Mercedes A class 160 not starting

pink_princess

Hi
Really need some help. My sil's car broke down last week whilst driving on a 70 limit A road.
The abs light came on then it just lost power. Had it towed to an aa approved garage.

They can't diagnose what the problem is. They now want her to pay 400 on the chance it is the starter motor. If that doesn't fix the problem she is still saddled with the bill.

I think we have sourced a second hand starter motor today.

Are the garage likely to refuse to use this instead of the 200 pound one they have quoted for?

For extra info, her coded key dropped to bits twice recently, the garage say this isn't the problem but I can't help thinking it is.

The garage does not have Mercedes diagnostic.

They told my sil that they had ruled out the starter motor at first.

Any advice would be great.

colino

You really need (another garage) to code read the car and check properly for a fault. While it may well be the MAF/ecu, what it definitely wont be, if it chucked it at 70mph, is the starter motor.

GAZ237

When you say it lost power, did it stop completely or go into limp mode, which means it runs but wont go very fast?.

Is it manual or auto?

I would not let the garage do any work on it. They sound useless, Its not a big job to take the starter out to test it.

vikingaero

Uh-oh! An A-Class Merc. The pits.

Problem with the A-Class is that not many local garages have access to diagnostics equipment for it. It really could be anything. On these horrible machines they have a habit of a fault throwing other components into fault mode so fixing what you thought was the problem just masked the real problem.

The A-Class has an engine that is canted rearwards. This makes the starter motor inaccessible and requires the subframe to be dropped for access which is why labour is a large % of the repair.

GAZ237

http://www.aclassinfo.co.uk/mypage.66.htm

You may not have the right starter motor. have a good read of this as it could be the key.

As advised above, you need to take it to a place with merc diagnostic equipment.

pink_princess

GAZ237 wrote: »

When you say it lost power, did it stop completely or go into limp mode, which means it runs but wont go very fast?.

Is it manual or auto?

I would not let the garage do any work on it. They sound useless, Its not a big job to take the starter out to test it.

It is an auto, started to lose power down to around 10 mph, she then indicated and pulled over to stop. It then did not restart.

They are saying that it is a five hour job as the starter motor is under the engine?

pink_princess

vikingaero wrote: »

Uh-oh! An A-Class Merc. The pits.

Problem with the A-Class is that not many local garages have access to diagnostics equipment for it. It really could be anything. On these horrible machines they have a habit of a fault throwing other components into fault mode so fixing what you thought was the problem just masked the real problem.

The A-Class has an engine that is canted rearwards. This makes the starter motor inaccessible and requires the subframe to be dropped for access which is why labour is a large % of the repair.

Thanks Viking, that is reassuring :rotfl:

If we were to choose to scrap it what could we hope to get? No other problems with the car and MOT just 3-4 weeks ago!

GAZ237

Did the engine cut out completely or did she turn it off herself then it would not restart.
To be honest either way it need to be hooked up to diagnostics to pinpoint the problem.
Read the link I posted. I would not advise just going out and buying a starter.
The starter is a bit of a pig to get to, so its advisable to make sure that's the problem.

pink_princess

GAZ237 wrote: »

http://www.aclassinfo.co.uk/mypage.66.htm

You may not have the right starter motor. have a good read of this as it could be the key.

As advised above, you need to take it to a place with merc diagnostic equipment.

That was why I said "Think" in my first post. Will ring the garage to give them the details of the scrap starter motor tomorrow.

The car is a 51 plate, really need to work out if it is better to scrap or risk fixing.

My sil has a disability and needs the car, problem being she has no income for the repairs.

GAZ237

Depending on miles. 51 A class is worth £1000 at best.

May get £350-400 as spares or repair if your lucky. They are prone to trouble, normally its the auto box that's goes first.

pink_princess

GAZ237 wrote: »

Did the engine cut out completely or did she turn it off herself then it would not restart.
To be honest either way it need to be hooked up to diagnostics to pinpoint the problem.
Read the link I posted. I would not advise just going out and buying a starter.
The starter is a bit of a pig to get to, so its advisable to make sure that's the problem.

From reading the link you posted, and getting sil to check the service book it does not say code 049.

Am I right in thinking that that means we have more chance of the scrap starter motor solving this?

Ideal scenario would be to fix this as cheaply as possible and get a few more months from it to allow her to save a bit.