Don Black
New Member
Hi,Guys bought my1998 SLK about 8 months ago on the odd occasion when starting the ignition key would not turn past position 2, returning it to position 0 and starting process again it would start, 4 mouths ago it got worse on starting when holding in position 3 the engine just turn over and over, you could even take your hand of the key and it would carry on turning for about 2 or 3 more turns,I would repeat process again and again but to no aval,when doing this you could not smell petrol as if engine was flooded and there was always strong power from battery ,on leaving for about 1-4 hours it would start, with it being unreliable I took it to mercedes specialist they carried out a diagnostic on the SLK and told me it could be key barrell and swhich, starter motor or ECU,out of the three of them they thought it would be the key barrell and switch which I had fitted by them.
Two weeks later I was about to start off from a city car park the SLK would not start even after a long period of time,so car had to be towed away,the guy who did the recovery said could he have a go at solving problem so I let him,he had the car for a week trying to get it to fault out on starting but it would not fault out his opinion was the starter motor so I told him to fit a new one.
Four weeks ago same problem took it to same Mercedes specialist they again put it on diognostic merchine all codes were coming up OK said could they have it the car for a week to get it to fault out and to cheek every thing over like electrics and fuel pressure,I agreed to this,3 hours later that day at work would not start,when I went to go home it started so the next day took it to mercedes specialist and let them have the car for a week, at the end of week they phone me to say it was the battery so they replaced it + replaced battery tray that had corroded,the next day car would not start so I phoned the Mercedes specialist they said could they have the car for another week saying it could be a fuel problem ,end of another week they said strong possibility that it was a relay, that on eary SLKs had relays from E classes which were known to be faulty so they replaced it, thought that was the end of it but guess what it's still doing it .
The faulty starting do's not follow a patten it can happen at anytime, very strange.
I just don't know what to do it's so unreliable and I don't really want to spend more money on the car,spent £1200 on it already can some one help.
Two weeks later I was about to start off from a city car park the SLK would not start even after a long period of time,so car had to be towed away,the guy who did the recovery said could he have a go at solving problem so I let him,he had the car for a week trying to get it to fault out on starting but it would not fault out his opinion was the starter motor so I told him to fit a new one.
Four weeks ago same problem took it to same Mercedes specialist they again put it on diognostic merchine all codes were coming up OK said could they have it the car for a week to get it to fault out and to cheek every thing over like electrics and fuel pressure,I agreed to this,3 hours later that day at work would not start,when I went to go home it started so the next day took it to mercedes specialist and let them have the car for a week, at the end of week they phone me to say it was the battery so they replaced it + replaced battery tray that had corroded,the next day car would not start so I phoned the Mercedes specialist they said could they have the car for another week saying it could be a fuel problem ,end of another week they said strong possibility that it was a relay, that on eary SLKs had relays from E classes which were known to be faulty so they replaced it, thought that was the end of it but guess what it's still doing it .
The faulty starting do's not follow a patten it can happen at anytime, very strange.
I just don't know what to do it's so unreliable and I don't really want to spend more money on the car,spent £1200 on it already can some one help.
