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My car has comfort access where the steering wheel adjusts up out of the way when you enter/exit the car, and all of a sudden its broken, stuck and making a clunk clunk clunk sound as it is trying to adjust.
Anyone have any experience with? Able to help with any info, diagrams, anything?
2012 C63;1971 280SE 3.5(Sold);2023 EQS 450 SUV 4 Matic (Wife's)
OhOh....that doesn't sound good. Sorry not familiar with the mechanism but it sounds like the motor is still working but the gear mechanism has a broken tooth or something. GL getting this fixed and hope it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
Thats exactly what it sounds like Mort. Even knowing how to open that up would be a big help, and then I can suss it out from there. I know how unhook the leather at the bottom, but so far havent had the time/way to see how to reach up in there and take that plastic "shroud" off.
Never heard of anyone with this issue though, and my biggest concern is that it will be one of those things where you have to order a whole assembly for a bajillion dollars (I'm in Canada - everything is a bajillion dollars). If thats the case though its probably the same on the regular C class, and those shouldn't be that hard to find at the wrecker.
2012 C63;1971 280SE 3.5(Sold);2023 EQS 450 SUV 4 Matic (Wife's)
I think you will need to remove the steering wheel then you will be able to remove the clock spring/steering column. Not exactly sure where you go after that. If you do this remove the negative lead from the battery before you touch the airbag or you will get a code and will need Xentry or the dealer to reset. Not sure if you want to tackle this yourself? There are limits that need to be reset for the motors. There are two motors M20/1 in and out and M20/2 up and down that look to me to be attached in a single unit. I have Alldata and can print and email some of the info if you would find it helpful. It is a little hard to follow and assumes the user has a fair level of mechanical knowledge.
I just did my steering wheel recently but can't remember what I used as a reference. Maybe just a post on MBWorld but I don't think I saved it or have a reference on hand here.
Awesome Mort. Thank you! I will try to do that this afternoon, and when I do I will report back. I hate those threads where people find the answer then dont share it!
Wheel came off, no problem.
I was a little non-plussed though how to take off that shroud still, til I realized the whole thing comes just straight off as an assembly. It just slid straight out!
Unfortunately though, thats when I realized nothing I need to deal with is in there - the arm that you use to adjust the wheel position is just an extension of an electronic switch, which then controls a mechanism in the steering column assembly. Rehooked up battery and tried it and it was the same ol same ol.
Had to put it all back together, and will approach from under the dash asap, then update my findings.
2012 C63;1971 280SE 3.5(Sold);2023 EQS 450 SUV 4 Matic (Wife's)
Maybe these pics from alldata will help. The remove install is for M20/2 shown in pic 3. I did not find remove install for M20/1 in pic 1. At least not yet.
So. I have discovered that the flex shaft (part 2 in the parts diagram from Mort, above or part 4 in the diagram I am including) has snapped. Now, please bear with the attached jpg. I took this photo by flashlight, under my dash, in the reflection of the mirror. Add to that my complete lack of photoshop skills. SO.
The break in the shaft is contained in the red circle. Its like any flexshaft - a long springy coiled wire thingy.
The two ends of the break are connected via the green arrow.
The white circles show where the shaft connects.
So I am going to dealer to try to order the shaft (part number 2044620013) and then we will go from there. Pretty sure I can handle this, so long as I dont kink the shaft, as there are no electronics involved here. In the meantime, I have reset the comfort access so my preferred position has the wheel in the position where it is stuck - that way the seat goes back and forth but the wheel doesn't try to move so it wont burn anything out. Just in case. I dont think it actually would as its not hanging up on anything, just spinning.
Oh and btw. Turns out I set off the airbag indicator. Small tip I missed in reading that over - leave your battery unhooked for AT LEAST 30 minutes BEFORE disconnecting the airbag. Had to go see a guy I know to reset it and it cost me $50, but I hear dealership is $120+.
My car has comfort access where the steering wheel adjusts up out of the way when you enter/exit the car, and all of a sudden its broken, stuck and making a clunk clunk clunk sound as it is trying to adjust.
Anyone have any experience with? Able to help with any info, diagrams, anything?
Mine did about the same thing early this week. When I started the car the steering wheel would make a single clunk when I tried to tilt it up or down but would not move. On subsequent attempts (without turning the car off), there was no noise and no movement.
I'm still under warranty so I went by the dealer to schedule an appointment. The SA came back 30 minutes later to report that it was fixed. He didn't know (or wasn't telling) what was done. It's been 3 days so far with no recurrence.
I know this post is totally useless as far as fixing the problem if someone else runs into it, but it's worth knowing that there IS some sort of a quick fix.
That flex shaft wasn't hard to replace, but its no longer available all on its own. You now have to order an assembly, which actually looks like it would be more complicated to do and if memory serves me right was 300 bucks or so.
That flex shaft wasn't hard to replace, but its no longer available all on its own. You now have to order an assembly, which actually looks like it would be more complicated to do and if memory serves me right was 300 bucks or so.
I went to a wrecker and pulled. Paid 10 bucks.
Ah the good old days of MB Convenience.
Had E's with the entry/exit feature which would move the seat back and raise the wheel and they abandoned it on my W212. They used to have a feature wherein the key fob was specific to a driver before Keyless Go and Keyless Start tied into it.
You exited and seat moved and wheel went up. Next driver inserted fob and seat functions moved to presets for that person, mirrors adjusted and wheel came lowered and telescoped to position. Now it is all manual.
2012 C63;1971 280SE 3.5(Sold);2023 EQS 450 SUV 4 Matic (Wife's)
My turn to have this similar issue. My steering column just stopped going up and down. When I exited the column went to the top position and stopped working. I had an idea what the cause was and was not looking forward to dealing with it so I left it for winter maintenance. I dug into it yesterday and got the lower panel off to see that my flex cable was in good shape but still not turning although it would wind up a little when the tilt knob was pushed. I searched around and found a post in Audio-Electronics, of all places, that made it all clear. I loosened off the nut on the flex cable about 12 flats, as I could only turn it one flat at a time ( 2 turns), pushed the tilt lever down, there was a bit of a sharp snap and the wheel started to lower.
Why does that nut tension itself when the tilt is activated, I don't know and it shouldn't, but I am very glad to DarkOps for figuring it out and TalonP for the descriptive DIY with great pics. Good work guys!
Here is a link to the thread and for the W204 it is in Post 76 on page 4:
My turn to have this similar issue. My steering column just stopped going up and down. When I exited the column went to the top position and stopped working. I had an idea what the cause was and was not looking forward to dealing with it so I left it for winter maintenance. I dug into it yesterday and got the lower panel off to see that my flex cable was in good shape but still not turning although it would wind up a little when the tilt knob was pushed. I searched around and found a post in Audio-Electronics, of all places, that made it all clear. I loosened off the nut on the flex cable about 12 flats, as I could only turn it one flat at a time ( 2 turns), pushed the tilt lever down, there was a bit of a sharp snap and the wheel started to lower.
Why does that nut tension itself when the tilt is activated, I don't know and it shouldn't, but I am very glad to DarkOps for figuring it out and TalonP for the descriptive DIY with great pics. Good work guys!
Here is a link to the thread and for the W204 it is in Post 76 on page 4:
Thanks for the info. I had mine fail under warranty and the dealer fixed it by replacing some module. About a year or so after (in the winter) it slowly started to die again so I just disabled the feature. Has been 3-4 years since lol.
Gonna take a look now. It's probably the same problem.
Interesting. I took my car in the day before warranty expired as the Steering makes a slight Clunk when it lowers into position every time... They said they couldn't replicate it... Yeah ok. Hopefully I can fix it if / when something happens or better yet, can claim it under warranty since I had mentionned it prior to it being expired..
Apologies for resurrecting an old thread. Had this happen to my 2014 507 with less than 20,000 miles on it yesterday morning. Searched the forum and found this thread. Just wanted to say the link in Mort's reply (#17 above) worked like a charm!
Apologies for resurrecting an old thread. Had this happen to my 2014 507 with less than 20,000 miles on it yesterday morning. Searched the forum and found this thread. Just wanted to say the link in Mort's reply (#17 above) worked like a charm!
So you're saying you searched for a problem you encountered, found the solution, and fixed it?
09-19-2015, 06:43 PM
