W202 C180 No spark & No injection

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Kurrukas

New Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2019
Messages
10
Location
Estonia
Car
Mercedes benz C180 1997
Hello everyone!
I'm currently in the process of trying to revive a C180 that's been sitting below an old oak for the better part of a decade.

The parts that I have tested and am pretty sure that aren't faulty:
1) Fuel pump and fuel filter.
2) Air intake.
3) Over voltage protection relay.
4) The immobiliser.


Now the parts that are wrong with the car:
1) No spark at the leads.
2) No fuel injection ( fuel is reaching the common rail though)
3) Fuel pump won't stop priming the system when the ignition is set to its secondary position.
4) The car is in a no start condition.

Things i can't check:
1) The ECU.
2) The Crankshaft position sensor, since it is stuck in there real good at an awkward angle ( it is also the rat tail kind with no electrical connector and just a lead running to the ECU).

Any input at all would be greatly appreciated!
 
After that length of time I'd be very surprised if most of the electrical connectors, fuses, relays etc aren't corroded, not to mention the chances of some rodents munching their way through the wiring.
Start checking through anything that you see.
Good luck.
 
After its midlife facelift the W202 electronics/wiring was upgraded inline with its larger brother the W210 E class. The early cars had relatively simple electrical equipment but the upgrade saw the introduction of the CANBUS system where many of the cars electrical control units talk to each other via a network. This makes fault finding difficult without the correct equipment and odd faults can occur e.g. if the system monitoring the doors is faulty and signals a door is open [even if its not] then the car may not start. A favorite problem is the gear selector unit which won't permit starting unless the engine electronics gets the signal the car is in park or neutral. For a car that's been parked up for almost a decade is very likely that originally happened because of some electrical fault which was never repaired for reasons of complexity or expense.
 
After that length of time I'd be very surprised if most of the electrical connectors, fuses, relays etc aren't corroded, not to mention the chances of some rodents munching their way through the wiring.
Start checking through anything that you see.
Good luck.
Hi!
I forgot to mention in my post that i had already checked all of the preliminary parts (fuses, relays , connectors and such) and to be fair most of the wires look quite good as well, considering the condition the car's in. Although what I haven't gotten around to is checking the wires that run through the back of the engine/firewall, since access to that is limited to say the least. I haven't really seen too many of the nasty green boogers either, that usually plague old copper wires.
Thanks for the input!
 
Is there a PMS unit under the windscreen washer reservoir?
 
After that length of time I'd be very surprised if most of the electrical connectors, fuses, relays etc aren't corroded, not to mention the chances of some rodents munching their way through the wiring.
Start checking through anything that you see.
Good luck.
Hi!
I forgot to mention in my post that i had already checked all of the preliminary parts (fuses, relays , connectors and such) and to be fair most of the wires look quite good as well, considering the condition the car's in. Although what I haven't gotten around to is checking the wires that run through the back of the engine/firewall, since access to that is limited to say the least. I haven't really seen too many of the nasty green boogers either, that usually plague old copper wires.
Thanks for the input!
After its midlife facelift the W202 electronics/wiring was upgraded inline with its larger brother the W210 E class. The early cars had relatively simple electrical equipment but the upgrade saw the introduction of the CANBUS system where many of the cars electrical control units talk to each other via a network. This makes fault finding difficult without the correct equipment and odd faults can occur e.g. if the system monitoring the doors is faulty and signals a door is open [even if its not] then the car may not start. A favorite problem is the gear selector unit which won't permit starting unless the engine electronics gets the signal the car is in park or neutral. For a car that's been parked up for almost a decade is very likely that originally happened because of some electrical fault which was never repaired for reasons of complexity or expense.
After its midlife facelift the W202 electronics/wiring was upgraded inline with its larger brother the W210 E class. The early cars had relatively simple electrical equipment but the upgrade saw the introduction of the CANBUS system where many of the cars electrical control units talk to each other via a network. This makes fault finding difficult without the correct equipment and odd faults can occur e.g. if the system monitoring the doors is faulty and signals a door is open [even if its not] then the car may not start. A favorite problem is the gear selector unit which won't permit starting unless the engine electronics gets the signal the car is in park or neutral. For a car that's been parked up for almost a decade is very likely that originally happened because of some electrical fault which was never repaired for reasons of complexity or expense.
Hey grober!

I'm pretty sure that the car is a type W202, not entirely, but quite. It's also got a manual gearbox instead of the more common automatic gearbox. It's also got the red and green flashing lights on the driver's side door and on the rear view mirror, hope that out. I'm fairly new to the MB lineup and don't yet know all the models and their respective production years by heart.

Cheers!
 
Is there a PMS unit under the windscreen washer reservoir?
To be honest with you, i'm not sure, i'll be back at my garage in a little while. I'm pretty sure that the car's just got an ecu with one large connector running to it.
 
Is there a PMS unit under the windscreen washer reservoir?
Not by 97 I don't think- all migrated to HFM rather than PMS by that time??I could be wrong :oops:
OP sorry I confused you- you will have a w202 BUT with the same electronics as the w210 larger model
 
Here are a few images of various parts of the engine bay.

view

The crankshaft position sensor

view

Here's what the ECU area looks like

view

The engine in all her glory

view

Lastly a wideshot of the whole thing.
 
Looks like i'm unable to open the images on my phone, perhaps i added them incorrectly.
 
Not by 97 I don't think- all migrated to HFM rather than PMS by that time??I could be wrong :oops:
OP sorry I confused you- you will have a w202 BUT with the same electronics as the w210 larger model
It does have a circular port by the ECU, looks like a diagnostics port to me.
 
Couple of points that may or may not be of use.
Crank position sensors tend to fail when hot - I wouldn't put it at the top of the list for checking yet.
When you get spark - remember to get some fresh fuel if its reluctant to start.
 
Couple of points that may or may not be of use.
Crank position sensors tend to fail when hot - I wouldn't put it at the top of the list for checking yet.
When you get spark - remember to get some fresh fuel if its reluctant to start.
Yup, i put about 5 liters of 98 octane petrol in her. What i am puzzled about though is what could cause the fuel pump to keep priming and the no spark/injection condition. I don't even have an electrical diagram and to check physically where each wire leads to would be a serious undertaking to say the least.

Thanks anyway!
 
On more recent cars the ECU will shut the fuel pump down when the pressure is at a certain level and I'd guess if it continued to run the pressure regulator would merely return the excess fuel back to the tank.
Maybe the regulator is stuck open and the system in't quite reaching cut-off pressure. An external leak doing the same would be obvious.

A pump should also be shut down in a no run situation - but that would be an engine first running then not. Not on start up though.
 
Okay so i'm not going to be able to work on the car for a little while. When i do get back at it, i'll keep your recommendations in mind.

Big thanks to everyone who bothered to help!
 

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