today whilst driving my 99 e240 elegance all of a sudden whilst doing around 40mph the car died and dash lights came on so i coasted to the side of the road.
fithteen feet from me was another broken down mercedes ( a new convertible ) which the driver informed me the same thing happened to him..............all fine then engine cuts out completely and he has to coast to roadside.
neither cars will start but turn over with a rapid clicking noise ( starting motor ??? ).
his aa arrive at the same time as my recovery.
upon arrival at the mercedes dealership my cars unloaded and whilst clearing personal effects from inside i turn the key..................starts on the button as per normal.............turn car on and off around a dozen times but leave for garage to investigate rather than the same happen a mile up the road.
any ideas what could have caused this as mercedes say theyve no idea.
the outside temperature was 30 degrees plus , could this be a factor ???
any imput appreciated as im not mechanically minded at all and am scared of a huge bill for work as id be none the wiser if it was needed.
also cant understand what or why this happened????
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Where were you?
Near a radar station/radio mast/MOD installation/microwave station.
Most likely is radio inetrference with electronics .. especially as two cars of the same make at the same place and time.
madf
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Grasping at straws here but noting that we are talking about 2 recent Mercs with the same problem. Were there any high output radio masts nearby (mobile phone or police comms)? These have been known to upset remote unlocking systems and, I think ,cars starting. When the cars are towed a few hundred yards all is well. Temp shouldn't be a factor, on 2 cars at the same time, Mercs run very well in temps way over 30, look at all the ones in Southern Europe and most of Africa!
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was near a couple of speedcameras .........................and an industrial estate which i think has a phillips factory that assembles tv's etc.
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i drive along the said road all the time home from work with no previous troubles..........................should i get my car back from mercedes before they look ( they said it may take untill mon ) and " suck it and see if it runs ok now" ???
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Speed cameras - no effect SFAIK. Maybe Philips have just started some mega test transmissions? If you got it running at the dealer, I'd be tempted to take it away and see what happens, for a few days. Then, I don't have a merc or the cash to pay the dealers big money to investigaTe intermittent faults! Might be worth seeing if there are any faults logged in the ECU, that shouldn't cost much.
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i too dont have the money to pay them hence the questions........................i think ill get it back before they look.
ive heard from elsewhere that this is quite a common occurance in cars and the aa just tow cars a mile up the road ????
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Some kind of electronic interference or an electromagnetic field
would someone be kind enough to explain to me how this effects a car and in what way.?
also how is it that a car can run fine afterwards ?
thanks in advance
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Totally agree lots of radio masts have mimmum lateral and vertical clearances to prevent interference with aircraft electrical systems. How does it work ? simple unless the cars electical looms are shieled from radiowaves by being sheated in coax braid which is earthed the radio waves induce voltage in the looms thus affecting your ECU.
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In answer to the original poster.
How does it affect the car?
Well modern cars have computer controlled engines. To work they need lots of sensors dotted around the engine. These work on very low voltages feeding back to the computer.
A strong radio signal, or anywhere with very high voltages can generate spurious signals or voltages in the sensor wires and feed into the computer making it brain dead.
However take it away from the source of interference and in 99.9% of cases all is well again. Sometimes the interference can be bad enough to fry the computer to an early permanent grave.
Now this is VERY rare. It needs an exceptional amount of power to generate this signal. Usually military radar, tho it used to happen on the A5 at Rugby (the BBC / BT transmitter farm)
Its probably an engine sensor going haywire or an intermitant earth/voltage problem causing it
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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a big thank you to you all for your advice...........................great forum and the info obtained here has saved me money ( as long as i can speak to them before they wheel it in the workshop ).
going to get the car back and keep my fingers crossed.
as a restorer of lambretta scooters and a regular on the lambretta club great britain forums im often giving advice to others and to be able to visit a different forum for my own means has been great.
many thanks again
marc
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got to mercedes before they opened today yet they looked at it last night and tell me its a failed crank sensor............................what is this and how do they work ?
also are they prone to failure and could the failure be due to electrical interference ?????
what sort of money is a crank sensor for the part ?
how long would it take to replace ?
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Didn't they tell you how much it would cost when you were there then? Seems a bit poor they didn't have all the information to hand.
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no.................said yesterday it could be sensor and when i aksed how much that would be he said a couple of hundred if that is what it is.
im puzzled now as to why / how if it was that sensor i managed to start the car once back at the mercedes garage ?????
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Also look at
www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=63
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Have a look here - same car, same problem, and it was the crank sensor.
mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=24691
I'm not sure it's a great idea to be running a (getting) older Merc if you haven't got any money!!
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innocenti66 - Excuse me, I see now that it wasn't you that made the comment about lack of cash. Sorry.
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no worries.....................bought the car new and have only done 60 odd thousand and kept it dealer serviced.
change of circumstances.......................women / kids mean that ive to be carefull ....................however having a lack of mechanical knowledge makes me wary.
regardless.................................end result was a bill of £233.00 for a new crank position sensor which included finding the fault.
think ive been had over as i called another mercedes main dealer today and he said if sensor shot i wouldnt have been able to have started the car..............................my dealer says i would have been able to.
dealer also totally dismissed electrical interference as rubbish !!!
dealer to be fair was a smug and smarmy overweight idiot who grinned with amusement as i asked for an explaination of what was done and why...........................obvious they prefer those who dont read itemised bill and just sign the cheque.
big joke was the £17.50 plus vat on the end of the bill which was for a technician to take for test drive to make sure hed done the job right.
regardless a big thank you to all who replied to my plight on my first visit to this forum.
marc
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I am glad that is over for you, even if you have been given conflicting answers to your questions to the dealer. Come back here again, if you need to! You will get useful ideas and information and it will be more pleasurable and much cheaper than any trip to any Merc dealer!
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regardless.................................end result was a bill of £233.00 for a new crank position sensor which included finding the fault. think ive been had over as i called another mercedes main dealer today and he said if sensor shot i wouldnt have been able to have started the car..............................my dealer says i would have been able to.
I don't know if you read through the link I posted, but that E240 driver also had intermittant problems. On other vehicles too, it seems common for crankshaft sensors to fail in this way.
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never saw the link before but just read and def what i had.......................never nice swallowing a £200 bill but now feel happier having read that.
thanks again fellas.
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My Merc had an electrical fault and the local dealers were excellent. A guy came out with thew computer and did a test, the fault showed up and it was a sensor. They supplied one , stuck it in and charged me £35. Not all Merc bills are bad!
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My Merc had an electrical fault and the local dealers were excellent. A guy came out with thew computer and did a test, the fault showed up and it was a sensor. They supplied one , stuck it in and charged me £35. Not all Merc bills are bad!
Actually, it's just occured to me that if innocenti66's car had full MB service history then shouldn't MB's Mobilolife have covered this. Can't remember the cost limits now, but this must have been close?
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A few cars also have a camshaft sensor as well as the crank sensor.
Normally if one sensor goes down the other sensor allows the engine to run but in limp home mode, Then the ECU warning light on the dash would come on & a fault code would be stored for the dodgy sensor.
No idea if this Merc has a cam sensor, Most likely has though.
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