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SLK230 - cranks but wont start

23K views 12 replies 11 participants last post by  Mac Damien 
#1 ·
I have a 1998 slk230 with high milage that is my teenage daughters car.
Today it wouldnt start for her when she got out of school. I put jumper cables on it and it would crank just fine, just not firing at all. Got it towed home and after a little research I discovered there was a blown fuse (#11 ignition coil voltage supply) in the fuse box on the right side by the firewall. I put a new fuse in and it cranked right up. I figured a shorted wire is what blew the fuse so I start moving wires from the coils packs (by the fuel rail) and the first wire I touched blew the fuse again, it stalled. Taking a closer look I notice the harness is routed up against a lift hook on top of the engine right before where the harness goes to the coil packs. I peeled the cloth tape back (real brittle when its 13 years old) and found a bare wire that was grounding out. improper tape job and a 20 cents fuse and we're good.
I am probably the only person this could happen to but thought I'd share anyway.

Picture #1 : Electronics Technology Electronic component Machine Electronic device

Fuse box in engine compartment, drivers side (the states) by fire wall. #11 has the fuse out in this picture - right column second down.

Picture #2 : Auto part Vehicle Wheel

Wiring harness to the coil packs by the lift hook on top of engine. It was up tight against the lift hook, this picture is after I peeled the clothtape back.

Picture #3 : Auto part Engine Vehicle Fuel line Car

A different angle of harness by fuelrail routed against lifthook to coils.

Picture #4 : Auto part Photography Wheel Metal

Bare wire -not good. I always wonder how something like this would work out at a dealership shop.
 
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#5 ·
Nice write-up pbasham! I just experienced something similar where the car just died and the Fuse #11 is blown. I poke around with the wires, replace with another fuse, get 400 feet, blown again. Replace fuse AGAIN( because I like being really, really sure :->) and it blows immediately. I am going to disassemble the whole shroud and do continuity tests, etc while I look for that short.

Do you recall if the exposed wire looked that way because of abrasion or because the insulation became brittle and just snapped off?

Will post results..

Thanks,
-Ben
 
#6 · (Edited)
Chafed wire as expected.

Following the parent post, I was doing an inspection of the wiring harness, and discovered that there was chafing a the fuel delivery tube. Re-wrapping the exposed conductor and wire harness fixed the issue. Inspecting the other wires in the harness, they did NOT appear to have any abrasion damage due to them rubbing against other wires in the harness.These cars are at an age now that issues such as wiring abrasion will be showing up(my SLK230 has 276,900 miles as of today). Lets keep the post going as to other locations wire abrasion can occur.

Good Luck!
 

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#8 ·
I know this is an old tread but wanted to say thanks to pbasham and benkokes for this lifesaver thread.

The ignition coil fuse kept blowing on ours and so I changed the coils but that didn't solve the problem. I checked the wiring and couldn't find any shorts or worn areas. Finding the problem was made harder because it could run for months without a problem then suddenly it would happen again but a new fuse would fix it. Anyway today my wife was out in the car and it happened again, I got her to change the fuse and it blew immediately so had to do some remote diagnostics.

A bit of googling found this thread, I managed to get her to move the loom from under the fuel delivery tube and this time fitting a new fuse she was able to get it started. I suspect that this is where the problem is so will have to take a closer look at that part of the loom.
 
#9 ·
As a long time gearhead with 69 -70 "muscle" cars, I thought I would try to figure out the problem with this convoluted German thing. I just got a 1999 Mercedes SLK 230 Kompressor ( 2 seater hard top convertible). I finally had to let my 2005 dodge Ram 1500 Hemi go to graveyard. The MB ran fine for a while and now its having a similar problem as many others. It will try to start but then fades away. Seems like there's no gas but I know there is gas in tank
Battery is brand new. Only through reading, I narrowed this down to two things. The first is a defective crankshaft positioning sensor. Dont really know what that it is but it seemed to solve similar problems for others. I kept reading because as I drove home that nite, I remembered that apparantly several fuses must have blown because I had no reading on the instrument cluster for speed, tach, clock,. odometer. I managed to track down the location of the two fuse boxes. I'm going to check fuses out today. Is it possible this is the problem?. It's a lot cheaper to replace and rewire fuses than having to take it 00to some PhD who can work on these German cars
It's a really cool car in great shape but it will probably cost a grand to get a diagnosis. And it sounds like I have a real similar problem
My first thoughts were that it wasn't getting any gas and i knew there was gas in tank or they were some blown fuses.
I think you said it was a #11 fuse. Make me a happy camper- a happy female camper😅😅 ?????? Thanks, Mary Ann
...



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#11 ·
I guess you're telling me that I wasted all that time reading about weird German stuff when all I need to do is hook it up to some kind
of digital reader that will reward me with codes telling me what the problem is. What fun is that?. I might have to go back to my 69 LeMans street rod that has a recognizable carburetor and other stuff you can adjust with a screw driver. OK lll hook up a digital . reader, get a cheap easy solution and spend the extra time and money on whatever Bob Dylan bootleg stuff I can find on the street. Or maybe take a class in seventeen century artwork? Hmmmmm
 
#13 ·
I have a 1998 slk230 with high milage that is my teenage daughters car.
Today it wouldnt start for her when she got out of school. I put jumper cables on it and it would crank just fine, just not firing at all. Got it towed home and after a little research I discovered there was a blown fuse (#11 ignition coil voltage supply) in the fuse box on the right side by the firewall. I put a new fuse in and it cranked right up. I figured a shorted wire is what blew the fuse so I start moving wires from the coils packs (by the fuel rail) and the first wire I touched blew the fuse again, it stalled. Taking a closer look I notice the harness is routed up against a lift hook on top of the engine right before where the harness goes to the coil packs. I peeled the cloth tape back (real brittle when its 13 years old) and found a bare wire that was grounding out. improper tape job and a 20 cents fuse and we're good.
I am probably the only person this could happen to but thought I'd share anyway.

Picture #1 : View attachment 333759
Fuse box in engine compartment, drivers side (the states) by fire wall. #11 has the fuse out in this picture - right column second down.

Picture #2 : View attachment 333760
Wiring harness to the coil packs by the lift hook on top of engine. It was up tight against the lift hook, this picture is after I peeled the clothtape back.

Picture #3 : View attachment 333761
A different angle of harness by fuelrail routed against lifthook to coils.

Picture #4 : View attachment 333762
Bare wire -not good. I always wonder how something like this would work out at a dealership shop.


Thanks bro... I stumbled upon this thread after days of research. Thought it was the crankshaft position sensor, camshaft position sensor, k40 relay, for a second I thought it was the timing chain.
Was driving late, normal, and all of a sudden my 99 all 230 just cut off.. all lights came on but didn't DNT shoot a code. Couldn't get it started I would crank but not start.. replaced a few things till I saw your post.. went out and was surprised when I noticed #11 fuse was blown. Replaced it. Car started right up, drove ten feet it died, replaced fuse again, undid wire harness.. SAME THING! taped it up. Bing bang boom it was fixed no problems.. thanks bro you saved me prob a $1000 easily in garage fees...

I did have to tow my car the first time but learned that my 2nd gen 95 ram 1500 with 68k miles can EASILY tow my 99 slk 230 with 98k miles... Had gotten a few weird looks but I made it with no problems... It's 2021
 
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