[icy75]

I went to start my car yesterday and all I got was a single click, I presumed it was a dead battery (battery is about 3 months old) car is not used much, when I took the battery off the earth terminal was wet and rusty, in fact the nut has rotted away the terminal pulls on and off the pole with slight force, I dried the pole charged the battery overnight, I put the battery on this morning and I still just get a click, I know the battery is fully charged and is healthy, if the battery was faulty my charger would tell me.

Where is the moisture coming from on the negative terminal nothing else is wet?

I have replaced the earth strap, the old one was a mess, there is nothing else under the seat that was damp just the earth terminal.

The car now starts perfectly fine with the first turn of the key since changing the earth strap, however a new problem has manifested in that I have absolutely no power whether it be forward reverse 1 or 2, on tick-over it isn't steady and rapidly rises and falls, if I put my foot on the accelerator I get a miniscule response, I do have a 38 pin fault code reader which didn't pick up anything.
When I last moved the car about a week ago it was running very smooth it seems strange that suddenly after the battery incident the car has thrown its teddy out of the pram and stubbornly refuses to move.

I have had BAS/ESP & SRS lights on for a while which I was going to get reset this week or see if there's any problems if it wont reset, but today since putting the battery back on I suddenly have anti skid warning flash up on dash as well as the ABS warning on screen (the car wasn't moving )

The car wont accelerate past 1k revs which made it interesting as I had already rolled off the drive ok in reverse before discovering this fault and was then stuck across the middle of the road and the car could literally move a few milimetres on its own steam.

I have had lots of cars before in fact this is my 40th car and have never seen any with problems such as with this car, I will never buy another Mercedes again once I finally manage to get rid of this one.

 

[alabbasi]

May have blocked cats. They won't throw a code.

 

[icy75]

Would that happen without any warning, all was fine until I had to change the earth strap, would they not go gradually, last time I had an issue with a cat (not MB) the car was gradually losing power over time until one day it just went into limp mode, this car has been starting and running perfectly up until the earth strap issue it has come about very suddenly, another characteristic I noted last time I destroyed a cat in a different car again was the fact I was really giving the car some stick at the time, this MB hasn't been driven hard at any point.

 

[Kajtek1]

Those light also come at low car voltage. That should be easy to check.
How old are your alternator brushes?

 

[icy75]

I was taking the car to my local indy to get it on star machine this week to clear the codes and make sure thres nothing sinister going on but the problem is now it has no power to drive there, the batter was accepting charge ok before, but the earth lead from body to battery was heavily corroded and was barely making a contact which is the reason i had to change it

 

[mersum1es]

I have had BAS/ESP & SRS lights on for a while which I was going to get reset this week or see if there's any problems if it wont reset, but today since putting the battery back on I suddenly have anti skid warning flash up on dash as well as the ABS warning on screen (the car wasn't moving )

Sorry daft question; did you tried to reset the lights? (They come up always when battery has been disconnected, nothing odd there. Steering wheel between both dead ends etc...).

 

[icy75]

Sorry daft question; did you tried to reset the lights? (They come up always when battery has been disconnected, nothing odd there. Steering wheel between both dead ends etc...).

Yeah I tried that a few times but it didnt work I did change the brake light switch as its not an expensive job, thought maybe I had fitted it wrong but there looks only one way to fit it, which is the reason I was taking it to get the codes cleared via star and see if anything further wrong

Although that wouldn't stop the car going over 1k revs ???

 

[magna steyr 210.282]

start the car up, keep it in Park. turn the steering wheel to the left all the way and hold for a second, then turn to the right all the way and hold for a second. your warning light on the dash will go off and it wont be in limp mode anymore.

to clean up your terminals, carefully apply a can of coca cola or a paste of baking soda and water. let it sit on there for a few minutes and rinse it off... once it dries. apply some anti corrosion grease to the exposed metal contacts.

I use this stuff all the time. It rocks! Sanchem NOOXID electrical grease & electrically conductive grease dielectric grease and contact lubricants

 

[icy75]

As you can see, it was in pretty sorry state, it certainly wasn't worth saving and putting new end connector on, I just replaced the entire strap, when I pulled the rear seat up and looked at it I was shocked to see it in such a bad condition.

I have tried lock to lock, but it didn't work, I wondered about disconnecting the battery overnight and trying again in the morning?

 

[Kajtek1]

You need to slow down and do step by step. This is computerized car and messing with interlocking systems in 3 points at the same time can create chaos only.
First the cable shows acid marks on it, what could be indication of overcharge. You never check the car voltage and this is second indication that something might be wrong with the charging system.
It might be overkill to take the car to Star computer to read the voltage.
How about checking it on the clima display or with multimeter?

 

[icy75]

You need to slow down and do step by step. This is computerized car and messing with interlocking systems in 3 points at the same time can create chaos only.
First the cable shows acid marks on it, what could be indication of overcharge. You never check the car voltage and this is second indication that something might be wrong with the charging system.
It might be overkill to take the car to Star computer to read the voltage.
How about checking it on the clima display or with multimeter?

I will have to get a multi, sorry but clima display ? you have lost me therre

 

[Kajtek1]

US models can display sensor values on climatization LCD.
I know UK models don't always have the LCD, in which case you need multimeter.
I would make a hookup via cigarette lighter socket so you can observe it during driving.

 

[icy75]

Ah I see, no nothing like that

 

[icy75]

when I took the battery off the earth terminal and negative post was wet which made no sense to me as everything else was completely dry, nothing had leaked out of the battery as it was dry around the caps, the battery levels were good.

I have just ordered a multimeter, I am away for the weekend so will have a look when get back on Monday.

 

[Kajtek1]

The way the overcharged battery work is that during charging it releases corrosive gases via caps and that is what condensate on battery clamps.
I have the issue on my tractor where I have to clean the clamps couple times a year. Putting just few hr on it every year, I am not going to replace the alternator.
This way or the other we can talk forever what 3 seconds spend on checking the car voltage will reveal.

 

[magna steyr 210.282]

As you can see, it was in pretty sorry state, it certainly wasn't worth saving and putting new end connector on, I just replaced the entire strap, when I pulled the rear seat up and looked at it I was shocked to see it in such a bad condition.

I have tried lock to lock, but it didn't work, I wondered about disconnecting the battery overnight and trying again in the morning?

GNARLY dude! There should be a tube coming off of your battery like the stuff on a fish tank. It leads to a hole in the floor board and vents any gas out of that compartment. That should not happen inside the car! MB calls for a special type of battery that can be held upside down for 15 seconds or minutes.. I forget. They also have a nipple in the middle for the vent tube to be attached to.

Did yours have this vent tube on? There are a lot of electronics smashed into that box, you can't have vapors or moisture in there at all. Check the floor too and make sure it's sealed up.

Battery with tube attached, waiting to be installed. Tube slides into rubber grommet that goes to the outside of the car.

 

[icy75]

@ Kajtek1 I flew back home last night from a mini break to find a new meter waiting, so bee out this morning to check.

Before starting the car it was reading 12.33
As soon as I started the car it went to 13.97
and was slowly increasing after around 2 minutes it had gone to 14.03 where it seemed to settle.


@ magna steyr I dont have this battery, nor did the one which I removed, I also have 2 friends with E class and neither of them have this type of battery fitted, I have just had a look and I can see where a exhaust pipe would go, however this has a blanking plug over it, I am wondering if UK spec cars have this tube
everything is now bone dry

 

[Kajtek1]

Above 14V is overcharge. I would replace voltage regulator if that voltage stays during driving.
Don't think German let British to drive on fumes, so the batteries have to be vented outside.

 

[icy75]

Thing is I cant check while driving as I cant drive it, there is no response to the accelerator, it simple wont accelerate

 

[renault12ts]

@ Kajtek1 I flew back home last night from a mini break to find a new meter waiting, so bee out this morning to check.

Before starting the car it was reading 12.33
As soon as I started the car it went to 13.97
and was slowly increasing after around 2 minutes it had gone to 14.03 where it seemed to settle.


@ magna steyr I dont have this battery, nor did the one which I removed, I also have 2 friends with E class and neither of them have this type of battery fitted, I have just had a look and I can see where a exhaust pipe would go, however this has a blanking plug over it, I am wondering if UK spec cars have this tube
everything is now bone dry

They do have this. When I bought a new battery from Kwik Fit, there was a blanking plug on each end. I removed the one on the left and connected the tube to the hole in the floor...you should do this to vent the explosive gasses.