Help needed - '03 C270cdi says 'no malfunctions' but won't start.

Sounds like glow plug relay is not working. Double check for power at the glow plug relay. Just follow the thick wire from the glow plug fuse and you will find the relay. Make sure you got 12V or higher there.

But if the engine turns well and the temp is 4 degrees Celsius, the car should start without any help from glow plugs, it is a CDI.

Could it be that you have unplugged some of the sensors, like camshaft position sensor or something? Should be a coinsidence if the crankshaft sensor had failed just when you were working elsewhere in the car. Not sure if the instrument cluster would report these sensors, should let the dealer read the codes.

Thanks Tiger and Anon. I doubt that any sensors were unplugged accidentally or otherwise. I have since tried a shot of diesel easy- start in the air intake and the engine fired on that. That has made me suspect the glow plugs primarily. I tested the middle three (most easily accessed) with an ohmmeter, and resistances were around 1.6 ohm which seems to be within tolerances per the data on this group. Nevertheless, I'll change them all tomorrow. At the mileage on the car, they are going to start giving trouble sooner or later anyway. I tried tracing the wire to the glow plug relay as Tiger suggested, but it is impossible to do that without disassembling the fuseboard to see underneath, and at this stage I don't want to disturb too many complex electrical gizmos if I can help it, in case I worsen the problem. All further comms very welcome, I will report after I have fitted the glow plugs, I now have the battery on a charger as it was beginning to slow down due to all the cranking. Dealer is a last dire resort - 28 miles away and well-earned poor reputation for servicing, I never found them to be any way satisfactory with previous MB's I owned, and I go back as far as a

John

Generally speaking. Glow plug relay is located on driver side wheel well behind the headlight location. You should see a black box with a cover on the bottom... Look up the part on online store so you get an idea what it looks like.

I think your problem is at the glow plug relay... not the glow plug. Even with one or two bad plug, the car should start up roughly.

Thanks again to everybody who is contributing to this - you seem to have a really helpful and friendly group here. The update is - last night I changed all five glow plugs. All measured on the bench, all between 1 and 2 ohms resistance. I and 5 are fiddly to get out, 2, 3 and 4 are easy. None as difficult as a peugeot 405 I had a few years ago where two plugs were behind the injection pump. Anyhow, with five new plugs installed, and the battery trickle charged overnight the car started easily this morning at ambient temperature of about 6 Celsius. Then the show started. The computer reported loss of the engine stability programme, and loss of the ASP (traction control). The little yellow engine light came on and stayed on. The blue headlight lamp came on a few times, even though the lights were off. I had visions of a big wad of money going to my local dealer after all to resolve these issues. However, after a few miles of driving, the fault displays disappeared and it reverted to 'no malfunctions', only this time with the engine running for a change. Once the car was switched off and restarted, the yellow engine light stayed off, so as of now all seems to be well. I have driven about seventy miles in it today, and it seems fine again, so I am hoping the problem lay with the glow plugs somehow. I'll be back with more questions no doubt, for now, thanks again.

John in Ireland