There's an electrical connection under the passenger side carpet you can use to power the car if the battery is dead. Here's a thread from someone with a similar problem:

W140 ackkkkk drunk lid - PeachParts Mercedes ShopForum

 

I have no such thing. Where exactly is it? pictures anywhere?

"passenger area carpet" is vague. I have some green wires on the right and a brown and a red wire on the left... but no connections anywhere.

 

I've never had to do it myself, but if you pull up the floor mat and carpet on the passenger side you should be able to see a large cable that supplies power to the starter motor. This cable goes straight to the battery.

If I read the diagram right, it is connected to position 4 on terminal block X4/10.

The battery is designated G1 and the starter motor is designated M1 on the diagram.

 

found the said junction box

(you have to remove the metal foot rest too)

it provides no power.ARGH


ps. yes same box. lets try it again..

 

What year is your car that you can't get into the trunk with a key?

 

the key wont turn for some bloody reason. then again, i never used the key so im not sure if its broke, stuck or related to the total loss of power.

called a dealership, got forwarded to road assistance, so they should come today and get it done. ive done everything i can short of frying something. not worth it.

i'll watch what they do and share.

 

could be you have the valet key that wont open the trunk or glovebox but will do all other things.. try another key (if you have one)

 

'i was using the master remote.

we gave it power and it was unlocked via the remote (only way to get the trunk to release). the cental locking will not be powered via the cigarette lighter.

the terminals under the passenger area carpet are a little finicky because you need to remove a lot of stuff and then very few jumper connectors will actually be small enough to clamp onto a bolt or such - these are NOT designed for that. there are no connections. just where the battery + terminates at from the trunk and then a misc ground attached to the fender for another purpose.

you need to

- remove floor matt
- remove hvac filter cover
- lift front of door sill
- maybe (you can do it without but why) remove the little carpeted section between the front of door and firewall
- lift the carpet from where it sits along the passenger foot rest area (the angled portion, back of firewall)
- THEN, you will see the metal cover. get the 2 nuts at the bottom off and pull and slide metal cover down. be gentle, you don't want to tear any of the 100 connections under it.

then you will see the 3 red wires connected to a plate next to a thicker black wire connected to the same plate. they are next to a K something marked black box. bobs post shows all that

the mb person clamped to the big black wire connection (technically any will work as they are all connected) and to the ground on the fender (green/brown wire stack on mine). once you get that you get power on.

and you must use the remote if you locked it with the remote. otherwise, you are hosed. it will not release.

after you get your trunk open, crank it with a 12v (or one in a vehicle as long as the vehicle isn't running).

all in all its a PITA. no photos because its freezing out + wind and me and the service person were freezing and wanted it just done. My jumper clamps were too big to make a good connection, thats why i got no power. They kept hitting the plastic ridges..

moral of the story.. just don't let your battery die. bad things happen. i now have a funny warning light but will deal with it later. i think its the airbag and might go away.

While it might be mechanical, there is some operated link that unless you have air/power, will not release and you won't turn the key no matter what if locked with the central system. I can now turn the key just fine. Once the central system unlocked it. The button on the dash is useless. It only works if it is the one that did the locking. Otherwise, it's just an ornament.

Maybe mine is just broke, maybe.

 

.....
we gave it power and it was unlocked via the remote (only way to get the trunk to release). the central locking will not be powered via the cigarette lighter.

Hi Gyrate,

Glad you finally got in. I guess the cigarette lighter approach didn't work because that cct only gets connected to the battery when the ignition key is in position 1. I don't know whether you tried that or not.

As far as I can see, that would have done it - unless there is a relay in that cct which is also required to be energised - but I can't see one in the cct diagrams.

If that approach won't work then I think that you could have connected your new battery to a fuse that is hot at all times in the main box - one that is direct to battery. Fuse 11 (20 amp), for example, for the central locking is always hot.

I have a 20 amp fuse with the plastic cut away at one side and a lead soldered to the exposed fuse terminal. I have used this as an easy way of obtaining a fused 12 V supply for checking things out under the bonnet (hood) but I'm sure it could have been used in your position to power up the central locking. It sounds a bit easier than taking up the carpet, etc, etc.

Mike

 

glad to hear you got it done. this might be a prelude to DIY install for jumper connections to the battery from under the back seat.

Added to knowledge base

 

I'm always surprised when I hear this because I can unlock my boot with just the key when the battery is dead. Perhaps it's just early W140's which can do that.

 

Ive never encountered a totally dead battery. Ive only experienced an undercharged battery because of alternator failure. but I was able to start it over right after

can anyone else with an early model confirm this?

 

I remove the battery and lock and unlock the trunk routinely on a 95.

 

hey Gyrate, what year is yours?

 

Glad you managed to sort it...

 

The trunk release is a function of the PSE, lock unlock, lumbars etc. it is tied in to the fuel door lock and has a solenoid that pulls a diaphram connected to the trunk lock. There is an elecrical lead that comes from the PSE to the solenoid and another lead from the dash. The PSE thinks it is unlocking the car and provides pressure to the diaphram just as it would to all the door elements.

 

No it's not. When I had my PSE pump out to rebuild it the only difference was that the trunk did not lock when using the drivers door lock (obviously) and that there was no pop-out handle or soft close on the lid. The actual release itself is mechanical - atleast on my car.

 

1996 S600L - Right Hand Drive UK - +optional 2ndry boot lock and limo rear seats.

I disconnected my battery and removed it to be charged, locking the car as I went.

With the help of this forum I managed to power the car via the lighter socket and key in pos I to get the boot unlocked and open using the button in the dash.

I have the following queries though:

Reference is made in here to getting some leads under the rear seat to provide a jump posn for the future. I wish to connect a solar charger/keeper on the parcel shelf but can not find a route from the boot the cabin, is there a secret bearing in mind the seats that are fitted to mine? (I don't fancy drilling through the BOSE speaker housings).

also

The connections to the battery mentioned as being in the passenger footwell - were these handed for RHD cars, or will they still be in the right hand footwell (drivers for me)

Hope these questions are considered relevant to this thread.

Many thanks for the wealth of knowledge on here, I am much obliged to you all.

 

They are in the same spot, still on the pass side, whichever one it is depending on your market.

You should be able to squeeze some trickle charger wires in around the rear deck(shelf) and into the cabin. There are several ways to do it but you can also hide them in the medkit compartment. You might have to drill a hole or 2 if you want to really hide them. You will likely need to pull the trunk carpet to find a spot anyway. That is a total annoyance. Watch those metal clips

 

works well, thanks Guys!

my trunk was locked by key remote & dead battery locked out. I took off the passenger floor pan, found the BIGGEST WIRE(1 GA) for POSITIVE & the Floor bolt connector for the Neg. There, it can charge the dead battery in the trunk even with a fool-proof "smart charger" 10-15 mins & pop goes the Lid!

I didnt need to remove the cabin air filter panel, just pull the carpet back a little more & the floor pan will clear the bottom of dashboard.

 

HELP! I am having the same issue on my 97, a car which sits for 3-4 weeks at a time, previously with zero problems for 4 years, even on my old battery, which was replaced with a brand new interstate a couple months ago. This car has NEVER failed to start since I've had it. FWIW, my 97 will not allow the key to operate the trunk either. I called my shop after I found this thread, he said "it's easy to get to." Well, not for me - I ripped the damn carpet and pad trying to pull it past the flat part of the floor. Whatever I'm doing, I can't get it back far enough to see what I need to see. To top it off, it's in a 20x10 storage unit, and I always park the pass side closest to the wall (it's a coupe) so I have room to get the driver door open. I'm not working with much room, and if I roll it out, it ain't goin back in! I made a roadside appt with Hagerty for Monday AM to flatbed it to my shop, but I really do not want to take any chances with them or anyone (me) blowing something out - they weren't even quite sure how to jump it until I jogged his memory about the floorpan cable.

I have a mega juicebox - does ANY trick work running this to the cigarette lighter? I have an aux out that I can connect to it from the jumpbox with if so. Turk key to position 1, then hook it up and wait? Or what? Is this strategy I saw referenced above feasible? If/once I can get the trunk open, problem solved.

 

A few hours ago. I got into my 98 which has NO battery in it for the last year. I lock it manually.

Put the key in(in the trunk), and turn it to the left to UNLOCK. turn it to the right to LOCK it. Push the trunk key along with the trunk button to open it. It should open manually.

Do not jump one of these cars, or you can do some damage to the electrical system.

Martin

 

Martin, I was hoping you would see this. I just went back out and thought God I must be crazy for missing something so simple. But no, now I remember why this became a problem, the key will not turn left or right all I can do is push in. I only have the one key that came with the car which is a remote key. this is another saga I have one remaining key and 25,000 invested in this car and the key fob looks like it's been chewed up by the dog. I'm not very keen on forcing anything but I promise you it absolutely will not turn to the left or right it will only press in I've tried jiggling the key I've tried pushing all the way in I've tried pulling it out a little bit nothing works so the only thing I can think to do is call a locksmith and somehow break into the trunk (is that possible?) else the only other way to do this is either rip the back seat out or charge it via the floor. Am I going to brick my car? I'm honestly sick to my stomach at this point. I have enough old car problems and this 600 is never been one. I refuse to run any risk damaging old components that I do not have the time money or desire to go through replacing. I need an urgent solution

 

I assume your car is the car with one-button key fob, and not the five-button key fob? My 98 is late 1997 build, so maybe they changed the trunk mechanism. Yea, do not force it to break it. The force that is required is no more than to manually open the front door with the key except the key will go complete horizontal to the right.

What is the build date of your car?

If you can get into the car, and open the doors. The car can be opened manually through the PSE locking pump, or injecting air into the yellow and black lines. I believe the yellow will unlock everything, and unlock the latch in the trunk, so you can push the button.

For me it is safer to tell someone to disconnect the yellow line off the PSE, and find a way to blow in the center of the fitting of that yellow line. NOW, one can do this electrically too. Manually power the PSE with 12v, and one lead to - terminal(Ground). The other to another terminal to ground.

I like the blowing of air Jon(jal1224) has done it electrically, but that works for sure upto early 1995 build cars. 1996 and above cars it changes a bit as one has to introduce voltage to trigger the unlock over grounding-Yes, I am complicating the story here, but I lead you into this direction(electrically) and you blow your pump up for whatever reason. You could possibly not be able to start the car. Now you see why I just like to use air.....

Disconnect the yellow line at the pump, and it will have other yellow lines on a little black manifold attached to it. I disconnect them using this. I use the second and the third to the left tool, and I pry to while turning the tool and connection back n forth on both the tool and the head of the yellow line. I try to pry vertically as you do not want to get carried away as you can break the tip of the nipple at the pump. Once you remove the yellow line. Find some tube the same diameter of the diameter of the top of the nipple on the pump. If you are UNSUCCESSFUL at that. You could inject compressed air with a pressure of around 10PSI, and doing it with a dust off air nozzle and the PSE yellow line in your hand, so some air escapes. You may have up the pressure, but you will know if it works as you will see the door locks unlock. Now I have done this by blowing air from my mouth, but I have always found a little pipe of plastic to get into the connection of the yellow line. If you have a 12v inflatable pump even a manual bike pump, the device come with these plastic cone pieces to inflate beach balls, or exercise balls. Those cones one shoves into the head of the yellow line, and one can use a 12v inflatable pump, or manual air pump. Here is a picture of these two cones here on the lower right side, and some are rubber ended, and some are hard plastic. All will work.

Once you unlock, you should be able to push on the trunk latch button and it should open

If the trunk does not open for you, you may have to disconnect the black line from the PSE and blow air onto it to pop the latch handle out, but I think the yellow line should do it...

See how that works for you?

Martin

 

Thanks Martin, this is not something I am going to mess with myself - I'll print these instructions out and follow the tow truck to the shop and see what can get done I guess. I do have a pancake compressor and I have the kind of nipple attachments you are talking about but I would assume it would be easier for the shop to do with their equipment. Either way, my car is 8/96 and yes, has the one-button remote. 96 and 98 are different than mine and I have called 5 locksmiths today who hung up after I said "97 Mercedes." I kept trying to explain to the ones who would listen that I don't need any security features/remote/etc, I just need a metal KEY. There is one guy here who can work on these (2 in the whole state), but he is only open 9-5 M-F. My first thought it to get him out to cut a blade key JUST for the trunk lock. The trunk is black underneath and I assume has been replaced. Not sure how bad the rear impact was in 2010, but I have a very strong suspicion that they changed out the lock cylinder due to that incident and it was either used and came with no key, or the key got lost along the way. Looks like I need a key anyway. What happens if you drill it out? Will the pull down mechanism still work? I am trying to get workarounds together. To confirm, you say there is NO safe way to jump with a box under t he carpet, and no way to back-feed the system safely from jump box to cigarette lighter via an attachment to jumpbox so that I can get the trunk release to work from inside?

 

Honestly, I would prefer you do the air thing as ALL shops have un-regulated air pressure, and their pressure is 100-200PSI. One squirt of that can blow ALL your locks/latches. Then you will come back here that my door locks will not lock.

Martin

 

Was just about to make another post when I saw your reply - sorry for being a dunce, and I appreciate your help. In this video link, at the 3:00 mark, can you tell me exactly which one gets removed, and exactly where the air needs to be blown into?

I am assuming a few things, that my PSE is under the pass seat cushion on my 97 coupe, and that I am to blow air into the nipple on the body of the PSE pump itself, the main one where the main yellow is connected to on the pump in this video? And if that's the case, I am guessing this pressure needs to be constant and maintained while simultaneously pressing the trunk release at the dash?

 

Was just about to make another post when I saw your reply - sorry for being a dunce, and I appreciate your help. In this video link, at the 3:00 mark, can you tell me exactly which one gets removed, and exactly where the air needs to be blown into?

I am assuming a few things, that my PSE is under the pass seat cushion on my 97 coupe, and that I am to blow air into the nipple on the body of the PSE pump itself, the main one where the main yellow is connected to on the pump in this video? And if that's the case, I am guessing this pressure needs to be constant and maintained while simultaneously pressing the trunk release at the dash?

Mava explained in post #34 that you have to first unlock the trunk, which you can do by pumping air into the yellow line (not into the PSE pump). I only have sedans, but I'd bet the pump for the coupe is also below the rear seat, right side (passenger side in US). It is inside a foam compartment that is hinged to open. Once you find it, follow Mava's suggestion on how to CAREFULLY remove the yellow vacuum line.

Once you have successfully removed the line, follow Mava's directions to get air into the line. Several options to do so (including blowing into the line with your mouth) were provided. As he stated, you know you've added enough air once the door locks open. Then, try to push in your keyed (external) trunk release button.

 

Doing a voice to text from the phone here so sorry for any run-ons in this post but I will say that everything above was fantastically explained ( thanks again martin for talking me through most of it) including the video that I found that I posted that's probably a pretty good tutorial. I was overthinking it. I was using the special tool at the bottom and then I was trying to pry outward the bottom flanges and cringing that I was going to break the nipple. what worked for me was just simply to grab on to the top part of the housing with the needle nose and just pull straight up as straight as possible while slightly wiggling. Picture attached for the attachment points but I'm sure most of you know where to do it. my inflator attachment was a little too wide and it should have been skinnier and longer, but I took care of that with some electrical tape to seal it up when I blew into it. Anyway the truck is open, I took my 800 cranking amp Schumacher jump box that I got from Northern tool which will jump anything and everything and still have a full charge, and it would juice the systems up in the car - everything works - the fan comes on, all the lights on, chimes and so forth soft close works, but even after 30 minutes of leaving it on there it would not turn over. It would start to but it would hesitate and then quit immediately. When I turn the power off to the jump box the trunk light would dim, and then ultimately when I disconnected the jump box the trunk light was dead within 3 minutes. This jump box will start anything and everything other than this. I don't know what else I can try. I did notice one of the map lights was on when I got in the car, the last time we drove it the girlfriend left her purse at the restaurant and so I had to turn around and go all the way back out there at 9:00 at night, so I wasn't exactly thrilled last time I parked it and probably hit something or left it on in my haste. That was almost 4 weeks ago. Anyway it's a brand new interstate battery with a manufacturer date of 11/20. it's out at my storage unit and there's no power out there at least not within 100 ft. So unless I daisy chain my trickle charger to an AUX to AC adapter that I would then plug into my jump box - which I think is a bad idea - then I don't know what else I can do. I'm going to set up a tow truck with hagerty tomorrow and hopefully he's got a gigantic diesel grade jump box. Other than that any suggestions to get this thing to fire up?

 

Remember, you want to charge the battery with a a single battery terminal disconnected, or you may loose charge power across the alternator diode pack, and potentially damage the diode pack which is a service part on these alternators. The brush pack should be replaced right about 200kMiles as that is all you will get from the MB Brushes.

This thread gives you an idea of what happens when one looses the 13v to 15v Charge voltage as it happened to me about six months ago on my E-320. I'm trying to pass emissions, and my problem was low voltage, and that is why I could not pass emissions, so from post 19- See the pictures...

2002 E320 4-Matic wagon PENDING CODES ???? of P0134 and...

Okay fellas, I was headed for my emissions test here in Kalifornia, and a habit is to check the Readiness-Flags to qualify to take the test, so in my test I see "Pending DTC" of two codes of P0134 and P0154. What gives with those two codes? I got no "Check Engine" Is the car in "open loop...

www.benzworld.org

Here is a alternator thread on a E-Class-See from post 39 forward

DIY: Remove replace install belt alternator and voltage...

Replacing and/or repairing your v belt, alternator, voltage regulator, or any combination thereof is quite simple. I recently installed a new voltage regulator on my 2001 E320 sedan - gasoline powered with 90K miles. The part (part no. A003 154 51 06) cost $70 bucks including shipping from the...

www.benzworld.org

One more thing gentlemen, In a pinch traveling on a trip. A E, SL, C Alternator will bolt up as the mount lugs are the same. Because my E class now has W220 alternator in the car.

Martin

 

Thanks again for the help Martin. When we spoke, I had not looked at the post. I remembered you said removing a cable would help charge faster; I may have overlooked the part about potential damage. That is a first on any car I've ever had to charge (and with my stable of needy children, I take my industrial-sized jump box wherever I go and to this point, has never failed me and no issues with batteries after charging the old fashioned way). I thought you had said you were moving this to another thread, so if I missed it feel free to move this. Here is the summary after getting the trunk open with this excellent hack.

If I had it to do over again knowing Saturday what I figured out by Tuesday, I would have pulled the battery, brought it home and charged it separately. By the time I decided that was the better idea, I had already been out to the car 3 days on a row first trying to open the trunk (got it on the 2nd day), day 3 and 4 spent juicing. I will say I have never had to leave an appropriate-strength on ANY car for more than 10 minutes to get it to turn. I was thrown off that this was a battery-charging-only issue after leaving my box on for 30 minutes and it not turning, then 2 hours (day 3) and turning a TAD but not enough, and then finally day 4 dovetailing off the previous 2 hour charge by leaving my box on for FOUR HOURS yesterday. Finally started, let it idle 15 minutes, resynched the windows and got the warning lights to turn off, and got it home to put on my NoCo Genius 10. After SIX HOURS of charging with the jumpbox in the photo (which weighs at least 50 lbs and is the only box that has never to this point failed me on any car), G10 was still showing somewhere BELOW 25% charge! Incredible! Why would I be surprised, everything on this car is twice as massive as any other car, including the battery and the amount of power it takes to crank this V12 (note: even my monster box would power the systems with the key turned to accessory), but would go down one power LED if I did that for more t than 5 minutes - and this is a box that routinely continues to show FULLY CHARGED even after jumping off a battery 6 or 8 times without needing any recharging at all). So you see, all these factors were REALLY throwing me off. I ended up switching to repair mode on the G10 which completed successfully in 4 hours, and then I let it charge and it took another full SIX HOURS to fully recharge to a solid green light. Never in my life have I seen a car or a battery take so much juice to jump and to recharge - not by 10 miles.

PS: as I am heading toward 200k, I will swap those brush packs next time I have service.
PPS: I pressed the trunk lock/pull down into closed/locked position with the trunklid open so as to turn off the trunk light. Even with nothing/no lights/etc being on, it still took the 6 hours of initial juicing with the jumpbox, and then 6 more hours on the G10 overnight with the trunk open/light off to get this thing to charge to 100%. BTW, brand new Interstate battery from the interstate distributor, 11/20 build date.
PPPS: Figured out the cause, map light was left on. For like 4 weeks. The last time I drove it, gf was with me and we figured out she left her purse at the restaurant 10 miles away, right as we pulled in the driveway at 10pm. I was not happy, and I am sure in my rush we turned the light on getting stuff out of the car (leftovers) to ultimately drop it off at storage after this as my 40 or so mile periodic warm-up had been satisfied a day earlier than planned.