2004 C240 mercedes wagon

can a smart key with that maybe dropped a thousand times ( ok maybe 2 thousand times) contribute to this??? just reaching

It could be a weak wire running from the battery to the starter. It can be a bad/weak starter, or many other things. A video sure would help.

I’m not familiar with your car, so this is a guess. Some cars now have a starter “button” which you just push to start. I think your car uses a similar system, only you turn the key to start position. Once you push a start button a start cycle starts in the car’s electronics. The fuel pump is activated as part of the process, once the electronic sensors report all is ready then the starter motor is energized and the motor is started.

In your case something is not giving the “ready” signal and causing the delay in activating the starter. It very well could be fuel pressure is being sensed as too low and the clicking sound has something to do with getting the fuel pressure up and sensing the fuel pressure.

Most cars have a valve that closes to maintain fuel pressure when you turn off the motor. Then when you restart it the pressure is still high. If this valve fails fuel pressure in the system is lost and you have to wait a few seconds for the fuel pump to work and bring up the fuel pressure. This true in both gas and diesel motors and I don’t know if your MB is gas or diesel.

As long as the car starts and then runs normally this might not be something to spend money on. It might just be something you live with in an 8 year old car.

You seem to be unhappy with the MB and it will need more repairs and expensive ones due to its age, a new Toyota might be a better car for you now.

I would spend a houl labour at the M-B dealer to find whats up with your Benz also find out what else she needs in the near future then seat down and make up your mind witch way you want to go.

Could be but usually those smart keys don’t allow you to start it at all, though.
I take it you just have the one key?

I’m not sure what to make of the “stall noise” thing without hearing or seeing it. It is plausible that it is related to the fuel line not being primed properly. Perhaps just try doing the thing I mentioned over the next couple of days and see if you can get it to ever fail.
If it does not occur in the time frame it normally would have, we’re on to something. You can then decide to live with this issue and just use that trick all the time or try to get it fixed at one of the Mercedes dealer$…

Btw, there’s a good dealer in Greenwich CT. Another friend of mine used to work there.

thank you so much —no I have 2 keys but still they are old and a bit abused. Everyone here is so helpful . I will let you know what happened. Thanks Remco There is a dealer in Larchmont that I set up an appt but I am going to take it to one more person with all your ideas ( I know how much a mechanic is going to love a women telling them her idea) --then look on a lot for a different car.

Sorry we couldn’t get you a definitive solution. No doubt they’ll be able to straighten it out so you can flip it to get something more reliable. Dealers see you coming and going anyway, but that’s got to be 10 times worse if you’re a woman and driving a Mercedes. They are nice cars but when driving one, they immediately think that money is no object to you.

Yes, just get a nice looking understated car with a little less upwardly mobile reputation.
Best of luck.

It cranks fine but hesitates before starting? hmm … well, one thing to check is there’s a gadget that injects a little extra fuel during a cold start. If this happens only on cold starts, that might be failing. It is called the cold start injector.

Does it go “tick, tick. tick…” , but the starter is not spinning the motor. If so it is the starter or the wiring to the starter.