jvakos

i have a 2003 C32 and whenever i fully turn left or right at slow speeds (like in a parking garage) the steering assist is fine to do the initial turn, but it is extremely weak when trying to return the car to a straight driving direction. in fact I actually have to manually turn the wheel back to straight again otherwise the steering stays partially turned to where the car would continue driving at a significant turn.

For those with at 2003 C32 - does your power steering respond differently?

C230 Mulac

That's definitely not normal.

1) Check power steering fluid level. If low, top it off and try again.
2) Check the lines and the pump and see if anything is leaking.
3) If the above two check out, the only thing I can think of is that there may be something wrong with the steering rack. Bad part about that is they are not cheap. My rack went bad last year (different symptoms though) and I managed to find a used one at a salvage yard for $100 and paid a friend $400 for install. These cars have the speed sensitive steering and there is a small valve on them that goes bad. Problem is, you have to take the whole rack off to replace that valve and I have not been able to find it for sale individually so people always just replace the rack. On the plus side, all of the w203 racks are the same.

Take it to someone with STAR and see if there are any hidden codes.

Good luck!

jvakos

Thanks Petar for the suggestions and input. i changed the power steering fluid about a month ago replaced with new and nothing changed. so sounds like it could be what you said with the steering rack. I'm also wondering if i just have a weak/degraded power steering pump possibly?

not sure what i'll do as it drives fine when going above 10 mph and the only place i really notice the problem is when parking in the garage spot in my condo building where i have to drive 5 mph up 4 ramps with tight turns and have to somewhat force the car to straighten out.

will update if i find out something more on this.

C230 Mulac

No problem

I will say my steering rack symptoms were different, it would be an issue around all turns. What mine was doing is, let's say I was making a constant left or right turn and just holding the wheel in one position. It would hold for a second and then it felt like the push back on the wheel would suddenly spike for about 1-2 seconds, and then revert to where I was holding the wheel originally. So basically the wheel would push back against me turning a little harder and the wheel would jerk maybe 1-2" in the other direction and last about 1-2 seconds, then go back to normal for 1-2 seconds, then repeat. Definitely not good if I wanted to take the car sharp around corners and have it doing that.

Now about the pump, usually I've been told if the pump is going to go bad it will just go bad and you will have no power steering, not any of the weakness you are explaining. So I'm not sure.

Either way, pump and/or rack are both $$$. Pump is a little over $400 on RM European, then you have to get fluid to replace after install, plus it looks like it would be a pain to get out. You can find a remanufactured rack for maybe $600 or so. New I believe is around $900-1k. For the rack, your best bet is to check a salvage yard. Not sure where you are located but Potomac German helped me out with my rack. I think they run around $150 on their website, www.pgauto.com

Good luck!

C230 Mulac

Actually let me rephrase my previous statement. In looking for sway bar prices, I stumbled upon this from Summit Racing

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/aa.../model/c55-amg

Remanufactured rack for $312, not a bad price. May want to weigh the cost/benefit of used vs. this.

jvakos

Petar - hey thanks for this input on the power steering situation. I dont think i every said thanks for your reply so sorry this is late.

My powersteering is still super weak, if im in a large parking lot and just turn the wheel all the way to the Right or Left the car will almost drive in a circle the entire time until i manually push the steering wheel back and it slowly straightens out.

I tried something today (for a very different reason) which was to unplug the supercharger cable (confirmed my clutch plate chirp) but what i also found out after unplugging the supercharger cable is that the power steering was actually a little bit better perhaps because the supercharger was not on so less load on the crank pulley?????

johnng117

If thats the case sounds like a pump problem or low fluid.
If its the pump you can buy a pump maintain kit for the c32.

content://media/external/file/16365

insame1

Have you swapped any of the pulleys? may there is an under drive pulley on the PS pump.

CarPartsDiscount.com

have you checked your alignment? the castor angle would cause such an issue. if not dialed in correctly you steering will not return to center on its own.