big_mike1979

Hi everyone !
I have a serious problem and very scary.
Lets say that you are riding on the left lane and decided to pass a car and move to the right lane.. While accelerating and turning the wheel to the right to move over, the steering wheels slips out of my hands and the car feels like its in the air then the steering balances out..."scary"

I have changed my steering dampers like a year and half ago..The steering feels lose (even though its not leaking) and not normal....The mechanic looked at it and thought it was my upper control arms since the bushings were cracked so we changed em and no luck then he gave up!

Could it be that I need to change again the steering dampers?
Thank you in advance!

MarcusF

I don't think a good damper should go bad in 18 months, but you never know. You may want to drop one side of the damper and compress it by hand. You'll be able to tell if it's gone soft.

Also, you might want to check the steering gear bolts. They should be 51 pound feet. The maintenance spec for tightening those bolts is once every 4 years or 50K miles. That's one of the easiest services to do. That reminds me - I'm due.

big_mike1979

Thank you so much Marcus... This weekend, Im gonna take the damper out and compress it by hand.. Im assuming it should be stiff to compress right?
I will also check the bolts . I have 167k on my car!
I will report back !

Another things, Even though I did my alignment at benz dealership, Sometime when Im driving I have notice my steering stay turned to right after i turn the steering wheel to right "example while passing a car".. after few feet, it will center again!

insame1

I doubt it is the damper also. It is popular to take them off of the w201.