alesha30

I have 2014 E250 as all of the post mentioned the adjustment stopped working up and down but was ok for back and forward. I assume there it no dog bone on models newer then 2011 which was replaced with cable. So, I took my car to a dealer this morning to see if this is covered by my extended warranty and they told me they have seen this problem before which sometimes can be fixed by knocking steering wheel from top and bottom while pressing on adjustment lever. Believe it or not it did work after service adviser hit the wheel few times from both directions while pressing adjustment switch to the same direction he hit the wheel.
Hope it will help others as much as it did to me.
Good luck

Aeroknot

flying c

I want to thank TalonP for post # 76 and his excellent descriptions and pictures.

My car: 2013 Mercedes E350 Coupe

After going through steps described by TalonP on post #76, my steering wheel column still would NOT move up or down. I gave up and put everthing back together, resigned to spend $1500 to $1800 at the dealership.

However, I keep on reading other posts and there was one where they were talking about door being open vs closed, ignition being on vs off. To satisfy my curiosity, I went back to my car, sat on driver seat, closed the door, removed the on/off button of the ignition so I could turn ignition switch with the key, turned ignition one step before engine would start, push lever down while hitting steering wheel on top with the palm of my hand, followed by pushing lever up while hitting steering wheel at the bottom towards the ceiling, and then ... the column started to move!

It now moves up and down. However, since I do not know why it stop working, other than something got stuck somewhere, and I do not want to pay the dealership $1500 to $1800 to fix it; I positioned the steering wheel the way I like it, and then I disabled the "Easy on/off" feature so the steering wheel will not move up/down in/out when I get in or out of the car.

TalonP - Thank you so much for your pictures and detailed description.

Cheers,

Flying C

Behold81

Hi
I am new to the forum.

I just bought a 2011 E350 CDI. (2010 edition) My tilt funny enough is not working! I need to check what mech I have and that it is this at fault. the motor is certainly trying. it clicks and then stops I think. If its the rubber one I take it the motor will keep spinning? would the wheel move with this broken at all?

If its the cable I take it, its more a click? then nothing?

Thanks

I_am_Sam

Mackhack

Joemoris

Ok I have read 20+ threads on the various steering wheel issues. First off THANK YOU GUYS who put out so much effort and patience into helping people. I feel like I owe a lot of you a beer.
I have W221 2010 S550 with the dreaded Tilt wont go up or down. I dont get the whirring when I hit the lever, I get the double clicking noise.Sounds like an old school turn signal CLICK-clink. It will click when I push up the first time. Then it wont make the click until I push the lever down, then the same click. If I push it up in rapid succession, it will click as many times as I push the lever up if I dont delay between clicks. Same with down. There is no motor sound or any whirring etc.
It is in the down position, and I did the reset on the wheel via turning all the way left, then right before restarting and repeating. I did that before I read that I SHOULDNT do that if it was stuck in the down position. OOPS. Any suggestions on what I should do now to reset the controls? I dont have access to Star diagnostic Tool My wiring diagram shows fuses 47/48/49 as being in the engine compartment. THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ANY HELP!!!

SYNDK8

Thanks to Kev and Flying C and all others who put out the information.

My Telescopic was working but not up and down (this all happened when my overweight cousin pulled on the steering wheel everytime he exited the E300)
- After checking the way Kev mentioned I saw the white part was not broken
- Checked all the fuses were ok

I saw Flying C comment about banging the wheel and that finally worked.
- I did have to bang it at least 4 times on each side while pressing the up and down respectively.

Thanks for all the help its been 5 years since this problem came up! Finally glad everything worked out without taking the dash apart.

Chevota

Mine was stuck in the up position where it goes when I turn the eng off and open the door. The motor was trying to bring it down but unable to move the wheel. The problem was simply too much stiction. The motor drives the wheel up until it stops, and I assume it turns off when the current load goes way up. Being stuck it tries then immediately turns off which confirms current is what kills power. Since the motor is trying, nothing should be broken, but it is stuck... So, imo, it when the wheel is up and torqued to a certain point it powers off as it should. Going in the other direction it needs that much torque plus whatever stiction there is, just like loosening a bolt takes slightly more torque than tightening it (on avg). I've noticed this problem with misc other motorized devices in my life, like power windows, so for whatever reason it has trouble down the road which I assume is wear or lube related, so I figured it just needed a nudge to get working again. So I popped the cover off under the dash for a look-c, saw the motor was trying because it was torquing the flex shaft but unable to budge the steering. I put a tiny 4" adjustable wrench on the end of the flex shaft (where it's crimped, and on the driven side since I didn't want to stress the flex shaft) to break it free and it works fine now. No doubt it'll happen again some day, but so far so good. The hardest part of the job was getting the hood release screw back in the cover. So it's a 15min job excluding that hood release screw. I don't think I'll need to remove the hood release next time, just unbolt the cover since I know where and what to do.
Another option, which I should've tried first and will try next time, is hitting the steering wheel up while pushing the down lever. My assumption is pushing up will reduce tension on the screw shaft to give the motor a chance.

Mackhack

Motors inside the seats and steering wheel up/down, in/out have hall sensors for position determination, not via current load.

Gene Vin

hey all, I simply found the plug for the telescopic and up/down under the steering wheel and a simple unplug plug back in fixed it for me!

waBenzer

Remove under-dash cover; Remove column harness plug bracket exposing "dogbone" drive motor area above; Remove old broken parts from spindles; Attach new part to straightened (or cut-off) hex wrench to one end and fit to driven spindle; Attach hex wrench to drill motor and spin it to offset spindles or more working room; Attach remaining end onto spindle and verify proper tilt operation; Replace column harness plug bracket; Replace under-dash cover. I have photos and video to add later from my laptop.

Adrian Spittles

Thanks for the info. This did the trick for me and my 2014 E400. Thanks.

pfreer

I have a 2014 E350 coupe. Your method worked great! I had to pound down a few times and pound up a few times, repeat a few cycles and it eventually worked!

pdentremont

I have a w204 and after replacing esl with emulator I can’t figure out where these connect to and it kinda looks like the connections in your last photo. Any advice where to find that connector would be appreciated. I bolted in my steering column but can remove it. Just at wits end and this looks like the closest to me. I was told this is for the electric steering adjustment. Any advice?

Peter

waBenzer

No you don't.

waBenzer

Hi Peter,
I'll pull the lower panel and take a look around for you. If I can, I'll disconnect those two plugs and upload the photos for you. I need a couple days.
Paul

pdentremont

I found them both damn one was really hidden I only found it by feeling, then I had to move the whole steering Column almost sideways to find it. I hope they are both correct if not it will just be backwards I suspect but the longer one is likely for the longer run.