It finally happened. EIS/ESL failure. Thank you Mercedes!
 

Farking hell. If this has happened to you, then you will know what look I had on my face this morning when I tried to start my car and go to work. I was swearing like a trucker also.

2008 C230 with only 69,000 kilometers on the odometer.

No whirring sound from the ESL when the key is inserted. I tried both of my keys and both have new batteries. The key can turn but nothing happens so maybe not ESL. I have noticed the sound of the little motor in the ESL getting less loud and seems to disengage slower lately for the last couple of months. When I remove my key I can hear a faint ticking noise for about 10 seconds afterward.

Instruments light up and headlights can be turned on. Battery tests at %100 and is new.

Dang, that sucks man.

Flat deck on the way. I am betting $2000 CAD on this one.

I may attempt this myself once they tell me what is wrong.

If they will sell you the ESL, it's not that bad to replace. If it's jammed in the locked position, it requires removing the column to drill it open, but if you have the manual column adjustment even that isn't too bad.

Sorry to hear that. Hope you can get out of it with the least cost possible.

Which year was this defect fixed? Will a 2012 model have this problem?

Wellcome to this club of the Unexpected-Stranded.

Myne actually failed a week after it went for a service(+/- 50 000Km..) under gurantee, and I think it was about the 3rd start after that, had not used the car during the week after service. It worked in my garage, at the bank, park at a shopping centre, get back, fail. 3 weeks+ later itwas fixed after I proved again to them I was the owner, and actually bought it from them.My oldest vehicle had its replaced at over 250 000km, and that was a million more startups, seeing I used it mostly in town short trips.

If I had it correctly, I may be wrong, Mercedes had the manufactured lock outsourced, meaning they dont manufacture it themselves, but I may be wrong, would like to know in any case.

This failure was totally unexpected, and could have had me stranded in a dangerous place, for me it was a shock in reliablity. Every time I drive this car that failure is in the back of my mind. Its going well at the moment, but still.
1st vehicle I owned that left me with this looming feeling.

Oddly enough ESL was open so I could turn the steering wheel.

Luckily my car was in my garage at home. Imagine if I was on vacation somewhere when this happened. $$$$$$

I was just saying to my wife a short while ago that this will eventually happen so I should start putting cash away here and there so it is not such a kick in the balls. I have low kilometers so I figured I was a year or two away from this happening.

I also noticed that the sound was getting slower when inserting the key and probably not for a 1-2 months but maybe 6-7 months prior to the failure (I was wondering what was going on, thinking it could have been the battery). So that's something everybody else may pay attention to and be prepared for the failure.

Anyway, you are so lucky that it failed in your garage. There are much worse scenarios ;)

About a 50/50 chance, it either won't close or won't open, if it fails open it's much easier to remove, you can simply lower the column in the car and pop the new one in.

It is a TRP (Theft Relevant Part), so has to be ordered with ID and comes pre-programmed from the key center in the Texas PDC, with a workshop key for programming.

It doesn't seem to affect the facelifted cars, but I don't know at what point they changed the design, if any.

I replaced one on an older E convertible that had 500 miles on it, the owner is out of the country and just keeps it as a spare car here in south FL, one day it just wouldn't start for the Valet and needed an ESL. Car was out of warranty but I believe he got almost full goodwill warranty assistance as the car didn't even have 1000 miles on it despite being 5-6 years old.

Esl motor is the culprit, Ebay has it for a cheap price

This is a DIY, YouTube has instruction how to remove steering column and Esl motor.

So a car with the adjustable steering column is harder to remove..?..do you know what is entailed with it's removal different from a manual column.

Thanks

Amazon also has them for about $19 CAD. Who is to say the replacements are any better than the original?

All China garbage no doubt.

The motor assemblies make it larger, so it won't come out the top. If it's the manual column, you can let it up and back, unbolt it and remove it straight out through the dash. The power ones don't fit, so you have to come down and then out with them, usually must remove the gas pedal and a few other small things. Not the end of the world either way, but a manual one can be removed in a couple minutes if you've done them before, the power ones take a little longer.

Total bummer. I've been there and it totally sucks

If instrument lights come on, and even though engine might not turn, it does not automatically mean it is either ESL nor EIS.

This is my understanding of how the start authorization system operates:

1. Key recognized
2. Steering Wheel unlocked (assuming it was locked)
3. Key rotation allowed
4. Instruments receive power (instrument panel lights come on) and signals are generated to check Coolant Temperature Sensor (ECT), Crankshaft position sensor (CKP), and a signal is sent to the starter relay to power up the starter

With EIS/ESL failure, a code is generated and stored in ECU. Once that code is generated the starting cycle is interrupted before it gets past step #3, depending on whether it is ESL that failed and therefore could not unlock the steering, or whether EIS failed and either could not recognize the key or did not allow the key to turn.

Again, there are way too many variables for anyone to be able to diagnose this issue without hooking up to STAR and reading fault codes if any, and even then, there are DAS tests that must be run before one can establish which part of this extensive starting system is causing the failure.

All that said, and just like any other diagnostic procedure, and rather than starting out by assuming the worst most expensive possibility, you start out with least expensive and move up the line until you get the issue resolved. In this case, you have got fuses, starter relay/solenoid, CKP, Clutch Switch (if your car is manual otherwise, if it is auto then it could be the transmission lock cable), battery (even though you think its new, you have no idea how much power it is providing or whether something caused a large drain), starter motor... Then jump up to EIS and/or ESL.

For your sake, I hope I am right... But I must warn you that I have been wrong before. Good luck either way...

Battery 100% does not mean it's still good ... load test is more accurate to determine.

In my case I observed the following
 

Sudden death-It worked 5 minutes before...
Hi there can you elaborate on this what I noticed on myne.
....My instrument lights came on....
....I could lock/unlock the car......
.....Battery was ok at that stage, replaced 4+ years later only.......

1a.....Key inserted, no wring sound, silence, key no turn.
1b.....I assume key may have been recognised(silence), but because the lock/ESL was faulty, it has no movement to actually implement the result of the key being recognised-Keys was not faulty.

Is this good enough to know the lock ESL is fault-? I very strongly doubt the EIS and the ESL can be faulty at the same time.

On examining my bill(gurantee) it seems they 1st replaced the EIS, then at last the lock(3 weeks), then I was told I can get the car with ID proof etc.
The new ESL/lock sounded faster than the old one before it failed, maybe that can be a determining mechanical clue about the ESL/lock itself-?

If the key does not turn, it could be several things.
The first step to the starting cycle is to authorize/identify the key. If that does not happen, then the key is not going to turn. And you cannot proceed to the next step.
If you cannot proceed to the next step, it could be a slew of problems including a bad key, bad EIS, bad ECU, bad front SAM, bad ESL, dead battery.... amongst other things. So whether you hear a "whirring" sound or not does not always mean it is ESL!
The second step is to unlock ESL. And if ESL is defective/nonresponsive, or if it is any of the several problems that I described ^^above^^ then you cannot proceed to the next step which is to allow the key to turn.

Conversly, there may be times when the key is allowed to turn but this does not necessarily mean that EIS and ESL are working like they should. It could be that EIS was not supposed to allow the key to turn but the mechanism that prevents the key from turning is the defective element.

I don't think anyone can say for certain whether ESL's failure is always mechanical or always electronic... For all we know, it could simply be the connector that communicates with ECU that is faulty, which means it is neither the motor (mechanical) nor the board that controls ESL functionality (electronic). This is especially true on a unit that was replaced rather than had an independent (non-dealer) shop open it up and replace the motor.

Following that same logic, and in answer to your question:

Until the car is in the shop, connected to STAR (or similar device) showing an indication (a fault code) of what the problem is, no one can determine whether it is ESL or EIS that has failed simply based n "whirring" sound or lack thereof, or based on any one symptom on its own.

I too doubt that both could go at the same time. But there have been instances when both EIS & ESL were replaced during the same service visit. And whether that was justified or not... Only the person doing those repairs can answer that question. I know of one case where the car was towed to dealer and it was diagnosed as bad EIS. The repair was done, bill paid, car released to owner, on his way home, he stops at the store, back out to the car, it won't start. Not only that, but the key got stuck in the ignition (would not turn to the position where it can be removed). Car towed back to the dealer, diagnosis: bad ESL.
So was the first repair the correct diagnosis? Or had it been ESL all along? Or was it both had gone bad at the same time? Who knows...

Back to the "whirring sound" and using that as a way to diagnose this problem.... The whole idea of it "often being ESL, and if it is ESL then it is due to the fact that Mercedes Benz outsourced its ESL motors to a cheap Chinese manufacturer, and therefore these motors must be replaced otherwise ESL failure is imminent" was propagated by one independent shop owner who posted here on these forums in hopes of drumming up his "emulator" business. My guess is, all that did was to create a market for many eBay seller who are now competing as to who can sell their cheaply made Chinese motors for less!

Go to eBay and search for "ESL motor" and you'll see what I mean! (Search results)

Heck, they even came up with a tool to help insert that gold colored spiral over the motor shaft...
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...b8c7040466.jpg

The question I would have then is if a cheap Chinese made motor was the cause of ESL failure, what is the point of replacing it with yet another cheap Chinese made motor that will presumably fail again sooner than later?

Thanks for your informative answer, in the end Electronics & Mechanical operation boils down to the smallest steps of communication in design, and how many of those steps the diagnosis can actually point.

My problem with this Sudden Death situation, is thats it is obviously a design failure of some sort, either design, or manufacture quality.
Measured agains far "inferior" and much lower priced, this is not on for the cost of the owner, even if it fails just short of 200 000Km.
I never encountred a premature failure of this nature on any vehicle I owned, all of them they reached a stage at around 300 000Km something in this regeon is acceptable. Below 100 000km is not acceptable at all.

A lucky break and a big thank you!!
 

4 days ago, without any warning at all, when I climbed into my 2009 auto 220Cdi, there was no key recognition and the steering wheel was locked. I was leaving my office to head home and for those of you that have experienced this problem, you will understand my complete and utter dispair. I have never had any problem with my car up to this point, ever! Needless to say I am 300km from my nearest authorized MB workshop and my extended warranty expired a year ago exactly and my next service is due in about 15 days time. I had to leave my car parked outside my office for the night. Next day I managed to locate a diesel mechanic in the next town who had a diagnostic kit - he drove the 70km out to me and ran a diagnostic test (after I had already checked the battery which was fine, and checked the ignition fuses, also fine.) the reading showed ignition malfunction. Mechanic said he was unable to assist further and suggested I call in a flatbed truck and get my car to the MB workshop in Cape Town. This was Friday late afternoon...so the car spent another night outside the office in an unsecured parking area, and I felt completely defeated. That evening and next day I trawled through mb.world.org and read everything and anything related to the problem at hand. I also went back to my car twice to see if I could miraculously start it up, to no avail. So I made the necessary phone calls (of course nothing could be organized because it is the weekend) and felt extremely depressed about what to expect to fork out for a 600km flatbed ride plus a possible new steering lock and ignition component etc etc, for my untrustworthy ex-best friend, my Merc that had just broken my heart and my bank. Sunday I woke up and remembered reading a post somewhere on mbworld.org (am unable to find it now and I have really searched!) where a member suggested giving the steering column a few hard thumps and jiggling it a around a bit...I was that desperate, I simply just had to try, so back I went. I gave it my all, my best shot and lo and behold she started up beautifully and the steering wheel unlocked!!! I cannot describe to you the sheer joy and triumph I felt at that exact moment, I was euphoric! So THANK YOU to the poster of that simple trick, I am deeply grateful to you!!! At least I am able to drive my car myself to my regular MB service centre and will be going armed with a wealth of information thanks to all you brilliant posters out there who have shared your knowledge on this exact problem.

Welcome to the forum MBLadydriver...

Yes, jiggling the steering wheel and banging on the steering column has reportedly worked a few times for a couple of people. For a more direct hit, the steering lock itself is located along the line of the steering column, above the cover that separates the bottom of the dash from the footwell area, and right above the brake pedal. However, 2 things to keep in mind are:
1) Indiscriminately banging on the underside of the dash is likely to cause some sort of damage to the huge collection of electronic components that is built-in to that area, and...
2) This is not, by any means or measure, a permanent fix.

And so in the interest of voiding that sinking feeling again, you'd be well advised to get your car to MB for proper diagnosis and any needed repairs.

My 2010 C200 CGI failed twice in 2016 , 6 months apart! Tow truck required each time!
Its only done 47,000 kms. I love this car but its utter garbage..no faith in it when its been towed so many times since new. Mercedes should come clean and replace these defective units at no cost.
So be warned that the replacement part as @ 2016 was still crap!
In addition I am about to replace the front shock absorbers and struts for the second time since new. I am a careful driver so its not due to mistreatment.
Oh and my headlight switch is defective and caused battery failure. The lights come on when the car is unattended. Its necessary to leave the switch in the auto position to avoid this.