108 Cdi starting issue

[James180]

hello all new forum member and new vito owner and already a problem! Hopefully not the first of many haha
anyway onto problem i recently purchased a 2001 mercedes vito 108cdi 80,000 miles really tidy bodywork service history ect all in good nick, with plans to convert into a dayvan/camper family project.
over the last month it struggled to start due to standing and battery went flat as t was cranking.
I took the battery off to charge,gave it a full charge and a drop test to make sure it was ok.
Put battery back on and now nothing no crank at all? can just hear the starter relay click and nothing? Checked all fuses,starter relay,starter motor and ran a diagnostic all ok? No errors on dash.
Anyone else aware of what this problem could be? So frustrating and not got any spare funds to take anyware any help really appreciated. Cheers

 

[StMarks]

As it sounds like you are confident in the battery ( 100% symptomatic of a dead battery) I would thoroughly check the battery terminals & earth straps.
If that all seems sound, perhaps the starter motor itself could be siezed/stuck.? (if the battery had been to flat to spin the engine before, but had enough to throw the starter pinion out to the flywheel & jam it there). If that was the case, putting the vehicle in gear & rocking it may release the pinion.

Frankly I would be putting a pair of jump leads onto another vehicle before I spent too much time investigating.

Good luck (& welcome from a fellow beleaguered Vitow owner).

 

[James180]

Hi thanks for the welcome.
Checked battery and tried 2 different batteries that i know are ok, checked starter motor and thats fine.
Van still will not crank you can just hear the starter relay click but starter motor does not ingage. Any Ideas? As all thats been done isnthe bettery ran out then re charged and now nothing? I did crank until battery ran out could i have blew something else?
Any help really appreciated.
Cheers

 

[StMarks]

... I did crank until battery ran out could i have blew something else? ...

Continuously cranking can draw so much current from the battery that the plates warp rendering it dead.
Obviously the starter motor itself can burn out if run for too long, but I personally would expect the battery to fail first.

Sorry I can't be of more help.