Engine does not crank when key is turned?

2009 313 Sprinter (2.1), 74,000 miles.
I have experienced a few odd occurrences when getting into the van and turning the key - the instrument lights are on but the engine does not crank.
The lights remain on.
Engine does not turn.
Only solution is to lock doors (central locking), unlock doors and turn the key - engine starts - so seems like a central locking communication problem.
Has anyone else experienced and fixed this?
Thanks,

Andy
 

sailquik

Well-known member
andy,
Have you already replaced the "y" cable and cleaned up and tested with an ohm meter all the chassis grounds + checked the
battery condition?
Do you see > 13.8 volts alternator output when running down the road?
Try checking the easy stuff first.
Roger
 

showkey

Well-known member
Many of us have experienced “click no crank” and it was intermittent or random for long periods of time. Mine was intermittent for over a year and turned out to be the starter solenoid internal contacts. The sticky pretty much covers all the potential causes.
 

nemu

Member
solenoid for me too , even the replacement started to play up after a couple of years

i posted sometime ago the MB part number so with a bit of searching on this forum you should be able to find it and buy just a new solenoid rather than complete starter
 
Thanks for the feedback guys, I can relate to corrosion / burnt solenoid contacts. I seem to have stumbled across a fix which kind of works for me - this is activating the central locking and then instantly unlocking. I thought this might be related to some form of ECU fault and by doing this reset it - did any of you come across this method - or is it just a quirky operation which somehow works (probably in the short term)?
 

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