W204 Steering lock mechanical fault diagnosed

[nrg220]

Yes indeed change it. Mine worked after I freed it but had it changed as its a dead in the water fault and you can't free it so a tow truck jobbie. Good luck

 

[pmc5010]

2009 220 CDI 45,000 miles full mercedes history. Steering lock sticking intermittently Mercedes Manchester cost £708.00 no goodwill gesture from Mercedes, yet seems a common fault.

 

[NDFR]

I found a local Indy who changed mine for a new lock price was under £300.

 

[190]

£708 is a disgrace on something that should have been a recall.

 

[pmc5010]

The £708 includes a 10% discount after complaining to the service manager .

 

[dave11674]

W204/212 ESL repairs

Key not being accepted and steering lock not coming off ... result= non running car.

I can repair this for you

Sometimes its just the motor thats at fault but if its a complete failure then the ESL will deactivate itself and basically its a new one and coding from main dealer.
I can fix all these problems and put your ESL back to s new state.

I also do keys for all models of mercedes.

I do do this if your local and if your far away by mail.
You will have to send me your ESL, ESZ and a working key remote.

Get in touch if you need this service
Esl repaire is £250
Key programming is £150 for 1 key and £200 for 2 on the same car.
If you opt for a spare key at time of esl repair its £100 for 1.

Hope this is ok here
Im based in leeds.

Thanks

Dave

 

[Keaveyd]

It will be a steering lock and column module...

Id expect a bill of circa £4-500.

My guy used an esi emulator, so no steering lock.
Reprogrammed 2 keys and did all the work at my house,
so no towing etc. £350. He reckons he does about 15 mercs
with this issue every week. Autolock UK, would recommend.

 

[Helen14a]

Exact same issue with my 2005 slk. Main dealer has quoted £700 to replace the ignition, plus a possible £400 for 2 new keys and has said I might need the steering lock replaced too, £230 if I have it done with the ignition £380 if I wait to see if the new ignition solves the steering lock issue, the car is only worth about £4K, is it worth it? Car only has 58,000 miles on the clock.....

 

[ash59fifty-uk]

Exact same issue with my 2005 slk. Main dealer has quoted £700 to replace the ignition, plus a possible £400 for 2 new keys and has said I might need the steering lock replaced too, £230 if I have it done with the ignition £380 if I wait to see if the new ignition solves the steering lock issue, the car is only worth about £4K, is it worth it? Car only has 58,000 miles on the clock.....

Go elsewhere other than main dealer

IIRC some alternatives have been posted in this thread

Replacementmercedeskeys.co.uk can do it I think

 

[tifomb]

In December 2016 I had the steering lock fail in locked position, no prior indication, one day it just stopped working later in the day. Luckily happened at home.

MB were no help, dealer and CS. Local dealer quoted £950 for ESL and EIS or about £700 for just ESL. Another dealer quoted lower price for ESL if I gave the old one in, but they were much further away and (private) tow was about £150.

I contacted MB CS (including the UK MD) and even though they agreed this problem is a TECHNICAL NOTICE in the USA with affected ESL and EIS being replaced for FREE it does not apply in the UK.

It is a known and common issue which will affect nearly every W204 up to 2011 (pre facelift) or when a car reaches high mileage as ESL has 'worn out'.

Cost me £600 in the end but I replaced the ESL from another car and sent this away to be reprogrammed using the software from the EIS. The garage I gave car to had 'burnt' out the board on the ESL by trying to program too many times. Keys didn't need programming but they replaced the battery on both.

Other common issues are the central locking failing and dim rear lights due to faulty wiring (earth wire is too thin and burns out). I've had both.

Overall, a well built car but too many common problems which are expensive to repair and MB are no help.

 

[190]

It's a worry that yours failed with no warning making the repair more expensive. Was it the usual problem of the £15 motor failing inside the ESL ?

 

[ktos92]

I had a problem with my sterring lock is well without any signs of it to go dead. I have decided to fit in an emulator which is made of my original sterring lock. I have gotten 3years warranty for it and it cost me 100EUR to do everything + DHL shipping to Poland to get the things programmed. Most of the job I have done it myself. To diagnose the sterring lock porperly you have to use some software like VVDI for example to be able to see if it is a motor lock problem or some electronic problem on the board. If it is the second thing most likely your sterring lock is not repearable.

 

[190]

I'll replace the motor in the ESL if it provides some warning. Mean time, I make sure the battery is always fully charged and I give the steering lock the least work to do I can mange even to not removing the key more often than necessary.

I might look into an emulator for peace of mind.

 

[ktos92]

When you decide for emulator you can get a the one that will be made out of your own ELV. Also you can get some of them from china which are called XHORSE but I have heared that it;s better to get your own modified as you will stil have good quality electronics in it.

 

[tifomb]

It's a worry that yours failed with no warning making the repair more expensive. Was it the usual problem of the £15 motor failing inside the ESL ?

It was the motor originally but like I said the garage I gave it to (Polish guys) tried too many to program it (I have no idea why they were programming it since they only replaced the motor) and this 'locked' the board with 'error codes'. It was not be able to be programmed again.

They then bought an emulator (£60 ebay) but could not get this to work as again they couldn't program it (I have no idea why not).

So my ESL was useless.

I then had to either buy a new ESL (which MB don't sell as it's supply and fit only) or find one from a scrap car (which I did). I got the garage to take out the ignition barrel (EIS) and sent the ESL, EIS and 2 keys by post to a company that (1) put a new motor in the ESL and (2) virginised (blanked) the ESL from the other car and (3) took the programming from my EIS and copied it to the ESL and (4) put new batteries in the 2 keys since they didn't need programming.

Cost me about £480 for parts/repair not including the time I spent and travel/fuel, postage etc and the garage I gave it to was 11 miles from home, I made about 6 visits to it and many phone calls.

I had the car towed from home to the (Polish) garage because they said they can repair my ESL by (1) taking it out from the locked position and (2) putting a new motor in and (3) programming it, all at a cost of £250 an in 2 days. They took 3 weeks before they said "take the car away we can't repair it".

They cost me a lot of money and time.

My car was off the road (at home) for 3 months as all local garages were closed over xmas (it happened 5 days before) and MB dealers took a few weeks getting back with prices over the new year, the (Polish) guys took 3 weeks from end of Jan and the other company took 2 weeks to program (to receive my ESL etc, look at them, tell me I need another one, I then had to look for an ESL, send this to them, they programmed and sent back). But at least my ESL, EIS and 2 keys were all checked as fully working.

I WOULD NEVER BUY ANOTHER (newish) MB AGAIN ....

 

[MancMike]

I WOULD NEVER BUY ANOTHER (newish) MB AGAIN ....

Why not?

 

[ash59fifty-uk]

l WOULD NEVER BUY ANOTHER (newish) MB AGAIN ....

At least not before coming onto a forum such as this and doing a (simple, free) search on a model and known problems ey...

 

[190]

Is there a modern car out there that doesn't have some inherent design flaw. You could drive yourself crazy just looking.

 

[ktos92]

It was the motor originally but like I said the garage I gave it to (Polish guys) tried too many to program it (I have no idea why they were programming it since they only replaced the motor) and this 'locked' the board with 'error codes'. It was not be able to be programmed again.

They then bought an emulator (£60 ebay) but could not get this to work as again they couldn't program it (I have no idea why not).

So my ESL was useless.

I then had to either buy a new ESL (which MB don't sell as it's supply and fit only) or find one from a scrap car (which I did). I got the garage to take out the ignition barrel (EIS) and sent the ESL, EIS and 2 keys by post to a company that (1) put a new motor in the ESL and (2) virginised (blanked) the ESL from the other car and (3) took the programming from my EIS and copied it to the ESL and (4) put new batteries in the 2 keys since they didn't need programming.

Cost me about £480 for parts/repair not including the time I spent and travel/fuel, postage etc and the garage I gave it to was 11 miles from home, I made about 6 visits to it and many phone calls.

I had the car towed from home to the (Polish) garage because they said they can repair my ESL by (1) taking it out from the locked position and (2) putting a new motor in and (3) programming it, all at a cost of £250 an in 2 days. They took 3 weeks before they said "take the car away we can't repair it".

They cost me a lot of money and time.

My car was off the road (at home) for 3 months as all local garages were closed over xmas (it happened 5 days before) and MB dealers took a few weeks getting back with prices over the new year, the (Polish) guys took 3 weeks from end of Jan and the other company took 2 weeks to program (to receive my ESL etc, look at them, tell me I need another one, I then had to look for an ESL, send this to them, they programmed and sent back). But at least my ESL, EIS and 2 keys were all checked as fully working.

I WOULD NEVER BUY ANOTHER (newish) MB AGAIN ....

I don't think they knew it what they are doing. The first thing they should do they should check the health status of the ELV/ELS on a specific hardware and software for Mercedes Keys, ELV, ELS, EIS. Then they could determine if it is possible to unlock the lock clear the faults etc. Regarding emulator, there is different types of them which works on different software to be able to programm them. Some of them just cheap rubish and that's it.

Regarding your comment that you will never buy another Mercedes. Everyone have their own opinion but looking at the reliability comparing to VW group or BMW I can say that I am happy of my Mercedes. This is my second model. First one was W203 C180 non kompressor with M111 engine which was working as a charm. Covered over 300 000KM. My dad had this car for 4 years, I had it nearly 5. We covered over 200 000KM ourselves on the car without any failures. Currently I W204 from 2008. I have this model over a year now and apart of ELV/ELS I did not have any failures and car is working as a charm.

 

[tifomb]

I don't think they knew it what they are doing.

Your're right, I realised later they don't know what they're doing ... It was an auto electricians recommended by a mechanic.

Why not?

Regarding your comment that you will never buy another Mercedes. Everyone have their own opinion.

Yes, obviously this is my opinion. But other people who have had the same model (and previous) say the same things, well built but too many electrical faults that are costly to repair.

I've come from Japs and Ford and they were much more reliable than the MB, in my opinion.