MercedesMike
New Member
Hi all. I'm an admitted novice when it comes to things mechanical so I thought I'd ask this community for your collective wisdom. I have a '78 6.9 with about 90K miles on the odometer. Runs great, works great, love the car. Except it's happened twice now. After a day driving about 30 miles to my office in northern Illinois yesterday, I called it a day around 3pm, settled into my seat, put the key in the ignition, turned it and...nothing. The car didn't turn over, didn't sputter, nothing. I turned the key back, tried again, nothing.
My first thought was uh oh, I left the headlights on. Nope. Lights are off. The buzzer sounds when I open the door with the key in the ignition. The interior dome light turns on. The gauges do their thing in anticipation of the engine turning over when I turn the key. Radio works. Windows go up and down. It just doesn't turn over.
Back when I was a teenager, I remembered this happening once with my old Honda Civic. I had left it in Drive when I parked the car and the weight of the car in gear was more than the starter could handle. So I tried shifting the Mercedes into neutral and turning the ignition. Nothing. Back to Park. Nothing. Time to pop open the hood.
Nothing seemed loose. No dangling wires. No connections amiss. I didn't see any ground wires hanging free. I wiggled and pushed all the wires I could see. Everything seemed as it should.
It's clear that the battery isn't dead. Perhaps its low on juice? Maybe my alternator is going and on the last run it didn't charge up the battery properly? Hmm.
I pulled out my phone, did a quick internet search for the nearest towing place and got ready to dial. One more try. I put the key in the ignition, turned it, and it started right away. What the...
Ran great all the way home. No problems.
So today, suspicious and wary, I used the car again to drive my many kids to an endless number of soccer games around the western Chicago suburbs. The weather was sunny, around 75 to 80 degrees F (24-27 degreees C). Same as yesterday. Started every time between games with no issues until after the last game. Same thing happened. Turned the key and nothing. I popped open the hood again, did my wiggle check of the various electrical connections and nothing seemed to work. Tried my gear shifting thing again. Nope. Pulled out my phone, looked up a local towing company on Google. One more time before dialing. Tried to start it again and vroom, started right away.
I now turn the floor over to all of you for your thoughts and diagnosis. Is it my alternator? Perhaps the coil? Are there any particular electrical connections that I should focus on? Any wires that I should carefully examine and replace? Is there a particular connection to the starter that I should be looking at?
I fear that if I bring it into the shop, they can't duplicate the issue. I'd appreciate your collective wise counsel.
Thanks in advance.
My first thought was uh oh, I left the headlights on. Nope. Lights are off. The buzzer sounds when I open the door with the key in the ignition. The interior dome light turns on. The gauges do their thing in anticipation of the engine turning over when I turn the key. Radio works. Windows go up and down. It just doesn't turn over.
Back when I was a teenager, I remembered this happening once with my old Honda Civic. I had left it in Drive when I parked the car and the weight of the car in gear was more than the starter could handle. So I tried shifting the Mercedes into neutral and turning the ignition. Nothing. Back to Park. Nothing. Time to pop open the hood.
Nothing seemed loose. No dangling wires. No connections amiss. I didn't see any ground wires hanging free. I wiggled and pushed all the wires I could see. Everything seemed as it should.
It's clear that the battery isn't dead. Perhaps its low on juice? Maybe my alternator is going and on the last run it didn't charge up the battery properly? Hmm.
I pulled out my phone, did a quick internet search for the nearest towing place and got ready to dial. One more try. I put the key in the ignition, turned it, and it started right away. What the...
Ran great all the way home. No problems.
So today, suspicious and wary, I used the car again to drive my many kids to an endless number of soccer games around the western Chicago suburbs. The weather was sunny, around 75 to 80 degrees F (24-27 degreees C). Same as yesterday. Started every time between games with no issues until after the last game. Same thing happened. Turned the key and nothing. I popped open the hood again, did my wiggle check of the various electrical connections and nothing seemed to work. Tried my gear shifting thing again. Nope. Pulled out my phone, looked up a local towing company on Google. One more time before dialing. Tried to start it again and vroom, started right away.
I now turn the floor over to all of you for your thoughts and diagnosis. Is it my alternator? Perhaps the coil? Are there any particular electrical connections that I should focus on? Any wires that I should carefully examine and replace? Is there a particular connection to the starter that I should be looking at?
I fear that if I bring it into the shop, they can't duplicate the issue. I'd appreciate your collective wise counsel.
Thanks in advance.