Hi there,

My 2008 C300 with 90,000KM started to show ESL failure symptom 6 months ago after parking in my garage 4 weeks. It won't start intermittently, just like some members mentioned in this forum.

The symptom was gone after two week's daily commuting.

Two months ago, I decided to replace the rear brake pads and bleed brake fluid. After removing the jack in the trunk, I forgot to close the trunk and all the lights in the trunk were on.

It took me 4 hours to finish those brake jobs.( I know, I am just an amateur DIYer.)

Suddenly, the ESL failure symptom returned. Fortunately, after trying couple times, my car started.

4 weeks ago, I was shopping for some hand tools in my community's yard sales. After several short distance drives, my car won't start. I had tried dozen times but no luck.

All I can hear was little ticking sound came from the steering wheel after putting the fob key in.

I called Mercedes dealer in my area, a Service Adviser told me to tow the car in and they will do the diagnosis. I asked the cost to replace ESL, the SA said "It depends on how serious the problem is, if it's ESL and EIS, normally couple thousands."

I remembered one member in this forum mentioned that his car's ESL failure symptom disappeared after replacing battery in the engine compartment. I decided to give it a try before paying couple thousands to the stealer.

According to the figures in my car's engineer menu, the battery's voltage had dropped to 11.8 and 11.9.

Before putting new battery in, I gave it a last try, this time with several knocks under the steering wheel. Mysteriously, the ESL unlocked and my car started.

I was in a frenzy of joy. After replacing the battery the ESL works normally so far. It costed me only $135.

My theory is that the ESL will tear and wear eventually and require more power to unlock. Once your battery deteriorated and the voltage dropped to a certain level, the symptom might occur. That's why most of W204 with this problem are 2008 and 2009 year model.

Dealer won't bother to find the real cause. They just want to squeeze as much money as possible from us by replacing both ESL and EIS which are not necessary in most cases.

I hope my experience will help other W204 owners with the same ESL failure symptom.

Good luck,


royruan

 

hi royruan
great post will try thanks.

 

The key word there is theory. I see why you came up with it, but ultimately it doesn't make sense. Mercedes has been using this system for years. There are a lot of older Mercedes cars with EIS/ESL that work fine. It seems that 2008/2009 W204s have suffered a bad batch of parts.

 

I am currently having the same issue. It seems the ESL is wearing out as described. Usually I can move the steering column adjustment lever back and forth a few times and it works. Twice I couldn't get the ESL to engage and/or disengage. By luck, I removed the dash/cowl under the steering column just tapped on the ESL with a hammer/screwdriver....both times it started right up. So either the pins are sticking or the cogs are wearing out or the pins are finding a spot on the steering column it doesn't like. I now know how to temporarily fix, but need a permanent solution. Do you know about removing the ESL on an 2000 CLK and replacing it with an ESL emulator? Saw a youtube that showed the car working with the ESL removed??? Apparently there are two types of the ESL, type 1 used on pre-2002 MB and type 2 used after. The ESL emulator can diagnose the type 2 but will replace the type 1? Also saw a youtube that showed replacing the tiny motor within the ESL....the sell both these items on Ebay for $30.00 ea. Seems too good to be true but I have found nothing about how to replace a worn out ESL only. I know that this is the only part wearing out. Any thoughts or ideas? Thanks!!

 

A silly question..is there any where to get a little very light machine oil in the correct spot in the ESL ? Maybe drill a small exploratory hole away from the electrics?

 

very good idea! Ideally, I need to see if I could drill a small hole in the housing without removing it from the car....inject some oil near the two pins, motor/gear and maybe the white plastic cog that moves the pin in and out......just would not want to permanently damage the ESL with a hole in the wrong place and/or too deep! Sounds like I need to sharpen up my surgical skills....

 

Sounds as if you are halfway there !!

 

Unfortunately, you like I will have bad news later as that US$4 Chinese motor will eventually burn out in the ESL leaving you with a locked (steering) car in a remote locality. Here is my story:What may have happened in your car is the following as it happened to me: A Chinese $5 motor in the ESL (Electric Steering Lock) has burnt out and is possibly locking the steering and not letting you start, a common problem with W204s and others.

Solution1: Watch MIKEYZs video on Youtube, if you are lucky, you can hit the ESL by removing the bottom kick plate and get the motor to start one last time or wriggling the steering wheel and at the same time putting the key in and listening if there is a sound. If so, you are lucky as the steering gets unlocked. LEAVE KEY IN, OPEN BOOT, DISCONNECT BATTERY AND THEN YOU CAN TAKE THE KEY OUT. If you make the mistake of taking the key out before, it will lock again and that may be the last time the motor turned.

If MIKEYZ's trick does not work, then you are in the poo like I was. You will have to remove the steering column to get at the ESL. If you want to save a lot of time, take off the kick plate and the surround to the gauges to get at the top two torx bolts holding the column. Use an extension and a universal to remove those top two torx and then the bottom two torx bolts holding. Remove bottom power to ESL, remove plastic cable holder at top once to have pulled column out diagonally a bit and split it to remove cable to top, then take out the whole lot without removing steering wheel and air bag! Stupid me, I removed the steering wheel with the help of my daughter, as we are looking at a 10mm hex and 80 or so Nm red-face torque! Pulling the column forward is a two-man operation as it only just fits diagonally through the front. Swearing helps!

Then the fun starts as you cannot remove the ESL with the lock out, you must cut the 10mm mounting bolt somehow with small cutting wheel on angle grinder or a two-hour job with hacksaw. Then depress the 10mm bolt and remove ESL, perhaps grinding off the edges. Then order a new motor from Aliexpress, the tool with handle to remove the four pins by hammering into the pins of the ESL and the circular tool to remove the steering lock. Watch Part 2 of MIKEYZ’s Youtube video..

Watch more Youtube to clean and lubricate the innards of the ESL with lithium grease and how to change the motor. Had to buy the motor locally as China has slowed down and as I did not know about the tool for the four pins I had to drill them out making a mess inside. There is a rumor that the NEC security chip locks the system after too many starting attempts as the motor slowly burns out and you may also have to take out the ignition lock (EZS or Exx?) with the circular Aliexpress tool and then deliver ESL, ignition lock and key to repairers, like locksmiths, who have the electronics to remove the electronic lock in the NEC chip. Cost about $400. What fun!

Solution 2: US$1200 or AUS$2000 repair plus towing charges with locked steering at a stealership.

Solution3: An emulator, which kids the system into believing the ESL is working correctly with electrickery. But for that to work, your steering cannot be locked. I suspect it will need the key, ESL and ignition lock to be given to an ESL expert.

 

Hey sorry to dig this old thread up but I seem to be having the same issue but my steering wheel is unlocked. Everything else is the same i turn the key and no lights come on, car wont start etc. Is there anyway I can verify this is my issue? This happened to me after I was doing some work on the car and had the battery negative unplugged for about an hour. This issue happened to me once before about a year ago and I have no idea what caused it but I hooked up a jump starter and the car finally started.
Also wondering after reading some of your comments if the previous owner had already put an emulator in my car and that is why my steering wheel is not locked. If so can I simply get another one or fix it?

 

Australian ICU Repairs, I think that is the company's name, they fixed my ESL once it was out. As they fix ESLs, they claim emulators fail, but that may be the bull going number Twos. To check if an emulator has been put in, just remove the bottom cover rising from the fire wall. Just compare the photos of an ESL with what's behind and connected to the column and wires coming off it. An emulator will just be hanging somewhere.

As your steering is not locked, MIKEYZs video shows how, with the aid of a stubby 12mm (?) socket with some aid for turning (room shortage) you can remove the ESL quite easily. .Once out, send it to Australian .........? together with key and ignition lock and they will fix the ESL for $450 (?). Or hit the column to make the carbon brushes of the $5 motor touch the commutator one last time and start it, drive to a Merc stealership and pays $2,000! At the stealership, DO NOT PULL out the key, as that locks the steering and that will cost. You may remember that noise the ESL makes when the key is pulled out, that is the locking noise.

 

Is there a company around still fixing/repairing ESLs? Have a 08 C300 and my ESL recently failed.

 

Any Merc stealership will repair it at great expense, but try to find a local indy. With the help of this and other fora plus Youtube videos and Dr Google any indy should be able to fix it.

 

Wish I had seen and tried this last year before paying 1500 to get my ESL fixed. Oh well...

 

cant I just make the ESL stay unlocked permanently.,?

 

yup that is called an emulator and probably what most people that encounter this issue do as it’s like a 5th of the cost of the dealer doing this. Just go on craigslist, offer up or eBay and type esl emulator.

 

For anyone did this kind of produces, it looks to me it only need to lose two bolts on top, and two bolts bottom on the column , and that's enough space to remove the ESL, no need to remove the wheel and front panel like in video of MIKEYZ's

here is the video for reference:

 

Posting on an old thread hoping to give my two cents of contribution. I am in that predicament. The first time it got locked was after losing the garage spot to my partner and leaving the car out on a cold and humid day after a snow storm. I checked battery and the Amps where close to the replacement area. I got a booster pack and gave it a shot and it started right away. I bought a new and strong battery. I thought the problem was solved but on another equally miserable day it happened again. I got it towed to the mechanic and it was put inside the heated garage. As I suspected, after being there, it started. So, my contribution is that it may have something to do with condensation freezing the motor or the brushes of the motor. Please, take this factor into consideration.

.

 

One of the most constant factors with this issue seems to be the battery dying or trying to start on low voltage. I had my esl bypassed and I’m pretty sure the cause was a low voltage battery. My alternator completely failed shortly after this issue was fixed but it had been leaving me with a low voltage battery for quite some time I’m sure.

 

If it is simply a battery issue, no problem. Being able to start/not start meant in the end the carbon brushes had worn down to the extent of just leaving the car with a locked steering column. Had I known this to be an issue, I would have kept the key in and disconnected the battery and then switched the car off to ensure the column is not locked.

Then the entire steering column has to be pulled out to cut the ESL unit free.

 

I think battery drain while the key is in the ignition may be the main culprit for the problem happening itself. But yes it is worse if it fails in the lock position… either way if it fails you gotta get it bypassed or fixed.

 

[QUOTE=st0;8671679]For anyone did this kind of produces, it looks to me it only need to lose two bolts on top, and two bolts bottom on the column , and that's enough space to remove the ESL, no need to remove the wheel and front panel like in video of MIKEYZ's

here is the video for reference: [/QUOTE
Great video. So how much if I send you the ESL and a key?
I was lucky, mine was stuck in unlocked position

 

Where did you get the bypass and who was it programmed by? Did you have to send out your key as well or both the key and ignition? Did you ever have any trouble with the bypass after it was installed? I recently ran into the same issue on my 2012 c300.

 

I found a mobile locksmith out of Philadelphia that Programs keys for the Benz, so I figured they could do this. They installed an emulator for $600 with a 5 year warranty. The dealer would only warranty the replacement part for 1 year and cost was $1500.
They have shops in Houston and like five other big cities. US Locksmiths or Locksmiths America??? Something like that. No problem any more after about 3 months. Installer was done in ten minutes. Said he has been installing them for 9 years and nobody ever called them back with a complaint. Good luck! Hope one is in your area.

 

I found a guy who comes to your house to and installed it in a matter of 30 mins. If you’re in LA area pm me he was good at what he does. I’m still driving the car today and no issues with it in fact it has helped with certain repairs because I can move the wheels freely without the key in.

 

I got it from Ebay, search for user theitemsyouwant. I’ve been using it for last 20 months without any issues. It’s now $10 cheaper than back then