than go to stetch and skew. and make it about 20% in both strech and skew. than save. then try to upload the pic.

 

Thanks again guys! last weekend I pulled the starter, greased the flywheel with an
anti-siez, checked the starter/selinoid connections.

Car ( keep my fingers crossed ) has not done its chirp, clank, thug thing all week!
If the issue stars again I'll ask where to go from here. Thanks again.- J