Fully charged - no starter click 2021 Vita 24P

[dhodgesnvl]

I popped open the relays for the starter - R8 and R10. I can use them to trigger the starter with turns happily. The ignition is on but, despite the motor turning over, there is no starting.


I think the only three things that stop the ignition - no parking brake, not in park and not pressing the brake - right? I seem to remember that the screen will tell you if you forget one of those.



The new Mercedes specific code reader will arrive Wednesday.


I do appreciate y'all

[Eagle5]

I could imagine that you will plug-in the code-reader, and you ask it for what is wrong, and it will say this

I'm sorry Dave; I'm afraid I can't do that

[Morich]

I agree with Lenore that you have chased it this far but then it gets into what MB wants done and that can get really hard to sort as they keep adding new stuff. Part of that new stuff is a whole bunch of safety gizmos like to keep folks from hot wiring the car!
Some keys have parts that "talk" to the car before it will let the ignition do anything!
No key, nothing happens, so you can't do it like in the movies.
Nor can you do it when it breaks down!


This is the basic idea of the solenoid. It has a coil of wire to control it and if battery and ground are put on that coil from the ignition and switch, the big contacts should close to connect the battery you find on one big lug to the other big lug that has a braided wire built in going to the starter motor.
That makes the starter turn!

Long ago in a different world, I was able to be useful on a hay crew because I knew where to put a pair of old pliers across the two big lugs and start the old truck!
When it's 20 miles and 2-3 days to get the truck fixed, being able to start it is good enough to keep you on the crew---even if you're not worth squat for throwing bales into the hay loft!

[lenore]

Yup the germans do weird stuff to such a simple circuit that has worked for years. Including a Nuetral safety switch buried in the transmission valve body is one of those that got me for a hour of troubleshooting, fortunately somebody had posted the exact same starting issue and posted the fix with the replacement of the switch inside the transmission. They replaced my Valve body with the switch and all is good. The service adviser said Mercedes had that problem for years and wouldnt pony up to it which would mean a recall. So it goes on. My 2018 Chassis has the 5 speed tranny. Yours I believe has the 7 speed transmission, wonder if that switch is also in yours.

[Morich]

On 2015 Ford Focus, one of those items is called Transmission Control Module (TCM) and they changed it numerous times trying to resolve an intermittent crank problem but we finally gave up and sold the car as the computer kept telling them the battery was bad!

My personal thought is that when three different Ford dealers can't tell if the battery is bad or not, we are in deeeeep trouble!

[dhodgesnvl]

Update: Holy cow. I know more about the RV than ever. I'm sure it will save me when we drift North to Alaska next year.


I've checked and rechecked. I'll replace many of the replays under the passenger floor board tomorrow.


I'll start a new thread for the latest

I can manipulate R8 and R10, the starter relays under the passenger foot well and get the starter to turn the engine happily. It doesn't start because the computer has one NO I see in the new Sprinter specific scanner from Foxwell.


Thanks again! Hope to see you on the new thread.
Doc

[dhodgesnvl]

Thanks all for so many helpful posts. I finally gave up and asked AAA to tow it the 95 miles to MB in Draper Utah. Three tries and a week later they got it there. Three weeks later they found the problem at F15 (their explanation). I had checked everything there but they found it quickly and fixed it for $400.



Come on Spring!
Thanks again
Doc

[Eagle5]

Originally Posted by dhodgesnvl

... asked AAA to tow it the 95 miles to MB in Draper Utah. Three tries and a week later they got it there.

Hi Doc,
Why did it take AAA three tries and a week to haul your motorhome the 95 miles?
Glad you now have it fixed.
Eagle5

[dhodgesnvl]

The AAA trilogy was a hoot. We've had the AAA +RV for many years so we were a little naive. The first truck called when he was a few minutes away and asked how big it was. I told him what I told AAA. He said no. I called AAA and reminded them that they had all the details of our RV. They sent another company with Roy, the driver and hero of our story. He arrived and said it was too big for his very large truck because of the height once it was on top. He left.


Then AAA called and said to figure it out myself and they'd reimburse me. I was a little miffed. I pay them to find a tow. I told them no. Roy had been thinking about it and decided he could pull the drive shaft and tow it old school. So Roy at Heber City Towing took the initiative, solved my problem and we are very grateful.


All that said, all the AAA people were very nice

[Eagle5]

Originally Posted by dhodgesnvl

All that said, all the AAA people were very nice

I have AAA RV Premier too, so it is good to know about pulling the driveline. I may have to get a tow someday, but I hope not.
Thanks for the update; Eagle5

[dhodgesnvl]

I hope you skip the tow too. We live way out in the boonies. They were sending the trucks that pull the vehicle up onto the bed making it very tall in transit. I think a low flatbed would have worked but they couldn't find one.


That said, pulling the drive shaft and picking up the front wheels looked pretty easy.