Mercedes W204/C-Class steering lock problem

[DiNZi]

Hi all,

Brief description of the problem experienced. I own a Mercedes C200 2010 Automatic, 81k mileage.

Yesterday morning I tried to start the car as normal and the engine wouldn't start up, windows not working, horn not working, no dash lights engine, fuel ect.. (only clock), radio works.

I left it, went to work, came back in the evening and started off trying a few things using the spare key. Still no luck, jiggled the steering wheel a little and inserted the key to start it, it powered up the engine and everything ok.

I drove the car for about 5-10 minutes to hopefully clear what might have been the problem.

This morning, I tried to start the car, and it's back to it's problematic state, I can't jiggle it and start the car either.

Any advice welcome.

Dean

 

[MancMike]

Your electronic steering lock motor is failing. It'll fail completely soon and your car will be immobile. It'll need recovering to a garage for repair.

I fixed mine myself. It started going intermittently like yours for a while, then one day when it started getting more frequent, I stupidly thought I'd ease it up a bit by putting the fob in and out several times, in doing so it did it's last movement and died. It never worked again. Luckily, mine failed in the open position, so i was able to remove the steering column and remove the ESL module from the column, open it up and replace the motor myself at a cost of 17 quid from eBay.

If it fails in the locked position, you're out of luck, as it then needs cutting off with a grinder, as it's not possible to remove it from the column while in the locked position, it locks itself on. You then need a new entire module, and that'll need coding to the car, so you'd be looking at anywhere from a few hundred to nearly 2 grand I've seen people quoted...

It's not something a jiggle will help with, it's not the key hole that's the problem. The motor in the locking unit itself is failing. The car won't do a thing until that module confirms it's withdrawn the lock from the column (it'd be dangerous).

I took pictures of the process when I did it, I can dig up the thread if you want.

 

[DiNZi]

I'd really appreciate if you could get those pictures so I can have a look, thanks.

Also, a link or example of the part I need, just in case I can unlock it again.

 

[MancMike]

Here: https://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/electronics/214699-start-w204-ignition-issue.html

 

[Adrian5405]

Agree with above, had to have mine changed a few months ago, it failed one morning so didn't take the chance and just parked it up in my garage with the keys still it it,
By the time the part arived from Germany and the garage doing it it took nearly 3 weeks iirc.