This is on a 2011 c300 AT.

Okay, so my ESL started failing really bad a few days ago. Out of nowhere it was 5-20 minutes of sitting there to get the car started. I watched and read a couple tutorials. Sadly I didn't catch any information about marking the steering wheel alignment or that you could pull the shaft out of the floor if you aren't careful. I repaired the ESL with a new motor and tested it. It appears to be working good. However, the steering wheel spins freely. I kind of knew the shaft wasn't fully seated in the floor when I was bolting the column back to the dash, but hoped I could find the solution when I got it positioned. But I have looked high and low online for anything that shows me or explains to me how to reseat the lower portion of the steering shaft and I can't seem to find anything. Begging for help at this point because I am frustrated and I need to go back to work at some point. 🤦‍♂️ I've never worked on steering components, so this is new to me.

For reference, this is the part I don't believe is seated right. I don't know what it look like inside the boot and I'm crossing my fingers I don't have to get under the car or go through the wheel well to do this, because the car is stranded on the street.

 

Been there, and it indeed just pulls out. Since you've inserted it into the boot, have you verified that the component receiving it on the other side is straight? There's joints on the other side as well if I remember correctly, aka it could be pointed down.