2001 ml270 starting issues (my experiences)

[jay1983]

hi every1,
after doing my introduction i am now going to tell you my story.

ive purchased my 1st merc and have had a few issues in the 6 weeks ive owned it.

first was the AAM replacement, this was done by mercedes benz stockport, for the grand total of £430 (part and labour) Finally i had central locking and alarm. plus all the other things the AAM controls!!

Next was the AUX/serpentine belt. this was looking a bit shoddy and gave me no confidence at all. so purchased new 1 from ECP £28 and fitted myself. now i have a noisy tensioner so thats the next job.

at the moment the car is in SPR Autos Stockport, with starting problems. it turns over but doesnt kick. when its running however it is perfectly fine, apart from the 3 times it has gone into limp mode!!!!!
no idea how much this is going to cost me lol.

next up is new tensioner, waterpump and thermostat which i am going to replace myself.

couple of niggling problems however........

engine coolant light is on all the time, ive been told it could be the 75 amp fuse on battery terminal, ive checked this and it looks ok but the solid metal fuse part does not touch the metal on the 3 wires that it connects to? (if that makes sense) could this be the problem?

plus the car never gets above 80 degrees when its idle it wont go above 40 (and the fan doesnt come on) is this normal? if not will the thermostat fix this?

any input appreciated and i will keep this updated as the problems get solved to help others (hopefully)

 

[gtvlusso]

Needs a new thermostat - should be at about 87 deg normally. Limp mode may be MAF sensor - about £60 and 10 mins to replace.

 

[jay1983]

thats what i sort of expected the maf.
itll be put on STAR so it could throw up that.

ive changed from BMW to MB so the layouts of the engines are pretty similar. and so are some of the faults lol.

ill defo change the thermostat tho

 

[jay1983]

Quick update......

Dropped into SPR Autos yesterday to see what the diagnosis was.
Turns out there was air in the fuel lines. So seals have been replaced and new fuel filter fitted. Now it's just a waiting game to see if the air returns.

Turns out there is an open circuit on my fan as my coolant light was on. So the 75 amp fuse on battery is bein replaced. Also an oil change is bein done.

All bein well I shud have her back on Monday

 

[jay1983]

Picked up car today.

Starts fine now, let's hope it continues. Coolant light on dash has been extinguished at last. Seems like the 75 amp fuse on battery does affect it. Also the heated seats work now, so if any1 has problems with fan, coolant light or heated seats, it is definatley worth checking that fuse and even if you are unsure it's only £5 from Mercedes.
Oil has been changed and running 5/30 fully synthetic 229.51 spec.

Total price for all work carried out was £182.52. Cheers to all the guys at SPR Autos.

Car is however a bit smokey when first started. Seems to disappear after a few miles.
Could this be cos its fresh oil, or the fact it hasn't been driven properly in over a week?

 

[topdown]

Smoking can be the MAF....Mine started with a little smoke at start....this then became lots of black smoke at kickdown.then the kick down was intermittent....occasional limp mode. changed the MAF and it was like night and day.