Steering column looseness - source of strg whl play

[jneal3110]

My '04 C32 has a bit of play in the steering, not bad but annoying, did all the usual ball jt replacements, the suspension is very tight and I can grab the wheels (on a hoist) and rotate them about the vertical axis and get no slop. I had been told it was the rack by the stealership but didn't deal with it until now. Looking at the gear/column closely while having someone turn the wheel, the source turned out to be big-time (1/2") movement of the upper intermediate shaft where it goes thru the firewall. I haven't torn apart the carpet/IP lower cover yet to get at it, and there isn't anything that I could find in the STAR service CD that relates to this, just wondering if anyone here has experienced this with their C-class and whether it's A) an immediate safety hazard and B) DIY-friendly. The dealership was perfectly happy to replace the rack at a cost of $3K, which would not have fixed the problem...*******s...

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[Miniac]

Look around you should be able to find that part separate ad save big bucks.


Haven't read anything on the C-class but the intermediate shaft are problem on a wide range of cars old and new. Ford trucks have always had problems with them. On the new Minis the joint that is in the engine bay likes to rust and causing the joint to freeze. The stealership usually says this is a bad rack and charge around 2000.00 for a 150.o part.

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