behr

Hi:

I have an 2005 E320. Car has an easy entry/exit option. Steering wheel moves up and down while getting in and out of the car.

Last week, I stopped the car, turned of the engine. Steering wheel moved all the way up. Sound like bubbling water similar to this youtube video youtube.com/watch?v=wTaA_AQ1qCM
came from the top of the steering wheel for a minute or so. Then, buzzing sound came similar to the sound steering wheel makes when moved up and down. Buzzing did not stop, motor kept spinning. I thought it might take a while. I left the car and came back. When I turned on the car again, steering wheel did not move down. Steering wheel is stuck at the top position.

When I try to move the steering wheel manually with the adjuster stalk, I can hear the motor turning. So, I am guessing it's not a blown fuse or broken motor.

People are saying a plastic dogbone maybe broken. However, the way the problem started was with the bubbling noise so I am thinking it could be something else like water/oil/air is trapped inside the system.

Some are saying air might be trapped. I tried to reset the steering wheel by rotating the tires left to right but that did not help. I am not sure if this is the right way to get rid of the trapped air.

Maybe when the bubbling noise happened, computer lost track of things because motor kept spinning even the steering wheel reached the top position. Some are saying steering wheel memory might be messed up. But, I don't know how to reset that.

Could you provide some suggestions to fix it?

Thanks

loudbmw

I'm guessing the '05 E and C class have the same steering wheel height adjuster, so this may be of some help.

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...d-working.html

It's quite a job to replace the $8 part. My solution:

My son's '05 C320 has had the steering wheel at its lowest position for some time due to the broken "dogbone" link.

Looking at the photos, I could access the broken "dogbone" was by removing only the lower panel under the dash.

Despite having to nearly stand on my head, I was able to get one finger onto the broken part and turn it manually. You can figure out which end of the broken part to turn as well as the direction needed by activating the height lever and feeling the other half spin.

I used a bungee cord from the steering wheel to the rear view mirror to relieve the weight of the steering wheel which made the adjustment very easy. It took about 15 minutes to manually raise the wheel halfway where it will now stay forever.

What a difference!

Needless to say, I have deactivated the convenience feature to automatically raise the steering wheel upon enter/exit on my '09 E350 and '13 C250.

Lou

behr

Thank you for your reply.

I also forgot to mention, before steering wheel stopped moving, I mistakenly hit one of the memory buttons [2 or 3] while driving. One setting was too different than what I was currently using.
So, all the parts [seat, side mirrors, steering wheel] moved with a loud noise and there was a warning on the dash that some of the parts can't be shifted [I think it was about the steering wheel].
I did not pay attention since I thought moving steering wheel while driving might be dangerous so that option might have been disabled.

Then, I stopped the car. Steering wheel moved upwards to the highest point. Then bubbling sound came from the top of the dashboard close to the front windshield.
When I started the car again, steering wheel did not come down.

I went to a repair shop yesterday. The guy said Steering Angle Sensor could be bad too. I searched for problems caused by this sensor. It seems like wheel height adjustment is not related.

Mechanic said he would fix it for $400 if it problem is caused by the sensor or dogbone.

If I get error codes erased, do you think this might help if there is an error that stops steering wheel downwards? Steering wheel moves front and back.

Thanks.