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the nec inside the esl dont fry
it simply deactivates itself to stop damage occuring as it does not know the motor position either lock or unlock. The ebay motors are total junk
i use genuine motors when repairing 👍
never had a comeback from any of the 100+ ive fixed
what did you do with your old esl ?
want to sell me it if its not hacked !
i know some drill huge holes to get the pins out lol
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...
Been running my Chinese emulator for the last 3 years with no issues. The Mercedes ESL is just a bad design with cheap parts and the emulator improved on the original design by relocating the chip and circuit board to reduce heat resulting in a longer life span.I wouldn't worry able it failing on you any time soon.
the nec inside the esl dont fry
it simply deactivates itself to stop damage occuring as it does not know the motor position either lock or unlock. The ebay motors are total junk
i use genuine motors when repairing ��
never had a comeback from any of the 100+ ive fixed
what did you do with your old esl ?
want to sell me it if its not hacked !
i know some drill huge holes to get the pins out lol
dave
Pretty sure there's no difference in "genuine motors" and ebay ones, they're all cheap Chinese motors that mercedes gets from the same supplier.
Hey Knowbenz, Thanks so much for the great post. I have a 1999 W210.025 turbodiesel and after some diagnosing including hooking the DAS up to the car, I am pretty sure it is the EIS. I can send the EIS and ESL along with a key and a guy I found on YouTube can fix the EIS for me. You mentioned that you have done this many times. What chassis was this based on? I am guessing W204. Have you ever done it on a W210? If so it the ESL the same - can I drill the hole in the side instead of having to drill the bolt out?
Hey Knowbenz, Thanks so much for the great post. I have a 1999 W210.025 turbodiesel and after some diagnosing including hooking the DAS up to the car, I am pretty sure it is the EIS. I can send the EIS and ESL along with a key and a guy I found on YouTube can fix the EIS for me. You mentioned that you have done this many times. What chassis was this based on? I am guessing W204. Have you ever done it on a W210? If so it the ESL the same - can I drill the hole in the side instead of having to drill the bolt out?
Thanks
Doug
No the steering lock on those are different. Did you get one of those little red light rings for testing the coil in EIS?
I think they just used some really poor quality brushed that fall apart
Do you know if they corrected this problem, they must have known from the beginning examining/investigating the 1st failures, so can I relax with myne replaced-? , or is doomsday coming again-? (The motor does look like from a radion control car),
Do you know if they corrected this problem, they must have known from the beginning examining/investigating the 1st failures, so can I relax with myne replaced-? , or is doomsday coming again-? (The motor does look like from a radion control car),
That I couldn't tell you, I'm not a small electric motor engineer but I would expect they made some kind of improvement. I would think that Mercedes would upgrade the failing part in new units but as far as the aftermarket parts all over Ebay I have no clue.
That I couldn't tell you, I'm not a small electric motor engineer but I would expect they made some kind of improvement. I would think that Mercedes would upgrade the failing part in new units but as far as the aftermarket parts all over Ebay I have no clue.
We still see them failing in 2013-2014 cars, if they hadn't fixed them by then, I doubt they will.
Had a question, I have a 2010 glk350 with this w204 esl issue and I was fortunate that when it happened to me it was unlocked so removing esl was easy. I have purchased the motor, and ready to install but have one question that I haven't been able to find or I just need a specific answer from the pros who have dealt with this. When I install motor do I rotate the gear so as to keep it in the unlocked position just as I removed it or do I put in lock position. It's probably a duh answer but with the cost of repair at dealer I want to be sure. Right now I'm going for the rotate to unlock as that's when I removed the power cable and was set last, but dont want to connect to verify functionality and bust the esl.
When I replaced the motor in my ESL unit I kept the gear in the same location as it was when I opened it - ie unlocked. It worked fine when back together.
Had a question, I have a 2010 glk350 with this w204 esl issue and I was fortunate that when it happened to me it was unlocked so removing esl was easy. I have purchased the motor, and ready to install but have one question that I haven't been able to find or I just need a specific answer from the pros who have dealt with this. When I install motor do I rotate the gear so as to keep it in the unlocked position just as I removed it or do I put in lock position. It's probably a duh answer but with the cost of repair at dealer I want to be sure. Right now I'm going for the rotate to unlock as that's when I removed the power cable and was set last, but dont want to connect to verify functionality and bust the esl.
If it is in fact all the way unlocked then leave it that way. If it was unlocked enough to remove but didn't quite hit the microswitches you may be screwed if it sees it in an intermediate position
First of all, THANK YOU SO MUCH for this detail instruction on how to replace ESL motor!!!
Secondly, I really wish no one have to go through this.
Last Sunday, I car (2008 C300 RWD with 140,000km and push start button), left parking light bulb out was triggered. Its' the eyebrow bulb on driver side headlight. Upon inspection, it wasn't the bulb. It was crack in bulb wiring which caused the short, triggered the warning.
This is known issue, which I knew about, and just need layer of liquid electrical tape to insulate wires again. To do so, need to removed the headlight assembly.
Removing headlight assembly requires removal of front bumper. Not whole bumper, but at least the side you are working on.
Sunday morning, I turn the steering wheel all the way to right, so I gain access to plastic rivets which holds the bumper on left side. SHUT THE CAR OFF WITH STEERING TURNED ALL THE WAY TO RIGHT.
Remove headlight, insulate wires with liquid electrical tape and let it dry.
On that evening, reinstalled headlight assembly and bumper, and went inside the car to test.
...
...
nothing....
When I put in the key into ignition, I hear some clicking noise around steering column area, but ESL won't unlock the steering wheel, hence no start.
Tried again with my 2nd key.
still nothing...
****... Thought this was the ESL issue everyone talks about on the forum.
One last hope, connected battery charger and let battery charged over night for last hope and went to bed.
On Monday morning, tried again with battery fully charged, still nothing....
****.....
My garage is double tandem garage where cars are parked front and back, and my car was parked deep inside with steering turned all the way to right....
Even for towing it to dealer, there was no freaking way to tow this car until I free up the steering wheel some how.
Then I remembered I purchased replacement ESL motor about a year ago from ebay for $10, for just in case...
Here we go,
Move front seat all the way to back
Disconnect battery
Remove cluster trim -> w204 tech article by pelican parts
Remove airbag, steering wheel and steering column switches -> w204 tech article by pelican parts
Remove footwall under panel
Remove steering column --> 1 T45 (difficult access and mark shaft and u-joint with sharpie) and 4 E12
Placed the steering column in my work bench and start drilling the hole to unlock steering shaft manually.
Rotate the gear clockwise (push up) manually with flat head screw driver until locking bolt moves enough to get ESL out.
Got ESL out
Take 4 pins out with hammering and swearing. This is difficult. used T5, T6, T7.
Remove the cover for ESL and take may pictures.
Remove T10 bolt that holds the circuit board.
Once circuit board is out, take may pictures again.
With motor out, you can rotate the gear and see how the mechanism works. Just be careful with it.
Rotate the gear so mechanism sets in UNLOCK position to dead end.
Close the cover with both micro-switches in depressed position and re-install 4 pins
Install everything back and start praying.
At this moment, good 5 hrs has been passed and I was really praying... haha
Connected battery and VOILA!!! The car STARTED!!!!
I couldn't believe it.. hahaha Everything works again!
Now, I'm not sure how reliable this $10 ebay motor is, so I'll probably go with emulator route later since I don't want to do this again.
First and foremost thank you so much for this post. It has been immensely helpful. My question is whether I can open up the unit and simply replace the motor and be back on the road. I had all the classic symptoms of failure, key goes in and nothing happens when turning it to crank motor, other than all radio functions, unlocking doors etc functioning totally normally. Steering of course stuck in locked position. And no sound of the ESL unlocking as usual.
The one thing is, when opening the door, I didn't get the message "dont forget key." Although tbh I don't ever recall seeing this message even when the unit was working when I opened my door while the keys were in the EIS.
Does this mean my EIS has also gone bad and will need reprogramming?
Trying to decide whether I can do this myself of have to send it out to someone to have it repaired.
Hey,
I think I do recall seeing "don't forget key" message after my ESL gone bad.
Even to send it out to someone to have it repaired, you'll need to unlock ESL manually somehow, like described in this thread.
Having said that, I was in the same boat as you, and was able to replace the motor and able to start the car.
Hey,
I think I do recall seeing "don't forget key" message after my ESL gone bad.
Even to send it out to someone to have it repaired, you'll need to unlock ESL manually somehow, like described in this thread.
Having said that, I was in the same boat as you, and was able to replace the motor and able to start the car.
thanks very much. I have the esl out along with EIS. Just wasn’t sure if this is a “fatal error” that will require reprogramming etc as opposed to simple replacement of the motor. Was wondering if it’s a fatal error since I’m not getting that key message.
I also cut the bolt on the ESL which now needs replacement per recommendation from a repair guy. Only to find this thread later to see how to properly remove the ESL. Anyone know which bolt I could replace this with if I do this on my own?
Not sure on "fatal error", but from this thread, "fatal error" occurs when ESL is dead in the middle. sounds like....
I was lucky enough to replacing motor fixed it.
Not sure on "fatal error", but from this thread, "fatal error" occurs when ESL is dead in the middle. sounds like....
I was lucky enough to replacing motor fixed it.
Yes, I believe EIS and a key need to be shipped out and programmed with emulator.
From what I know, you connect green plug to emulator and leave ESL out from the car.
As for the vendor, since I haven't dealt with one, I cannot say much.
You need to ship the ESL unit, EIS ( the ignition key lock) and your key to the have them repair or reprogram.
If you get the emulator, there is no need to install the ESL back. I velcro mine to the side of the steering column.
The same is true if you just take out the ESL and replace the old motor with a new one, providing the ESL is still functional (ie you can remove it from the steering column when it is unlocked). This is a $10 fix, and you don't have to reinstall - you can Velcro or attach the repaired ESL to the steering column with zip ties. This achieves the same result as an emulator, except you don't need to get anything programmed. Only downside is there is still a mechanical device which might fail sometime in the future (lifetime possibly ~5,000+ actuations, or 5-10 years?). Chances are, the replacement of the motor will outlast the life of the car. Worst case, replace it again in 4 or 5 years...
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