AMG_Fred

ok here is the scenario. yesterday i washed my dads van and my brothers truck. ok, so the mercedes won't get wet, i move it out by the curb. no problems whatsoever except for the start. took a while to crank it on...ok well i finish later on that night around 8 . i then get the car and park it back inside, by that time, my brother left for college so i have space in the driveway. nothing wrong. until this morning. ok, i back out of the driveway with no problems at all. i go into my friends driveway; no problems at all. then i come to stop sign... and i press on the brake, it starts to stutter and makes a sort of a whale noise. i also hear a tiny whirring coming from the drivers side engine bay area. then all of a sudden from a standstill its really hard to turn the steering wheel! seems very dangerous to drive! so i continue to go to school since we are already late. everytime im going under 15 mph , the steering wheel becomes very hard to turn. luckily, i got around without having to make any u turns. i was gonig to make one but i decided to go the longer way. thankfully other drivers let me through since it is usually packed. ok... so ... what do i do? should i stop driving completely and let a real mechanic/dealership look at it? or is it something simplpe such as putting in power steering fluid? and if its somethign i can do myself, can you please give detailed information as to how to do it. and do you use terms like radiator and stuff like that since i don't know what it looks like. thanks in advance... have a good day.

Nick_M_51988

sounds like your belt is slipping. is there any noise?

this happened to mine at one point. the belt was so far gone that it wasn't turning the accesories. it wasn't squealing either.

but check your fluid anyways, i believe it's not power steering fluid, just use ATF (automatic transmission fluid).

open the hood
it's located just to the right of the distributor (cap with wires coming out of it.)
under the radiator hose there should be a cylinder with a black knob on it.
unscrew black knob it.
lift off metal cap
check fluid and add as necessary

mhorn

If your brakes are slipping you might want to check your brake fluid resevoir as well. That's the clear plastic tank on the drivers side, close to the firewall. It sounds like your engine belt is slipping, check the belt and look for cracks or frays in it. Also might want to check your belt tensioner, they are known to fail. belt should be good and tight with no play in it. If your power steering resevoir is full and your belt is tight, you might check the power steering fluid filter, located in the bottom of the power steering resevoir, but I doubt that's your problem.

YNVDIZW124

It's your ABS!

AMG_Fred

ok i found it when i went during lunch to autozone. luckily the guy knew where it was. at opening i found that it was empty so i put in halfways and came back to school. then i checked it again and it was empty. ideas? how much fluid should i put in? when i put it in, it moved very smoothly.. maybe even too smoothly... but then it made a little whirring noise. not a constant noise though. i am going home in a while. if it makes a lot of noise or hard to put in, ill put some more fluid in and go home. if problem is not fixed by sunday, then i won't be able to go the meet with the benzo maybe another car... don't count on that though

124-Fan

So.. are you losing power steering fluid ?
-Check where the leak is, cause most likely it´s the lower oil seal in the power steering box. Replaced one just last week. It´s not much work and shouldn´t be expensive.

AMG_Fred

ok i do think it is a leak. not in actual resovoir because when i came back from out of class, it was where i left it. but when i drove home ( still making all the same noises , when i backed out, the steering was perfect) it started to get worse. i got home and it was empty again. there looks like there is a leak as all around it looks like the hoses are covered in a sort of a liquid. here are some pictures....

that is the empty resevoir, wires to the side, what i think is the brake fluid, can someone circle it for me to make sure please. and also the engine belt...i think. well to the person that did this already... how much did cost you? where did you get the parts? how long did it take ? any special tools?

Nick_M_51988

i bought the belt off importpartsonline.com and had a local shop replace it. it was expensive to replace but quite worth it.

that is the power steering fluid resevor. i hope you didnt put brake fluid in it.

the brake fluid resevor is in the last picture up by the firewall.


out of curiosity what did u put in the power steering resivor? atf or power steering fluid? i've had the dealer tell me to just put atf in it. but other shops insisted on it being regular power steering fluid.

AMG_Fred

previously... nothing. i put in the power steering fluid this afternoon after it was already leaking so that could not have been the cause. and i know for sure it is leaking because i just went outside and found a trail from school following my car into my driveway. should i take it to the dealership? i don't think its the belt. mine looks fine. i think its a hose. but im not sure. do you need any more pictures? ill gladly take more.

Nick_M_51988

i'm not an expert but i know for a fact that power steering flud is thinner than atf. maybe try putting in some of that just untill it gets fixed.

i wouldnt take it to the stealer, they are just going to overcharge you. plus with an 18 year old car, they are going to bs you.

take it to an independent german specialty shop. you shouldn't need a new pump but if you do they are not very expensive or hard to replace. i dont know if any shop will just replace the hoses they might want to replace it all.

AMG_Fred

it looks like just a hose.. look at this.. its all covered in fluid...

ashman

if there was little or no fluid it may just need quite a bit.

I would fill it up, then start the car, turnt he wheel back and forth, and check the level, add some more if needed, and do the same, then if it is still low, look for some fresh wet areas near the pump and or look under the car and see if you have a puddle. if it is leaking that much that fast you should have quite a puddle under the car. if the engine still has the bottom cover, see if that is full of fluid.

AshMan

AMG_Fred

it is leaking pretty badly. there is a puddle under the car

CDP

Enjoy life without power steering then!

Time to built and strengthen those arms.

just kidding.

Nick_M_51988

thats not funny.

happened to me for like 1 month


but yeah, if you can tighten all the hoses you can get to. dump a bottle of ATF in there and drive it to a little shop.

AMG_Fred

just did.. and those women sent me all over the place! first i went to some tire shop that was close and they said they don't do mercedes, so i left since i didn't want to get some people that don't like them go to my car. so i went to Franks Foreign... so im thinking he does foreign cars. he does everythign but mercedes. i told him it was just the replacement of a hose... and then he said he wouldn't. i wanted to just say that he couldn't. but i kept that to myself . i don't want to go to my inpependent which is all the way in arcadia just for a hose...

Aaron124

Your power steering return hose is leaking. It's pretty common for them to leak after a while. Go to the local MB dealer and buy whatever length of the hose you need (it's sold by the meter), remove the hose clamps, remove the old hose, and then put the hose clamps back on. Be careful and don't overtighten the hose clamps, doing so causes the hose to swell at the ends and will cause leaks later on. Siphon out whatever remaining fluid is in the reservoir prior to removing the hose, otherwise it will all flow out.

AMG_Fred

ok well the return hose was leaking. but that wasn't the main source of the problem. he showed me but i didn't know what it was, pretty bad leak if you ask me. i also told him that the dash lights/ac lights/radio and all that weren't working. so he said it was due to shortcircuit on the headlight wipers. so he disconnected them and replaced the fuse... its bright out.. but i think it still didn't work. :\ he also adjusted the what i think is the transmission modulator. only thing that would make sense. if you want to know what happened you can ask jerry at auto import works. im not sure exactly what he did. but i am very happy with the results. i just forgot to tell him about the squeaky suspension. all in all, good results from auto import works again