Eurotunnel Misery W169

[Goonz]

Hope somebody here can help with a real mystery....

About a month ago i purchased a W169 A-180 CDI Avantgarde from MB direct (it was an ex staff car at MBUK), for my wife, she was thrilled to bits and the car is wonderful. Just came back from a week touring around France and noticed that the drive gets a little 'snatchy' under light acceleration when climbing, guessing that the CVT bands may need an adjustment at the first service (still some thousands of miles away), but nothing too major.

However, as we get close to the UK the fun really starts...sitting on the top deck of the eurotunnel at 1.00 in the afternoon...right in the middle of the train....she wont start. !!!

The key just does nothing, wont turn in the lock, won't turn over, can't release the gears, cant turn on the radio, can't open the doors............nothing.

At this point , my apologies to all those customers stuck behind us, i realise that backing up half the length of the eurotunnel train is not your idea of fun after a 20 minute wait while the staff decided to fetch recovery...........i also realise that the 70 year old bloke in his brand new ferrari convertible that he was bringing back from modena and was parked 15 cars behind me, may not have been very confident....but the fact that he couldn't fine revers, or indeed drive in that gear, and that it took him 40 mins to reverse a hundred meters is not my fault.

Back to the story.....so the car is dead, full power from the battery, but nothing else. The red light on the key fob works, but nothing else does. It takes the recovery crew 40 mins to get us out of the train (sorry eurotunnel) and as THEY predicted, the second it is clear of the train, they turn the key and the car springs to life as if nothing had happened.............WTF is going on with this one???

Their attitude suggests it may have happened before......so has anybody come accross it before?


Any help much appreciated

 

[sym]

Sounds like an electronics issue with the steering column / DAS system not recognising the key or immobiliser not disabled for some reason ? If you get to the bottom of it, please let us know - assume you tried removing the key / re-inserting ? Seem to remember I had this a couple of times with my 202 - removing the key, locking the car, unlocking the car, and re-inserting the key usually did the trick.

S.

 

[Goonz]

Thanks for the quick reply, and yes, several of us (including some guys from the vehicles behind) all tried various combinations of lock/unlock etc with no success. The odd thing is that, this being the tunnel, we drove in, turned the car off and left it in gear, but did not remove the key from the ignition 'barrel' just as we had on the way out. The fault has not happened again (as yet) but this will bug the hell out of me.

 

[richard]

My wife has an ML - it has the older type flip key.
- One day it wouldnt work. What had happened is that a magnet from my daughters magnetic earings had attached itself to the key. And the car didnt recognise the key any more !! Until the magnet was removed.

I know that the keys are powered inductively from the ignition switch when starting. I wonder if there is a big magnetic field inside the Eurotunnel train causing hastle here (and breaking the inductive power system)

R

 

[Goonz]

Well that is my suspicion, some form of e/m field created by the massive cables used by the tunnel, but would it not be a more common failure amongst MB owners?...or is it such a freek occurance that it never gets to reach MB or indeed Eurotunnel who could then do a nice 'Please note, if you own a mercedes, take a ferry' bit on their web site.

 

[tamrsoft]

I had a similar problem on my E220 CDi (funny, it also happened after we returned from France on the ferry last year). Identical symptoms to yours, would suddenly work again and then fail until finally it failed hard and would not recover. Symptoms were, the key would not turn when inserted and so could not unlock the steering or start the car. When key was inserted, you could not hear the usual shuffling sound as the steering mechanism unlocked. The problem was the EIS, cost was around £400, if this is your problem, I hope its still under warranty. Best of luck

 

[richard]

Tamrsoft has reminded me to suggest that you hot foot it down to the Mercedes dealer explain what hapenned and ask them to read the fault codes - being a new A class, you've probably got a reasonable amount of warranty on it left, but why risk being locked out again ..
- when you go down there, take both sets of keys -

Cheers

Richard

 

[Goonz]

Thanks for the advice guys, i think a visit to MB is in order to let them have a look, i just dread getting that 'you are an idiot' look that dealers can give when you are reporting non apparent faults...

 

[GregE240]

Goonz, have you got a spare key? If so, does the fault appear with that one too?

I only ask because when I had my W210, I had a "moment" at a carpark in Heathrow with the same symptoms, and it turned out to be a dry joint in the key. I actually got through to a mechanic at Gerard Mann in Birmingham (an effort in itself) after Mobilo wanted £300 to recover me to the nearest stealer in London. The mechanic advised to shake the key around, and if the car started, to drive home and NOT stop the engine. Didn't have the spare key with me at the time, so had no choice. Sure enough, it worked.

Trip to dealer the following day with all my papers and 2 new keys ordered.

My symptoms were IDENTICAL to Tamrsofts, ony my solution was significantly cheaper.....

Best of luck mate. If it is the key, I'd barter on a replacement FOC. My key was 5 years old when it failed.

HTH,
Greg

 

[GregE240]

Just another thought.

The batteries in your key DO NOT affect the immobiliser function. They only control the remote lock/unlock functions.

 

[Satch]

"Eurotunnel's Shuttle railway engines are the most powerful in the world, equipped with 12 or 17 megawatt motors to pull their 3000 ton trains through the tunnel."

I would venture that the chances of finding a better potential source of electromagnetic interference are slim unless you park up in front of a large radar array!

The railway environment is pretty hostile in terms of EMI.

 

[Goonz]

"Eurotunnel's Shuttle railway engines are the most powerful in the world, equipped with 12 or 17 megawatt motors to pull their 3000 ton trains through the tunnel."

I would venture that the chances of finding a better potential source of electromagnetic interference are slim unless you park up in front of a large radar array!

The railway environment is pretty hostile in terms of EMI.

This sounds the most likely cause of any electrical gremlin that i can think of, on train no work, off train all work, i would love to hear from anybody else that has experienced the same problem at Eurotunnel, we could gather enough information to take the problem and anybodies associated costs to a higher body.

 

[AlecW]

Hope somebody here can help with a real mystery....

About a month ago i purchased a W169 A-180 CDI Avantgarde from MB direct (it was an ex staff car at MBUK), for my wife, she was thrilled to bits and the car is wonderful. Just came back from a week touring around France and noticed that the drive gets a little 'snatchy' under light acceleration when climbing, guessing that the CVT bands may need an adjustment at the first service (still some thousands of miles away), but nothing too major.

However, as we get close to the UK the fun really starts...sitting on the top deck of the eurotunnel at 1.00 in the afternoon...right in the middle of the train....she wont start. !!!

The key just does nothing, wont turn in the lock, won't turn over, can't release the gears, cant turn on the radio, can't open the doors............nothing.

At this point , my apologies to all those customers stuck behind us, i realise that backing up half the length of the eurotunnel train is not your idea of fun after a 20 minute wait while the staff decided to fetch recovery...........i also realise that the 70 year old bloke in his brand new ferrari convertible that he was bringing back from modena and was parked 15 cars behind me, may not have been very confident....but the fact that he couldn't fine revers, or indeed drive in that gear, and that it took him 40 mins to reverse a hundred meters is not my fault.

Back to the story.....so the car is dead, full power from the battery, but nothing else. The red light on the key fob works, but nothing else does. It takes the recovery crew 40 mins to get us out of the train (sorry eurotunnel) and as THEY predicted, the second it is clear of the train, they turn the key and the car springs to life as if nothing had happened.............WTF is going on with this one???

Their attitude suggests it may have happened before......so has anybody come accross it before?


Any help much appreciated

I have just had the same embarrassing experience with my A200CDI auto, holding up half a shuttle top deck!
Exactly the same symptoms - key won't turn, can't release the gears (auto in Park). I called the Train attendant - not a rare occurrence apparently, they called recovery, after disconnecting the battery the system re-set and the car started.

Next time I'll take my spare key. Also, this was my first time on the top deck - no problem on the lower deck.

 

[davidjpowell]

I know it's not funny and I should not laugh, but you have to admit in terms of disruption you probably have found the most effective location there is....

I have heard of locations where this can happen. I recall a former Espace not recognising the key once - the AA's first solution was to tow it to a different location to try there.

 

[BlackC55]

It happens at the workshop somtimes. With A and B-classes. I have no idea why too.

 

[Frugal]

I have twice been stuck behind a non-starter onboard ET so can confirm the frustration that your fellow passengers endured. Both times it was on the top deck and perhaps things have changed now (Ferrari issue aside) but it used to be the policy that they wouldn't let you reverse off unless it was from the bottom deck. This was one of a number of ET safety-related policies that I have never understood so I'm glad to see some progress at last.

Hope Goonz gets to the bottom of the problem here but as above it does sound electromagnetic in nature.

 

[salesac1]

Hope Goonz gets to the bottom of the problem here but as above it does sound electromagnetic in nature.

Give him a chance man - he's only had 6 years so far .

 

[RFdesigner]

I've had similar problems re: opening the car.

Some locations it's fine, long range no problems, others you have to hold the key against the car windows to get it to respond. It's all down to radio and electro-magnetic interference. I agree with other comments that railways are going to be the most horrible place on earth for EM, barring perhaps Cern!

Frankly I'd be shocked if Eurotunnel haven't concidered 'EMI' when loading and unloading, if not then it's certainly a major oversight on their part.

One question:

How far from obvious EM generators was the car on the way back?

i.e. directly over a power bogie?.. directly behind the locomotive?

Derek

 

[GordonTarling]

Simple - you've encountered a rift in the space time continuum.

 

[@MARK]

Frankly I'd be shocked if Eurotunnel haven't concidered 'EMI' when loading and unloading, if not then it's certainly a major oversight on their part.

Remember that most of those trains are around 20 years old so there is a question, did most cars have remote locking and all the electronics when ET was launched?

Going to be pretty hard to retro fit that sort of protection