2002 Mercedes Benz E320 starter wont crank over

Tiny
MIRATHUL
  • MEMBER
  • 2002 MERCEDES BENZ E320
  • 6 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 250,000 MILES
Hello, my car broke the ventilator belt, (very fron of the car, that drives the aircon/alternatorwater pump)

the computer told me I had alternator/batteri failure, but I tryed to drive the car to the nearest exit, but it stopped after 1-2 miles, and whas in 1000 rpm, amy english is bad sry. Hope you know what I mean, after full stop, then it would drive again up to like 50 mph, then stopped again and went back to 1000 rpm, I tryed a last time to get to nearest exit, and it stoped again to 1000 rpm, then I turned off the engine (no smoke) then after like 20 sec I tryed to start it again, but it sounded like there whas to low power on the battery, it cranked over like 3 times then I stopped, then it started to smoke pretty mutch for like 15-20 sec.

i then tryed to bye a new battery ( I still didnt know it whas the ventilator belt at this time ), just thought it whas the alternator, and I whas told a new battery would atleast drive me 5 miles, to neares workshop, so I did that to avoid pulling, but the car just clicked, no crank over, then I had the car pulled home, and I tryed to charge the new and old battery like 20 hours each, and with both battery's it wont crank over.

the car got hot, but not for long, and lost like 2 liters of water thats it. Is this a blown engine? Or could there be another reason for this? It whas a very good moter with no engine noise before this and not either when the engine stopped to 1000 rpm, still sounded like normal, no smoke after I turned it off either, but smoke after I tryed to start it again? Never seen this before.

i very mutch hope you can help, as I have finansial problems atm, and dont wanna spend alot of money for nothing.

one more thing, the ventilator belt or whatever its called whas totally ripped in pieces, not only broken, it whas in many, many thin pieces.
Monday, April 13th, 2009 AT 12:46 PM

4 Replies

Tiny
KHLOW2008
  • MECHANIC
  • 41,814 POSTS
Hi mirathul,

Thank you for the donation.

When the serpentine drive belt ( alternator balt) gives way, the alternator and water pump would not be working and it would cause the battery to run down. It would also cause overheating as the coolant would not be moving in the engine.

Hopefully you have not overheated the engine too badly otherwise the head gasket might get damaged.

The smoking during cranking should be due to excessive cranking or a bad connection.

Replace the serpentine belt before attempting to restart the engine. Ensure the battery is fully charged, a weak battery would not work as the starter requires a high voltage output from the battery.

Check all battery terminals and groung connections. Check starter connections aswell, overheating could have caused the cable terminals at starter to have bad connections if it initially was not too tight.
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Monday, April 13th, 2009 AT 4:30 PM
Tiny
MIRATHUL
  • MEMBER
  • 3 POSTS
As I sayd my english is not too good, battery is 92 amp brand new (2 weeks ) charged it 20 hours, so thats not the problem, so what you tell me is that is can practically only be some bad connection somewhere?

If the headgasket is damaged, it should "just" cause some leak not that the engine cant crank over correct?
BTW I think excessive cranking means that I cranked it for too long, if thats the case it cant be true cause I cranked it like 3 -5 sec at max. Then the smoke started.

Anyway thx for now, I will try to check the connections even if its hard to get to some of the places, and then I will write back.

Regards Jimmi eriksen. Denmark
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Monday, April 13th, 2009 AT 6:11 PM
Tiny
KHLOW2008
  • MECHANIC
  • 41,814 POSTS
Hi Jimmi,

I can understand you so there is no problem with your English.

When the belt broke, the alternator would not charge so the computer would tell you there is a fault. Don't worry about this first.

What you need to do now is to get the belt working. Before installing belt, check for wobbling pulleys on items such as water pump, AC compressor, tensioner bearing and all other items that the belt is seated on. Make sure none is seized.

When connections are bad for high load circuit, it would cause smoking. Btw did you check where the smoke is coming from?
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Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 AT 6:54 PM
Tiny
MIRATHUL
  • MEMBER
  • 3 POSTS
Hard to tell exactly; but from the bottom of the engine it seemed I will have a friend checking the connections today I so hope your right it just that
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Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 AT 1:28 AM

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