Cutting out at lights

[Orlando]

Hi everyone. I wonder if anyone out there can advise me? And sorry, this is a bit long...

Car: C240, about 114K. No real problems until recently.

Car runs fine at speed, but sometimes, when I'm in a queue at the lights, the engine will just stop. All dash lights on, no engine. And then it won't start. If you leave it about 20 minutes, it starts OK, no more problems maybe for a week or more. Then it does it again. On rare occasions, it will cut out when I'm parking it after a drive of 30 miles or so, and won't restart until it's had a 'rest'. This doesn't seem to happen when it's cold.

Yesterday it cut out in a queue in the M1. Traffic started moving, and I was stranded in the middle lane (scary). Some good Samaritans rescued me (thanks guys) and pushed me to the hard shoulder. After a short rest, off it went again. I carried on, this time off motorway, but it then failed again at some traffic lights. I called the AA and guess what it started fine when the guy got there, running very sweetly. He told me I'd got an 'intermittent fault' that would need heavy dianostics to sort out. He was right - within 300 yards it failed again. This time I had to be recovered - but by the time the recovery truck got there, it could be driven on to the platform! And on getting home, it could be driven off and parked. I'd have taken it to a MB agent in the first place, but they were all closed by that time.

About a month ago the throttle control unit was changed, and this improved the car's driving and the problem subsided. But clearly it's come back. It's been to my local specialist several times, and they can't diagnose a problem with their software (I don't think its the most advance MB software), so I think I'm stuck now. I think it's too risky to drive, since it has now failed 3 times in about 100 miles or so. Looks like a main dealer (at vast expense I guess). I suppose they can come and pick it up (again, vast expense) - anyone any experience of this?

Can anyone out there give me a clue as to what the fault might be (and what the dealer might charge). It will have to be done, but I wonder if I'll need to take out a second mortgage!

My car was registered in April 1998, so it's not covered by Mobilolife unfortuantely.

Many thanks...

Richard

 

[watsone91]

cutting out

Looks like a heat related fault Orlando had the same prob on a nissan cherry turbo would run for days then cut out for no reason i changed every thing but it kept cutting out after a year i gave up and advertised in the fast car mag ,then i got a call from a parts manager in Newcastle he knew what was wrong and he fixed it in two days .
The problem was the distributor he said Nissan knew about this but wouldnt admit to it.

Inside the distributor the tdc sensor is located it electronic and sensitive to heat its encased in a plastic type of material and after some time it breaks down, cold it was ok but heated up a gap in the electronics took place .

The distributor was modified dont know how but it fixed it.

hope this helps in some way but it looks like mb will have to get involved cheers

 

[KLP 92]

I had a similar problem on a 1998 S320. After changing many parts it turned out to be something called a crankshaft sensor. Didn't come up on diagnostics though but after having it changed its run fine. It costs about £80.

 

[Clueless]

Hey, I have the same problem!

SLK 230 Kompressor, W 2000, 53000 miles, single owner.
Recurrent unheralded engine shutdowns on a dozen occasions at varying speeds with absolutely no warning & consequent loss of control since April 2004, all the lights come on & the radiator fan goes into overdrive, starts up again after 2-3 mins reported to dealer each time & car has been taken in on 4 occasions, the car being currently with them on an extended test for the past 10 days. No faults registered on any of their fancy boxes of tricks. Fully main dealer serviced appropriately. New batteries, fuel & air filters, section of wiring looms replaced etc in order to try to fix the car!
The last failure was at 80 mph on the fast lane of the M25 & I was unable to make it even to the hard shoulder, ending up precariously on the central reservation, barely out of the path of other vehicles!
What has ben extraordinary is not the fact that the fault can happen in the first place but the attitude taken by the dealership & Mercedes Benz customer service at all levels to deny entirely that there is a problem.
For the first few times the car stopped I took the dealers assurances that there were no recorded faults at face value but after I insisted that the car be fixed before I accepted it, I ended up with the dealership asking me to take my car away as it was & threatening to report me to the police as having stolen the courtesy car!
MB have been useless, rude & totally lacking in sanity, telling me that as far as they were concerned that the car was safe & refusing in any way to take responsibility for their product. Any attempts to contact other people at MB (I tried over 10 people including directors of servicing, also the UK head office at Milton Keynes & the German offices, most of whom I explained the entire story to) lead to the call being transferred to the CS desk without even an explanation & where the last person I spoke to who was apparently a manager repeating the dealers statement like a parrot & reiterating the threat to report me for theft!
Only the fact that the car has failed again twice while it is still with the dealership has stopped the police threat from happening but I would like to warn anyone even thinking about buying a Mercedes to avoid them like hell. Their cars are just too unreliable & when things do go wrong they simply do not want to know and are unpleasant & obstructive.


Ps: No, I did not scream, shout or otherwise behave unreasonably with the dealership, entire matter was dealt with over the telephone as I am currently working away. What I got were messages left on my answerphone!