I have a 96' S420 w/ about 127,000miles on it. Recently the car has been acting a little funny. When backing down my driveway, which has an incline of about 20 degrees, the motor completely shut off and i lost steering etc. This has happened a couple of times. I took it to my local dealership in Bethesda, MD and they told me that I had a problem w. one of my sensors. They replace the crank position sensor and the relay. I drove it home w. no problems. After being parked forwards in the driveway for about 2 hours, I tried to start it, and was unable to start it at all. I tried a couple more time and was still unable to get it going. It was cranking but not turning over. I then tried starting it in N and was able to get it going after 2 tries. I again had trouble backing up the driveway. It shut off twice. I eventually got it out of the driveway after changing it into R and quicking accelerating. I drove it a local shop that said that they wouldn't be able to do anything until monday (this was on a saturday). When driving home in my neighborhood, which has some relatively steep hills, the motor shut off agian and I once agian lost power steering going about 30mph. Having driven cars w.o power steering, such as the DeLorean, I had no trouble driving to the bottom of the hill where I started it back up again. It has now been sitting in the driveway for about a day until tomorrow were I will try to make the possibly lethal trip to the dealership, which requires me to drive on the DC beltway.
I have a 96' S420 w/ about 127,000miles on it. Recently the car has been acting a little funny. When backing down my driveway, which has an incline of about 20 degrees, the motor completely shut off and i lost steering etc. This has happened a couple of times. I took it to my local dealership in Bethesda, MD and they told me that I had a problem w. one of my sensors. They replace the crank position sensor and the relay. I drove it home w. no problems. After being parked forwards in the driveway for about 2 hours, I tried to start it, and was unable to start it at all. I tried a couple more time and was still unable to get it going. It was cranking but not turning over. I then tried starting it in N and was able to get it going after 2 tries. I again had trouble backing up the driveway. It shut off twice. I eventually got it out of the driveway after changing it into R and quicking accelerating. I drove it a local shop that said that they wouldn't be able to do anything until monday (this was on a saturday). When driving home in my neighborhood, which has some relatively steep hills, the motor shut off agian and I once agian lost power steering going about 30mph. Having driven cars w.o power steering, such as the DeLorean, I had no trouble driving to the bottom of the hill where I started it back up again. It has now been sitting in the driveway for about a day until tomorrow were I will try to make the possibly lethal trip to the dealership, which requires me to drive on the DC beltway.
Any possible answers to my problems?
when you say, "cranking but not turning over", I immediately suspect you have a battery /charging system problem. I would test the battery and alternator to make sure they are both up to scratch.
Barry
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BECAUSE SIZE REALY DOES MATTER, W140
Thats what I thought and when I took it to the dealership they had the same problem and checked the battery and the replaced the harness. I'm taking it in agian today. Hopefully they won't miss it again, since they come highly recommended.
Did you say you replaced the engine wire harness? It would have been an expensive fix at the dealer. Or did you replace battery connecting wires? I am curious because my S500 will run smooth then miss and vibrate...Then it will go away. This only happens when I am stopped with the car in gear....I am going to begin with the ignition componants and work my way to the engine wire harness. All of the ignition pieces are original, 85k on the car now, so it is time.
The dealership is replacing the engine wire harness ($2000). They are paying for it because the car has gotten worse since they recieved it, as in it stalled out 6 times while i was trying to drive it back home. Before I took it to them, It would only do it will i was moving slowly in reverse and now it shuts off while driving at 45mph!
Let me know what happens when the harness is replaced. I do not have the same problems, but the symptoms are very similar...In my mind I know it is harness related, and I will replace it my self. It is not at all difficult, and the price of a new harness is ~$600......
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