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One of the major problems with starter motor problems /failure on the 'A'
Class is that the engine has to be dropped to get at the starter motor which
is sandwiched between the under floor on the passenger side and the top of
the engine.
Lowering the engine for changing the starter motor is the method used by
Mercedes-Benz Workshops and a bill for close on £1000 would not be out
of order with VAT currently being at 20% 04/01/2011.
The question comes when the car is still very serviceable and in good
general condition but the replacement of the starter and labour costs to
remove and install it exceeds the value of the vehicle.
Well Tom it appears has come up with the answer, and forwarded the
procedure in the hope that it will assist other owners faced with the same
predicament, provided you are prepared to do the work yourself or can
find a mechanic who will undertake the work or assist you with the job, it
can be done without raising the car or dropping the engine albeit both he
and mike who has also followed the procedure do emphasis that there is
still quite of lot of work involved and that some mechanical knowledge
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In the first instance I recommend you read fully mypage.43 with emphasis
being on this page 66.
Also make yourself familiar with the photos on mypage.33 in respect of
the precise location of the starter Motor.
Also be aware that the starter motor you install must be matched to your
Vin number, failure to do this and there is every chance the starter motor
although not coded to the individual car when fitted will still not operate,
not because it is defective, but because it is the wrong type motor for your
particular 'A' Class' car's electronics set-up.
Also the quality of the starter motor you fit is vitally important see the
e-mail below from Brain who had starting problems over a long period, his
was a car with the 049 code I.e Immobiliser built into the starter:-
Well to make the long story short I took my car to a Master Car
Electrician and he had the MB Star Diagnostic Machine. He ran the test on
my car and it showed a stored error code of P1650. He said he would look
at it and when I came back he said he got to car to fail with an actual
(present) code of P1650. He indicated that it had to be my starter but
indicated that I already had a new one and that can't be it...so he worked
on the ECU and literally swapped out and IC on my board that led to the
Starter!!! ...and that still did not fix the problem...he said it was the starter
and that my particular model starter was crap and needed to be swapped
out with a regular one...so that is what I did!
While the car was being worked on I found a German Blog and another
German Master Mechanic actually highlighted the problem and what
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To add insult to injury this problem will continue to get worse and many of
these defective starters that are being pulled (with the built in anti theft
chip) and being re-MANUFACTURED and SOLD AGAIN! None of these
starters are being checked for the chip fault and some of your fellow
A-Class could be throwing good money after bad by re-installing a
re-manufactured BAD starter.
Before Starting,
Spares required.
1. Coolant fluid
If your coolant has
been replaced in the
last two years then
it can be drained
and re-used topped
up as required with
new fluid. If not then you are advised to replace it with new. for further
details see page 43.
2.Inlet manifold rubber gasket.( it is highly recommended that you replace
this as a matter of course even through the existing unit may be serviceable
, Failure to do so may result in an inlet manifold leak which will affect the
air fuel mixture reaching the engine with the result that the engine
management light may well show after only a few miles.
3 Injector sealing 'O' rings X 8 " per injector ( Mike has mentioned that it is
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not necessary to remove the injectors and fuel rail from the inlet manifold
and therefore these may not need to be disturbed. However the 'o' ring
seals are only a few pence each it may be worth replacing them while you
are able to easily get at them and there replacement may save work later
on.
You may well find that the existing gasket and 'o' ring's appear reusable,
however as a precaution again air leaks on the inlet manifold & injectors
on re assembly I strongly advocate that they be replaced as a matter of
course as a leak on either component may cause an air leak causing your
car to receive a weak fuel mixture which could cause the engine
management light to show and will also damage valves in the longer term.
Eugene, of Australia now having done the job twice also offers this
advise:-
Just another point. The fuel injectors actually take two '0'rings each and the
parts advisor at Merc said he would not even think of not replacing them
once the injectors have been removed. (this is to clarify the alternative
starter procedure. I can also confirm that without removing the water pipe
the rear bolt on the starter cannot be turned. Another tip is to use a probe
mirror to see the rear bolt. I found this helped a lot to locate and undo it as
I could actually see it.
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Tools required
The following is in the main the procedure followed by Tom and Mike
owner of 'A' class cars.
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With the vehicle if possible under cover but with adequate safe lighting
bearing in mind you will be removing fuel pipes.
1. Disconnect the Battery for procedure see page 35
2. Drain Coolant, although I am of the opinion that only about half the
coolant needs to be drained unless you are replacing as part of a two year
replacement. see page 43
3. Remove connections from rear of ECU mypage.38
4. Remove air filter housing
complete with filter rear of the
see page 16
4a Mike suggests that if you are tall then there are advantages to raising
the front of the car six to ten inches, thus saving your back while working
on the engine. He like Tom also emphasis's that space is tight and so the
more compact the tools used the better, 3/8 drive sockets and bars being
preferable to 1/2"drive which tend to be bulky when undertaking tasks
such as this, however extension bars are required to make the job easier,
swivel joints (UJs)are necessary. ( Bearing in mind the amount of money
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being saved in labour costs it is worth investing in these tools if you can do
the job yourself. 5. Disconnect
electrical connections and fuel
lines to injector rail B
There is no comment from Tom
about leaking fuel .however Mike
did find a residue of fuel in the
fuel rail, and make the point that
the fuel rail has a bleed valve
protected by a small rubber cap ,
try to prevent loss of that
protective facility.
( Do not switch the ignition on at any point during this procedure or the
electric petrol pump will pressurise the fuel rail with fuel)
Mike found that there was a small amount of fuel left in the fuel rail
although this did not present a problem, it does emphasis that if using lead
lamps etc for artificial lighting then to ensure that bulbs are protected with
a protective globe. Safer still work in natural light.
Before you start to remove fuel lines etc make sure that the engine parts
are free of contamination dust etc
as can be seen in the photo right, this engine is covered in dust or
contamination which would be best cleaned off by vacuum or blower
before removing the fuel rail and inlet manifold thus preventing the engine
components from being contaminated
It is advisable to cover all ports with a suitable cloth/material to prevent
contamination as well as nuts etc from falling into the engine.
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I'm firmly of the opinion that if the right hand front wing, inner lining is
removed access to the starter securing screws can be gained, however a
least one long extension bar would be required. along with a socket and
6mm 'Allen' bit.
Note
It is at this point that many owners following this procedure have had
problems. The rear Starter securing bolt is almost impossible to get at.
In Timo's case he mailed me in destperation as there was not way he could
remove this bolt
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I understand that Tomo used an enoscope, but therse are not available in
every tool box.
Either way he managed to do the job so my suggestion was valid.
I myself would then have plugged the hole with a rubber grommet, this
would prevent water getting between the plastic inner wing and the metal
of the wing/shell which would be susceptible to rusting.
This method could please applied to either the w168 or W169 if the bolt
becomes impossible to remove.
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Starter Removed
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16. Remove the top of the air filter housing after fitting, to confirm the
Filter element is correctly located/positioned
In addition to the information above please read this mail from an other
owner who had to replace his starter in this case a starter with inbuilt
immobiliser
This informative e-mail was received from Alexander which may help
other owners when changing the starter Motor "from the top" (top of the
engine bay rather than from below the engine.)although the car in question
is a 2002 w168 "Advangarde" with manual gearbox same model and year
as my own car, some variations were found when undertaking this task
which are worth noting before starting the job.
Dear Lofty,
Many thanks for your very nice site dedicated to W168 Mercedes Benz 'A'
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Class .
I will send you a donation after I've finished getting my money back from a
rather unscrupulous company. (see below for details)
I have just replaced the starter motor on my Mercedes W168 2002 manual
("Avantgarde") using the "from the top" method (called the alternative
method on your site). There are a few things which are not exactly as
stated on your page, so I thought I'd better drop a message to you in case
others undertaking the job find it useful.
First of all, I would like to confirm that mine is one of those 049 coded
cars, with the cut-off relay built into the starter motor itself.
The correct starter motor (as installed by MB) was Valeo D7ED28
(Mercedes Part number :- A 166 151 0001).
At the end of the day, I replaced it with a Valeo D7ED281 (Mercedes A
166 151 0001), which was a perfect fit. Unfortunately, I firstly tried saving
money and ordered a Lauber starter: elauber.com Well, it never worked on
this car. The reason is yet unknown. I strongly suspect that the company I
ordered it from (buycarparts.co.uk -- NOT RECOMMENDED!) supplied
a "standard" starter motor in the box of an "electronic" one.
It does crank the engine, if one whacks +12V from the battery onto its
solenoid terminal but it does NOT if properly wired.
One must add to this, that the triple-pin connector readings as given on
your web page do NOT apply to the cars with 049-code. In fact, the
reading on the purple-white wire have to be:-
(a) ignition=1: 0.V
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However it appears that there is something GOOD about having a car with
the 049 coded starter motor.
Firstly, this electronic starter motor is much better on the fly-wheel, so
much so that there was virtually no damage at all on mine even though the
mileage on the car is 115,000 +).
The reason for it is that its electronic circuitry in fact ensures that the dog
is fully engaged at all times.
Secondly, although I cannot say if this applies to all W168's with 049
coded starters, the MAFS sensor is completely separate from the ECU, so
if the need arises can be replaced in a matter of minutes and cheaply.
2. The screws securing the starter on my car were are most definitely NOT
'Allen' head bolts, they are proper 'Torx'.
The size is TX45.(Torz.45) It is absolutely vital to get it right first time as
the back one is not visible.
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3. It is really hard to get to the back bolt. You need a lot of extension bars
of various lengths and some ingenuity, as the plastic pipe gets in the way is
a real nuisance.
4. Your remark that one could take a part of the body work out and get to
the securing screws this way, using a really long extender, does not apply.
To get to it this way, you'll need to dismantle half of the engine as well.
5. The oil filter housing does not need to be dismantled. In fact, I am not
quite sure one COULD dismantle it without lowering the engine a trifle at
least.
6. Once you've got the starter securing screws out, that's not the end of the
story. You still need to disconnect the starter wires. This can be only done
in this sequence: first, leaving the starter motor in place, one disconnects
the (thick) plus feed from the battery (it is exactly the correct length, you
can't even turn the starter motor on its side without first doing this). Then,
you can turn the starter motor so that its terminals are staring at you, and
then it's almost trivial (compared to the rest of the job) to disconnect the
wire from the solenoid terminal. Having done all this, it is now possible to
remove the starter motor (still tricky, but manageable).
So if you are considering changing your own defective starter motor. Yes it
is possible/doable, but you will need to have really small hands (or
someone in the household with small hands), a number of and varied
extension bars.
In particular, one needs at least one that can be fitted with a swivel joint.
And a flexible ratchet.
The reason is that - especially with the back starter securing screw - one
can only get a single ratchet "click" when either unscrewing or screwing,
that's the most one can hope for and only provided that you can get the
ratchet into exactly the right spot relative to the plastic tube coming out of
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the pump.
I did most of the job with a 3/8" long-handle flexible ratchet but at times
one also needs a short-handle 1/4" drive ratchet. So a good set of 1/4" and
3/8" along with the appropriate sockets is a must have.
That is all I am able to remember now.
Many thanks for the website again.
I think, you'll be pleased to know that it's very well known in the Russian
speaking world, so much so that on every single web forum dedicated to
the A-class in Russian that I have visited, you are commonly referred to as
"The Englishman" and "The Englishman's site" :) -- With best regards,
Alexander
It is well known that there are variations on the 'A' Class even for the same
model and year so this is a guide only expect to find some small variations
on your car when tackeling jobs of this complexity.
Thank you Alexander, greater input by owners helps to make the jobs less
costly and easier for other owners as well as helping us stay out of the
hands of Mercedes-Benz who in some instances will charge more for a
repair than the car is worth, so our input prolongs the life of the car as
well.
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I Lofty again stress do not tackle this job unless you are fully confident
there is a lot to disassemble and replace and to do so without a good
knowledge of what you could cost you more that if you had the job done
by a professional in the first place. also remember doing you do need
spares available before you start, having started the job spares may not be
easily obtained unless you have alternative transport.
Please note
I lofty, have not had need to undertake this procedure myself and so am
relying on information made available to me by fellow owner Tom with
photographs kindly supplied by Phillip. Also please be aware that it
appears that both cars of which this procedure was carried out were
automatic, petrol, versions,
It is not known if you can carry out this procedure on diesel models in the
same way, or the manual gearbox versions (possible with the manual
version but please read the above from Alexander,)due to the gear change
cable mechanism which may prohibit the removal of the starter from the
top.
I'd like to thank both Tom and Philippe for his input & photographs which
I hope, will help other owners when dealing with what is a difficult
situation.
If you use this procedure and find that the information does not apply to
your model or you have other constructive information please
e-mail lofty who will add it for the information of other reader/owners
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starter, so even if this job takes you a couple of days to complete it is still
a very worth while job, although not one that should be rushed or taken on
by inexperienced owners.
In particular make sure you get the correct replacement Starter Motor or
you will find yourself as have many none Mercedes-Benz workshops
doing the job twice, If you use the incorrect starter for you vehicle I will
not work
so check using your 'Vin Number'
Next.
Back to Index,
Purchase DVD.
Please Make a Donation.
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