My stock unit is quite loud. If mine ever goes I'll switch to a more quiet one.

I didn't look that closely as I was trying to find a US domestic source to cut down on shipping time.

As far as noise if the wife doesn't complain I'm happy.

As a side note for others, if you haven't experienced the fun and games of the ESL failure and if you have the skills to replace the motor I suggest purchasing a unit and keeping it on hand for when the day comes.

Sorry about the long quote, i'm a new user :confused:

I am having trouble taking the steering column completely out.

What bolt diconnects the column from the rest of the vehicle?

Do you have any pics?

Thanks a million for your help!

There is one bolt to the steering shaft, and 4 going into the dash assembly upwards.

So, I pulled out the ESL. I managed to remove 2 of the 4 pins on the ESL. When I try to insert the T6 to remove the other two pins, it slips. I tried a T7 and it still slips.

I'm stuck, please help.

Should I drill it?

Any suggestions...

__________________________________________________ _______________
So, I pulled out the ESL. I managed to remove 2 of the 4 pins on the ESL. When I try to insert the T6 to remove the other two pins, it slips. I tried a T7 and it still slips.

I'm stuck, please help.

Should I drill it?

Thanks for the great write up and all the photos. I found only one US seller of the motors on eBay but it only took 3 days to arrive. Will make the repair tomorrow.

If it's too loud I'll take the time to find the 'quiet' motor and reinstall it later this spring.

This is great diy but people have to remember if the esl goes into fatal error changing motor will not help. It needs to be reprogrammed. This will work if you find esl unlocking is getting weak. I have done over a dozen c class and only one had eis problem.
I always install emulator this will solve the motor problem forever. And Ofcorse emulator have to be programmed just like the original esl.
Anyways runs into a problem can pm as well. Will help as much as I can.

This is true. If you disconnect the power source when it's stuck half way you're done. Im waiting for another one to come in and try to drill it in the car, roll the wheel to the proper position and then disconnect to see if it still stores the fatal fault.

Major fail on my part. First the steering wheel bolt wouldn't come loose and I stripped the hex head.

Then I dropped the steering column and got under there and drilled the hole in the lock but no matter which way or how far I turned the gear, the lock wouldn't release.

I'm sure I ended up busting that white gear all to hell.

And now I can't get the steering column back in. Spent 3 hours today and have to get back at it tomorrow. I want it all back together before I call the dealer to come and get it.

Gonna buy a big jar of Vaseline tomorrow.

so did you end up removing the esl or its still stuck in the steering column?

Still stuck. As I couldn't get the steering wheel off I couldn't disconnect the wiring to allow removal of the column. Not enough room to swing a hammer to break the bolt on the loch.

The steering wheel bolt will have to be ground off or drilled out.

I'll send it to the dealer and take the punishment.

That's awesome that you can assist people on here with this. I have a question, I haven't seen any definitive info on here, but, does this problem affect all C class M-B? I have a late 2012 C350, but, the majority of ESL issues I have seen posted are 08-10 models. Should I be concerned and prepare for this eventual repair? Thanks in advance.
Cheers,
Pozi

I've removed the column with the wheel still on it before. Not pretty, but it can be done.

First and foremost, thank you for this post. I shred it with my Mech and he was able to get to the ESL and test the motor and determine that it really is bad.

My car is a 2009 C300 with about 140k miles,

That being said, where can I get a quality replacement motor?

I've looked on ebay and all the replacement motors appear to be made in China. Any suggestions on where to get a reliable replacement? I can't imagine that MB would use a cheap Chinese component but I would not be surprised!

Thanks in advance for any insight provided!

V

Lock Removal if working intermittent
 

My lock is still working intermittently. Sometimes it buzzes, sometimes it disengages. If I don't want to drill out the housing, how do I remove it? My understanding is that it removes only if the pin is disengaged. How do I keep it unlocked for disassembly? Do I turn on the car and then disconnect battery so that there isn't power to re-engage the lock? Sorry if I'm missing something obvious. Thanks for the pictures / steps.

BTW - Suggestion / source for the motor?

Yes, insert the key so it releases, then pull the battery negative cable off. Then you can unbolt and remove it and take it apart without issue.

Thanks for the write up, I'm coming up on 90km and wondering if I should prepare myself for this job. Like someone mentioned, might be a good idea to get the parts now so I have it on hand.

Dont waste your time people and get an emulator to replace and eliminate the whole esl.. do the job once and for good. You'l replace the motor and then 6 months later a chip on the esl board will go out and when its not the motor that fails, you'l need to replace the whole esl anyways.

I have heard of a case in the US that involved a vehicle stolen that had an emulator and insurance fought to not cover the car after discovering it. I don't have much details on the case but just something to think about. It doesn't seem right considering many models don't even have steering locks to begin with.

It is true that if the car ever gets stolen there's a chance of insurance claiming the ESL wasn't there.

First of, the vehicle would have to be found and checked by the insurance company for them too know and at that point it depends if the car was crashed or damaged, they might refuse to fix it. Pretty unlikely though.

Secondly if the car is never found well you have nothing to worry about because its not like they can check what was done to the car, only threw the vin they can see dealership work which the emulator isn't installed by the dealer.

***

That's all I will say, there's more reason but I don't want to give thieves Ideas so Il keep it to those main two. Honestly any car can be stolen, the insurance would really have to know where too look but if they take it too a dealer I guess they will see the emulator. Its definitely a risk but this could be worked out with the insurance company im sure. The lock is still present, it still works just as it did before, requiring ECU recognition to start the car, it just removes the mechanical part of it.

Just wanted to add my car to the electronic steering lock (ESL) failure list. 2010 C300 with less than 60K miles.

ESL suddenly stopped working on the first hot day of this year, no response after inserting the key. After wiggled the steering wheel a few times, I got it to work.
And it worked for the next 2 weeks, then stop working again, I was luckily to got it started after insert the key in and out a few times.

Thinking the motor is going bad, I ordered a motor from eBay(btw, all the motor on ebay/Amazon are basically from the same factory).
My ESL was in unlock position, so I didn't have to take the whole steering column out. You do however, need to remove the airbag and steering wheel.
Removed the four bolts holding the column, lower it, then loosen the 13 mm nut holding ESL, push the bolt in and pull it out.

Opened the ESL, swapped the motor. Put everything back, turned the key, nothing! it's completely silent !
Looks like the NEC chip on the circuit board is fried.

Found a local guy from eBay who does ESL repair. Removed the Electronic Ignition System(EIS) from the car and send him the three parts - ESL, EIS and the key.

He confirmed it's the chip that's bad, so I have two emulators to choose from:
1) An emulator chip that replaces the NEC chip on the original ESL. It will make the factory ESL work again.
2) A complete black box emulator that replaces the factory ESL.

I opted for the black box emulator, since I'm not going to install the ESL back into the column, also the aftermarket emulator has no moving parts.
I velcro the emulator under the dash, I can easily remove it if it failed. After programming the emulator to communicate with the EIS, everything is working again.

The black box emulator makes a sound when activated, it's different than the original ESL motor whine. It's a higher pitch chirp.
I was told the emulator does not have any moving parts, the chirping sound is from a speaker inside to indicate it's working.

Also, they can not program two emulators to the same EIS/Key, I wanted a backup emulator but that is not possible.

Let's see how long this emulator last...