Hi there, I am new here.

The W210 Mercedes E Class is my first favourite Mercedes-Benz when I saw it during High School. I told myself that one day I would drive it. But of course as time went on it became an old car and I moved on.

Last year while I was back to admiring older and classic luxury cars, I found that there are local classic Mercedes communities that collect the W210. Soon that teenaged boy's dream of mine became a reality.

I got the E200 Kompressor Face-lift Model year 2001. I love the car and have been slowly doing the services and repairs e.g fluid changes and replacement of parts. The Benz is in a really good condition though.

​​​But here is an issue that I have been experiencing soon after purchasing it. If the car had been parked for like 3 days and I began to drive it, the steering wheel would be stiff when turning to the right. But within a minute or so it would become smooth.

However, slowly I begin to notice it every day when I take it for a drive, but as usual within a minute or two it drives normal.

This week, it seemed more frequent, meaning it lasted for more than a minute or two.

I bought the car at 195k mileage with a single owner whom had registered it as a company car and is now about to touch 200K miles after a year of owning it.

And I only had it towed once about two months ago. I had to replace the brake switch and brake master pump.

Other than that it's a beauty with a smooth ride and my family members who were initially concerned that I was risking it by buying an old Mercedes ended up loving it too. Especially because of how good/new it looks and how comfortable the ride is.

I saw quite a number of old threads here sharing the stiff power steering issue. But I couldn't find a solution. If you have experienced it, what solved the problem?

Here is a photo of my ♡

 

What comes to my mind is either steering linkage or the rack itself. Since you said it will be OK in minutes or two, I'm more suspecting rack itself.

But my experiences are from different makes and models, so I'm pretty sure other W210 expert will chime in soon.

How are you going to tackle this? Are you doing it yourself or having someone else do. If someone else, this may be very expensive fix. Anyway, wait for other W210 experts to chime in.

 

You've got a beauty there.

 

Could that be something like the tie rods being to tight or over extended stressing the rack? Would that produce a whine?