I wonder if there is something on the other side of that 13mm nut that is still lodged. Now that you have loosened the 13mm nut, can you manually try to rotate the steel cable? Maybe with pliers or a vice grip? If not, would love to see a video of what's happening in there. Post one if you have the opportunity. My steering wheel is moving freely still, except I have noticed that when I adjust the tilt, the steering wheel needs to be pushed downwards to "sit" where it belongs. This push causes the steering wheel to tilt down an additional 1/4 inch. Weird.

DarkOps,
I have just messed up my back, so it will be a few days until I can crawl under the dash again. But, when the motor engages, it tries to twist the cable. The motor end torques (tries to turn) but the geared end refuses to move as if it is locked.
I can't see anything on the other side of the unit that the cable goes into, and I'm not comfortable tearing into the center consul and instrument panel without detailed instructions.

Dark Ops,
My back is still not good, but last night, when I started the car, I thought the wheel move down a fraction of an inch. Tried the stalk, and the wheel move up and down jus like it's supposed too. Not sure the memory option is working. I'll check. More to come.

Dark Ops,
Memory is working also! Does seem to be a little play after the wheel comes down into place, but I'm satisfied. Don't know if it was the loosening the nut or gremlins...

So I'm finally going to brave myself to attempt to fix this dog bone issue. I'm a noob. I can fix couple of minor stuffs but I don't know whether I'm up to par to do this job. So first problem that I've encountered. How do I remove the A, B and C shown on the picture? I managed to remove the bottom part carpeted area but couldn't continue with the rest. Struggling a bit also with trying to remove the instrument panel. Got the right side of the instrument panel released but the left one is stuck and I'm too afraid to force it. Can someone help with insight on how to remove the A, B and C and are there any other things I need to remove. I wish I can find a youtube version in how to do this. :-) Many thanks in advance..

Tried for 4 hours to get that piece of **** in but no way. I removed one of the two long bolts that hold the assembly but the second screw I believe is pushed in the wrong way from when they build my dash board. See picture.

Can anyone explain how you got that rubber bend to make it go into the second shaft? I think if I bend it too much it will snap in half before it is in again.

Push it all the way into either side, then you can bend almost in half and it will slide on other side.

I wiggled the steering wheels so much and that screw is not coming out because it is too long. It hits the aluminum part as seen in the picture. And it won't bend to where it would go to one of the holes where it could slide through. I might cut that bolt and replace it. Still cheaper than going to MB for this 15 minute job as everyone said here.

help - I am new to the forum so hope that I'm doing this correctly. I have a problem with my SLK300 tilt steering wheel. It telescopes fine but the up-and-down tilt doesn't. I have followed the suggestions here and have verified:

1) the white "dog bone" coupling is OK and is not broken - it just doesn't turn.

2) all fuses labeled for steering appear to be OK.

When attempting to raise or lower the wheel there is a very faint clicking noise from behind the driver's side of the console - but no indication that the motor is attempting to turn.

Is this likely to be the motor having given out and failed? It worked fine at the end of the day a few days ago - the next morning - nothing.

Thanks for any assistance.

jrcomer

Did you remove the panel(s) to check and see what's going on underneath it is it just an assumption?

I have removed the panel at the bottom of the steering column. I can see up under the dash to verify that:

1) the telescoping mechanism is working,

2) the white tilt "dog bone" coupling, that everyone talks about, is intact and not broken in half,

3) steering related fuses seem to be OK.

Up-and-down tilt function doesn't work. Doesn't sound like anything is attempting to turn when the tilt lever is used.

Jrcomer

Read out steering wheel column control module and/or actuate up/down via SD and see what happenes since the fuse is ok you said. That's what I would do first.

Does anyone know how to mechanically raise the wheel? I can live for awhile without the ability to raise and lower it via the tilt lever. Locked in it's current position - it's just too low to be comfortable to drive?

jrcomer

Immmmm? I'm pretty new at trying to solve these problems on my own. I don't really follow what you are saying - "Read out steering wheel column control module and/or actuate up/down via SD".

Can you offer more details?

hi, i lost my tilt function while driving , found out later, was just bad contact in fuse box driver side , not the fuse, the big long contact to that probaly goes in to sam box.

Tommyboy928 -

I removed the cover from the fuse box and visually inspected the fuses that are labeled as being associated with the steering function. I'm not following you and your reference to the "big long contact". Can you elaborate please and I'll go check this.

jrcomer

Fuse (f29) F34f29 inside driver side dash board fuse box (F34) is for the steering wheel column.

Immmmmm? All fuses seem to be OK. Does anyone know if the wheel can be raised manually?

Not to my knowledge bc it's a gearbox that is attached.

Machack -

I really hate being a nuance - but I wonder what your earlier advise was - "Read out steering wheel column control module and/or actuate up/down via SD".

Can you please explain further?

Get the fault code(s) of your steering wheel column control module read out via SD (Star Diagnosis) and use same tool to see if the steering wheel column can be actuated (meaning moved) up and down with it. That way you can pin point what the problem might be.

Hope that clarifies it for ya.

Yes - thanks so much - it does - but puts it out of my league I'm afraid. Unfortunately, don't have such a tool and expect that it's price is prohibitive. Thanks for taking the time to clarify however.

I had an inexpensive tool for my Audi a few years ago (Ross-Tech) - but can't see that there is something equivalent for the MB.

Any mechanic has one in his shop.

OK - thanks again for you assistance.

I finally got the coupling collar aka dog bone in. But I had to cut off 2 mm on both ends otherwise it wouldn't have fit without taking the whole dash board apart as this would have been the proper way.

Kudos to the peeps here stating they did it in 5 minutes without altering the length of it is taking screws out of the assembly.