e420misery

Made a huge mistake while trying to replace the ignition cylinder in my '97 e420.

I was having a major difficulty while using the special tool to get the black metal sleeve to line up with the wide, metal tab at the 7
o'clock position on the outside cylinder housing during re-installation. The black metal sleeve has a beveled recess inside it that is
supposed to engage or slip over that wide tab before rotating the sleeve 90 degrees clockwise back into its original position. At one
point, I was fiddling around with getting the cylinder itself in the right position, without the tool or the black sleeve, and I
accidentally spun it anti-clockwise with the key still in it. The dash indicator lights briefly lit up and I kept spinning it like an
idiot. The dash indicators went out and the cylinder stopped and locked into place. Pretty sure this has resulted in the cylinder being
locked in the wrong position.

I can get the key out just as if it is in the off position, but I now cannot turn the cylinder clockwise with the key in it. As near as I
can tell, the white plastic piece on the outside of the cylinder is now hanging up on some part of the inside of the cylinder housing. With
the key out, I can push this white plastic tab in with a pick or blade, but the cylinder will not rotate. I assume this is because the key
needs to be in. But I cannot get the key in because pushing the white plastic tab inward causes the key slot to be blocked with the rest of
that white plastic part.

Any ideas on how to fix this? I believe it is clocked about 90 degrees anti-clockwise out of position. The larger metal tab on the outside
of the ignition cylinder itself is now at the 10-11 o'clock position with the cylinder itself stuck in what I assume is the zero/off
position.

Pretty desperate for a solution as the vehicle is now completely immobilized. I am a trained mechanic and feel like a complete fool for
letting this happen.

Thank you immensely for any insight or solutions you can provide.

kajtek1

This model has the ingenious steering wheel blockade, that with tampering goes into permanent lock.
That turns pretty costly as you have to saw old blockade off and buy new one, what is under theft-prevention laws.
A member on benzworld posted a trick how to drill a hole in blockade and reset the lock. Go there and study the pictures really carefully.

e420misery

I figured it out after a night of sleep to clear my head. Turns out (pun intended) that I had the cylinder in the right position after all. After spending a half hour fiddling and staring at it yesterday morning, I remembered learning about making bump keys years ago. I grabbed a small rubber mallet, gave the key a few rapid taps while wiggling it, and the cylinder finally broke free. Either the worn key finally lost enough meat to not engage all the pins in the cylinder, or a pin was frozen. Bumping it finally got it to drop and allow the turn. I was having nightmares about having to grab the Sawzall. Dodged a bullet. Hopefully someone else with this issue might read this and find out that the right bump can sometimes get a worn out cylinder in the 1 position to allow use of the special tool for removal. Thanks for the reply.