please, please help! have already spent $1729 for a new ignition system, at dealer. car still doesn’t start! now dealer says i need a new ignition control module, for $1600. really? it’s a 1999 e320, with 151k miles. THANK YOU!
Can’t tell you if you need a new ICM or not. Apparently the dealer can’t either. A dealer should be better at diagnosing a problem. This dealer is just throwing parts at the problem and giving you the bill. After $1,700+ dollars and still no fix you need to have a talk with the general manager and/or owner. IF it is the ICM then all the money spent so far was a waste, and it is your money. So, if they refund you the $1700 you didn’t need to spend, then you have the money for a new ICM. Go talk to someone in the highest level of management at this dealer. This is bad customer service and MB dealers are supposed to be the best at customer service.
Gosh, thank you so much! Fortified with your em, i just called my mb service manager. he tells me that they put in the new ignition switch because that’s what the codes said was wrong. they had to do it, he says. now, he says, the codes are reading that the ignition control module is bad. he says there is no labor in replacing it, that the part itself – particularly tailored to my car – costs $1600. i found a used one on ebay for $55, but the service guy said that it wouldn’t work.
Benz over once, Benz over twice, Benz over three times…
Lesson #1…NEVER take a 12 year old car with 151K miles back to the dealer for ANYTHING…
If the car will not start, they can hardly pull any diagnostic codes…The ignition switch was guesswork and they guessed wrong and they have developed a clever line of excuses to get you to pay for it…
I would have the car towed to an independent shop that works on Benz cars and ask them about installing the $55 used part you found…Ignition modules are NOT custom made for each individual car on the assembly line…
Does the engine actually crank over, but never fires up, or does it not crank at all when you turn the ignition key?
If it cranks over and doesn’t fire up, replace the Crankshaft Position Sensor.
If it doesn’t crank at all, replace the Relay Control Module.
Both are very inexpensive in comparison to what you have shelled out already.
BC.
Benz…The Best or Nothing…