Mobile ESL steering lock repair?
Discussion
Stussy said:
Help! I’m in Plymouth and stuck with the dread ESL steering lock failure, I desperately need someone to come and fix it.
Does anyone know of a place to do such a thing?
Good luck with that. Mine went last year and the car was off the road for a week whilst i sourced options (which were ridiculously expensive). Does anyone know of a place to do such a thing?
Joking apart your short term best bet is to get a rubber mallet and give a firm whack to the bottom of the steering rack above the pedals in the hope that there is something left on the brushes to get you going.
If you do as i did and do it as a DIY then i have a spare motor that you are welcome to. Depending on the model of MB you have I could probably knock up some instructions too as i took a shedload of pictures whilst i did mine.
Best of luck
Thanks, I knew it was always something to fear!
I’ve owned it 3 years and was always thankful it had never failed, I guess my turn has arrived.
I was very lucky last night in that it failed when I was parked in a remote spot on the coast, a whack on the steering column got it going and thankfully got me home. After that it was not moving again no matter what I tried.
Unfortunately that meant it was stuck locked, so not able to do the relatively easy motor swap, plus I don’t have any tools here either.
I rang Mercare first thing and it was on their flat bed within an hour and a half, so I’m impressed with the speed they could help.
They called me earlier saying the board in the lock is dead, I’ve seen posts regarding this before, so swapping the motor wouldn’t have fixed it any way.
Thankfully they managed to it rolling too, so didn’t even have to drag it onto the truck.
Should have it back on Thursday, £200 for the lock plus 3 hours labour.
A total pain and a shockingly crap design from Mercedes. There should have been a recall with the amount that fail!
I’ve owned it 3 years and was always thankful it had never failed, I guess my turn has arrived.
I was very lucky last night in that it failed when I was parked in a remote spot on the coast, a whack on the steering column got it going and thankfully got me home. After that it was not moving again no matter what I tried.
Unfortunately that meant it was stuck locked, so not able to do the relatively easy motor swap, plus I don’t have any tools here either.
I rang Mercare first thing and it was on their flat bed within an hour and a half, so I’m impressed with the speed they could help.
They called me earlier saying the board in the lock is dead, I’ve seen posts regarding this before, so swapping the motor wouldn’t have fixed it any way.
Thankfully they managed to it rolling too, so didn’t even have to drag it onto the truck.
Should have it back on Thursday, £200 for the lock plus 3 hours labour.
A total pain and a shockingly crap design from Mercedes. There should have been a recall with the amount that fail!
That's interesting that there is another potential fault in the system then as i wasn't aware of that.
I take it when you say lock you mean as in where you insert the key? I'm surprised that if a board failed that it would work again with a whack as that really sounds like the motor in the lock that is mounted to the top of the steering column.
Regardless, i'm just pleased you got going and got it sorted.
One point to note..........my car is a 2010 E Class coupe so has the transmission mounted gear selector so was easy to move when i had to get recovered. However, if yours has the gear selector mounted on the steering column then there is a Mercedes supplied part that allows the car to be moved whilst effectively still locked in park but apparently not all recovery guys have (access to) one. Hopefully you never need recovered again though.
I take it when you say lock you mean as in where you insert the key? I'm surprised that if a board failed that it would work again with a whack as that really sounds like the motor in the lock that is mounted to the top of the steering column.
Regardless, i'm just pleased you got going and got it sorted.
One point to note..........my car is a 2010 E Class coupe so has the transmission mounted gear selector so was easy to move when i had to get recovered. However, if yours has the gear selector mounted on the steering column then there is a Mercedes supplied part that allows the car to be moved whilst effectively still locked in park but apparently not all recovery guys have (access to) one. Hopefully you never need recovered again though.
There is PCB inside steering lock (where the motor is that fails), I’ve seen various mentions of one of the chips getting fried because the lock gets out of sync somehow.
My gear selector is on the transmission tunnel, thankfully the mechanic was able to unlock it somehow in the fuse box.
I’m not too knowledgeable on auto boxes, but was thankful he didn’t have to drag it on, so that was something at least.
When it first failed I instantly noticed a difference in the motor noise, so had a horrible feeling it was on its way out.
I guess me getting it started to get it home was it’s final bit of life before it totally died.
My gear selector is on the transmission tunnel, thankfully the mechanic was able to unlock it somehow in the fuse box.
I’m not too knowledgeable on auto boxes, but was thankful he didn’t have to drag it on, so that was something at least.
When it first failed I instantly noticed a difference in the motor noise, so had a horrible feeling it was on its way out.
I guess me getting it started to get it home was it’s final bit of life before it totally died.
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