1999 C230 Kompressor "Baby Benz" - Help my baby, Scotty! She has 130K miles on her, and 9 months ago my wife drove it to the hair salon a few minutes from our house and parked it on a warm day. She came out several hours later and it would not start. It would crank and crank, but would not start. Called for a tow. The tow truck driver arrived and told my wife to try and start while he hit up under the right-rear of the car. IT STARTED! She drove it home. I thought maybe it was the fuel pump going bad. I changed out the fuel pump and fuel filter. Fired up just fine. Drove it a few months later and it stalled coming to a stop light. Fired up again no issues. Just recently a few weeks ago I drove the Baby to an appointment about 15 minutes away. Came out about 30 minutes later and it would not start. Crank, crank, crank. Battery is good and was tested and has a full charge. After several attempts it finally started and I was able to drive home like usual...ZOOM, ZOOM! Fun driving with the supercharger on the car and it sounds like a vacuum cleaner going down the road. Any ideas on what the issue might be? After changing the fuel pump and filter, and after it stalled, I took it to two mechanics, one being the local Mercedes dealership. No trouble codes both places. HELP MY BABY, SCOTTY!!! The car is immaculate and I want to keep it forever.
Check the wiring for damage, ground and other connections for tightness and corrosion, first. Next, check that olden relay that controls power to a fuel pump. Those tend to corrode over time. A tiny electromagnet inside gets often hanged up, it starts flipping erratically, … and finally fails. Known fault with old German cars.
F.S.
Have you checked the starter? If the fuel pump tested good, I'd take a look at the starter myself. Also the connections as mentioned above.
If you want to keep the car forever, get used to these kinds of things. It's the nature of an aging Benz.
