Well I got my car back and the squeak is gone.
Apparently on the rack there is a small setscrew holding in the seal that needed to be replaced. But as they tried to move it out, the raised lip of the rack had broken of. Making the rack unusable; hens a new rack needed to be installed. The TSB # that I found on the work order is
TSB Group 46, AF46.20-P-1100AG26.03.2003
With this came a 4-wheel alignment N/C.
Wish they would have told me that when I called them on Tuesday, instead of just saying we found broken pieces in your rack, making me wounder what kind of car I just picked up.

 

Thanks for the info agv. It looks as though there may be two different problems that could cause this squeaking noise then. One is apparently the rack and the other, as pointed out in some posts, being something around the rubber grommet or boot on the firewall that the steering column goes through. If anyone has any information as how to troubleshoot this problem to tell the difference then it would really help some of us out.

 

the squeak noise from the rack is caused by the radial sealing ring on the steering gear control head. m-b has released a DTB (dealer technical bulletin) for this. i don't know the number offhand. they have a kit with the new seal and comes a few o-rings for other parts of the steering rack you have to take apart to do the job. there is one o-ring that is not included in the kit, but is easy to damage while performing the repair. this o-ring is not available at all from m-b. if it is damaged, the rack needs to be replaced. AF46.20-p-1100A is a WIS document number. group 46 is the m-b designation for steering systems. and yes, this is a common problem, i have done the repair twice in the last six months and seen it done countless other times by various techs in the shop.

 

What a bummer, I had my rack replaced a few months back and the other night...rubber on rubber squeek! It has not returned since then, but I'm glad this thread has gained traction as I'll be providing all the TB numbers for continued service.

 

This problem could be related to the bulletin on alldata.com that I found for mid 2003. Its number is P-46_20-12 JUL 03 and the title is; "Steering - Squeaking Noise"

Interesting note; If you go to alldata.com and look for TSBs under year 2000 and then Mercedes-Benz you don't see a listing for E-320 sedans without 4-matic. I used the one for E-320 wagons. It seems like they might be the closest match. That's where I got the number above so I hope its correct.

Ninefourthree - do you know if this is related to that dealer bulletin you spoke of or could you possibly find out?

It seems like the o-rings have to be available some where. I'm sure remanufacturing houses have them or can get them. It seems really rediculous to have to replace the rack because of an o-ring that M-B doesn't have.

 

the DTB to which i was referring was P-B 46.20/12, dated July 7, 2003.
with regard to replacing the rack due to a ruined o-ring that is not available from M-B: if the car is under warranty, it's gets a whole rack. a customer-pay situation would be altogether different. of course, i doubt that most customers would pay $700 dollars (about 6 hrs labor plus the seal kit and p/s fluid) to get rid of a harmless little squeak.

 

My Wife And I Just Bought E320 Last Month And It Has Only 26000 Miles. It Is Pre Owned Certified. Extended Warranty Lasts Till 2/2006 Or 100,000 Miles. We Are Glad We Found This Forum. My Wife Started To Notice Squeaking From The Steering Just About One Week Ago And I Thought May Be At Slow Speed Probably The Sound Is From The Tires. So Finally I Called My Dealer's Service Dept And They Said They Have Done This Kind Of Repair Before. I Am Awaiting For Them To Call Me To Set Up An Apointment.

My Another Question Is I Am Pest About Changing The Oil More Frequently. The Dealer Says To Wait 10,000 Miles. However I Want To Keep The Car For Long Time And I Want To Change It Every 5000 Miles And Willing To Pay. Is That Ok? Or Would Intefere With Computer Reminder Of Service Schedule. What Is By The Way Service Schedule A/b? Can I Also Get More Extended Warranty? Thanks This Is Truly A Informative Site.

 

Recently just noticed thsi sqeak. mine has 46k miles. They gotta have a recall on this!

 

I wish they would cover this with a recall but I doubt that they will. Unless it's a safety issue or something that will damage their reputation enough that it hinders future sales then I suspect they will let Mercedes users suffer with the noise or pay the price to fix it. It will definitely make Mercedes look bad but the question is how widespread is it and therefore how bad would it make them look to not fix it. I am almost certain they know this is a common problem and have either already evaluated the problem for overall cost impact or are in the process of doing so.

If the problem is covered under warranty then by all means, have them fix it. You paid for the warranty so you should use it. However, when we have to pay for the repair out of our pockets then it becomes an issue of how much do each one of us want to get rid of this annoyance. Unfortunately, mine isn't covered by warranty so I'm very interested in finding out if it's something I can get fixed at a reasonable cost. I tried to find an extended warranty program for mine when I bought it but it had too many miles on it.

I personally would like to get rid of the noise. After all, this is a Mercedes we're talking about and not a Ford or Chevy. But on the other hand, I've never heard of a problem like this on a Ford or Chevy.

 

Finally got over to the M-B shop for them to take a look at my car. The shop foreman rode with me and within a block from the dealership he heard the noise and said "yep, that's the rack". He went on to say they have seen a lot of these over the past year and know it's a common problem. He explained that it's a nylon bushing that goes over an aluminum shaft that is causing all the problem. We didn't discuss technical bulletins. That's not something they want to talk about.
They gave me an estimate of over $2700 to do the rack replacement and that's just for starters. He said they might see other problems when they actually looked under the car but with just the rack, replacing it, and doing the full alignment it will run that much.
So, unless I win the lotto, it looks like I will either put up with it or, if it gets worse, (I doubt that this will go away permantly) then I'll have to chose the remanufactured one for four hundred and some dollars plus labor.
Any other ideas or suggestions?

 

Does anyone have a cutaway view of the rack showing the offending part?

 

I received an e-mail reply today from one of the major rack remanufacturers and he says that all of these squeak problems may not be coming from the racks. He also said a lot of the Mercedes shops believe the source of the noise is from a Teflon (I might have mentioned Nylon before) bushing but he said he supplies a lot of their shops and there have been cases (number not mentioned) where the rack did not fix the squeak problem. He told me to be careful here and try to find out as much as possible before replacing the rack.
I can see where Mercedes might think this as a problem when in fact the problem could be another incidental part that gets changed or reseated when the rack is replaced.

It makes me wonder if the $2700 per repair price tag is slowing up any other investigation M-B might have on this problem. After all, that's a lot of money AND if it fixes the problem most of the time - then why bother looking further?

If they (M-B) have done extensive failure analysis on this problem and they can duplicate the condition in the lab then they would know for certain what the problem is. I hope that's what they are doing and not just sending the bad racks off to a rebuild house.

 

Funny but just the other day I noticed a little squeak on my '02 E and now I'm perusing the W210 threads and find this. I know now why I come to this site so often. Anyway, it's gone away for the time being and doesn't annoy me yet. We'll see....

 

I too also have the same problem. I took my car in to the dealer and had it checked, they said that my steering boot was dry and needs to be lubricated. I paid $98.00 to have that done. And now two days later the noise is back again.

 

I stumbled onto this discussion forum and was surprised to see this thread about the steering rubbing sensation. I printed out the entire thread and brought it to my dealer in MA. I had complained about this a few times during my first 80,000 miles. They took it in and started working, figuring I had no idea what was going on and the info here was just some chat room. Well now it's 3 days later with my free loaner car and they have replaced everything mentioned, doing the rack now under my 100,000 Starmark Warranty. Great to get this fixed before hitting the end of the warranty.

Thanks everyone.

Bob

 

How much did ur extended warrenttee cost you !!!

 

It was $2200 at time of purchase (6yr/100K mi/$0 deductible)

Paid for itself even before this repair.

MB quality was not what I was lead to believe. This E320 will be my last MB. I've had electical wire corrode, multiple bulb failures due to lousy sockets, multiple suspension part failures, complete dash replace (crappy LCD segments), and lots more.

Bob

 

what year and model do u drive?

 

Does any one know the MB book hours for labor on changing the rack? I know where I can get one rebuilt for around $250 or so. If I run out of choices I might have to have the rack changed and hope that fixes it.

 

2000 E320 Sedan (non 4Matic)

 

Does any one know the MB book hours for labor on changing the rack? I know where I can get one rebuilt for around $250 or so. If I run out of choices I might have to have the rack changed and hope that fixes it.

 

Folks,

I read through the entire thread on the steering wheel squeaking problem. I bought a E320 - 2001 model just 6 months ago with only 29000 miles on it. My factory warranty expired in Oct' 04. However, I bought a third party extended warranty immediately before the factory warranty expiration. I noticed a slight sqeek in my steering wheel about a month after the factory warranty expired, and with only 32000 miles on the car. I had the noise for about 2 weeks, and then it dissappeared for another 2 months. Today it has reappeared. I will go check with the dealership on this and keep the forum posted.

And, after reading through the thread I believe there is not a recall on this issue, right?

And, is there a way to print out the entire thread without going through the laborious process of cutting and pasting onto a word doc? Thanks for the help.

 

No recall what so ever on this issue. I am confused how why your 2001 E320 factory warrantee had expired in 2004 and it should have 4/50K warrantee. You still have one more year !!!!

 

Dear E320Star,

Thanks for the input. Even though my E320 is a 2001 model it was registered in Oct' 2000 (according to my carfax report). Accordingly the warranty expired in Oct' 04.

Can anyone answer the 2nd part of my question regarding printing the entire thread. Is there a way, or do we need to cut & paste into a word doc.?

Thanks in advance!

 

I haven't tried it but it looks as though you can go to the top of this page and click on "thread tools". It's on a small dark bar near the center of the page. Select "show printable version" from the drop-down menu. That will give you printable views of each page. Then look for a link at the bottom right of that first page and it will say something like "view all threads on one page" or something to that affect. After selecting that you should be able to call for a normal print from your "File" selection at the top left of your browser window. It should then print as it does for any form or report that has multiple pages.
If you would, let us know if it works. Good luck.