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I replaced both engine mounts on my 2011 E350 4-Matic. It was one of the most miserable jobs I have done on a car in quite some time, but I knew it was not going to be easy after reading several posts on the subject. I was unable to crack the top engine mount bolt loose on the passenger side. I struggled with it for almost half of the day and finally got it. Fast forward to the wee hours of the evening I got everything back together.
The next morning I took the car for a test drive and while going down my driveway I noticed the steering wheel is off to the right by about 45 degrees. Not sure why, because the steering shaft and rack only go back together one way. Anyway, as I begin my drive up the street I hear an awful noice in the front end and the car is loosing power. It regains power but now the ECS Inoperative light is on. So my steering wheel is off by 45 degrees and the ECS has an issue.
I read that care must be taken when removing the steering shaft from the rack or possible damage to the clock spring could occur. So with that in mind, I don't believe the steering shaft was rotated while apart.
Here are my symptoms:
1. ESC Inoperative warning on dash;
2 Steering wheel is off center;
3. Cruise Control does not work;
4. Right turn signal does "not" cancel when recovering from a right turn;
5. Left turn signal does cancel when recovering from a left turn;
6. Wipers work;
7. All other functions on the steering wheel appear to work properly.
I am thinking I have a problem with the Steering Angle Column Sensor, but I don't understand what could have gone wrong. Am I on the right path?
Any ideas?
Appreciate your thoughts.
...Dave
PS: Aside from the above issues, the car feels great with the new mounts.
I am still hoping for some input from the forum. Another clue is the "auto hold" feature does not work.
My steering wheel is 90 degrees off center. I was relatively careful not to rotate the wheel while the rack was disconnected from the shaft, but perhaps it moved 90 degrees while apart. When I disconnected the shaft from the rack it appeared it would only go back on one way. I am stumped.
I don't think it was necessary to remove the shaft from the rack, if this is what you did. I have the V8 (less space to work with) and I only removed the 4 bolts holding the whole rack to the subframe. Dropped the rack 2 inches while making sure the steering wheel was on center and was able to remove the driver side mount by pushing it forward and towards the middle of the car.
There is an alignment arrow on the plastic sleeve ( I think it's green plastic) that goes into the rack coming from the steering column. You want to make sure that one is centered, pointing downwards. Yours might be off by 90 or 45 degrees. Pop it out again and install it pointing downwards while the wheels are straight and the steering wheel is straight as well( before lifting the vehicle set the wheels straight and once you removed the steering shaft from the rack center the steering - it should feel very light). You might need to recalibrate the steering angle sensor too, but if the only thing you installed differently was the shaft offset by 90 or 45 degrees then you should be fine, popping it back in the right way should be enough.
I want to follow up on this thread to close it out. I got back under the car, made sure the wheels were straight and noted the steering wheel position was approximately a quarter of a turn off to the right. As noted in previous posts I found, there is a plastic "guide" on the rack that, for the most part, only lets you slide the steering shaft onto the rack one way. So, in order to correct the steering wheel position, I removed the plastic "guide" which allowed me to pretty much slide the steering shaft onto the rack at any position I chose. I slid the two together and check the steering wheel position. I repositioned the steering shaft on to the rack one tooth at a time to get the steering wheel lined up perfectly straight, then tightened the bolt securely. I took the car for a drive and everything functions normally now.
I am still not sure how or why the steering shaft got out of alignment. Perhaps there are splines of some type up in the column that became misaligned when I disturbed the shaft during the removal and replacement of the left side engine mount? Who knows? All I know is my steering wheel is straight, the car tracks straight, everything in the column functions as it should and my car is now smooth as glass at idle.
I'm glad you posted your follow-up. All of us have had repairs where we knew we did it right, yet there was still that one thing that came back to bite us. This will be a good help to anyone planning to change mounts.
I want to follow up on this thread to close it out. I got back under the car, made sure the wheels were straight and noted the steering wheel position was approximately a quarter of a turn off to the right. As noted in previous posts I found, there is a plastic "guide" on the rack that, for the most part, only lets you slide the steering shaft onto the rack one way. So, in order to correct the steering wheel position, I removed the plastic "guide" which allowed me to pretty much slide the steering shaft onto the rack at any position I chose. I slid the two together and check the steering wheel position. I repositioned the steering shaft on to the rack one tooth at a time to get the steering wheel lined up perfectly straight, then tightened the bolt securely. I took the car for a drive and everything functions normally now.
I am still not sure how or why the steering shaft got out of alignment. Perhaps there are splines of some type up in the column that became misaligned when I disturbed the shaft during the removal and replacement of the left side engine mount? Who knows? All I know is my steering wheel is straight, the car tracks straight, everything in the column functions as it should and my car is now smooth as glass at idle.
It was a tough job and I'm glad it's done!
Good job!
One remark though: are the plastic teeth on the inside of the plastic sleeve worn out or is it just the picture taken at a weird angle? If they are worn, that might explain how the steering became misaligned.
The teeth are in good condition. And the sleeve was a tight fit on the rack. I don't know what the inside of the steering column looks like, but I was thinking maybe there is a splined sleeve with a splined shaft that allows the steering column to extend and retract when adjustment is made by the driver. Perhaps I pushed the shaft in too far which disengaged the connection and when I pulled it back down I didn't realize it had turned slightly.
In any event, everything has been working perfectly since I disconnected the shaft from the rack, removed the plastic sleave, straightened the wheels and reattached the shaft.
I would also like to mention again that the new mounts made a huge difference in the way the car feels. I guess the original mounts failed slowly over time (78,000 miles) which is why I really didn't notice the vibration at idle until I read about it in this forum. After I realized what the deal was it drove me crazy until I changed out the mounts.
The teeth are in good condition. And the sleeve was a tight fit on the rack. I don't know what the inside of the steering column looks like, but I was thinking maybe there is a splined sleeve with a splined shaft that allows the steering column to extend and retract when adjustment is made by the driver. Perhaps I pushed the shaft in too far which disengaged the connection and when I pulled it back down I didn't realize it had turned slightly.
In any event, everything has been working perfectly since I disconnected the shaft from the rack, removed the plastic sleave, straightened the wheels and reattached the shaft.
I would also like to mention again that the new mounts made a huge difference in the way the car feels. I guess the original mounts failed slowly over time (78,000 miles) which is why I really didn't notice the vibration at idle until I read about it in this forum. After I realized what the deal was it drove me crazy until I changed out the mounts.
Do you notice any other differences when you are driving with the new mounts other than the idle is smooth?
Do you notice any other differences when you are driving with the new mounts other than the idle is smooth?
The old mounts were pretty much fully collapsed when compared to the new ones. The car does seem smoother and more balanced around town. Not much difference, if any, at higher speed.
I had previously replaced the transmission mount when I first started noticing the vibration at idle, but was disappointed it didn't fix the problem. At that point I knew the engine mounts were next. I procrastinated in tackling the job because I thought it would be a little more time consuming than the transmission mount. Boy was I right! But now that all mounts are new I am very happy with the results.
The old mounts were pretty much fully collapsed when compared to the new ones. The car does seem smoother and more balanced around town. Not much difference, if any, at higher speed.
I had previously replaced the transmission mount when I first started noticing the vibration at idle, but was disappointed it didn't fix the problem. At that point I knew the engine mounts were next. I procrastinated in tackling the job because I thought it would be a little more time consuming than the transmission mount. Boy was I right! But now that all mounts are new I am very happy with the results.
did you replace just one transmission mount? (Basically the bushing) , or both? Because from what i understand there is front and rear (the bushing is rear ).
did you replace just one transmission mount? (Basically the bushing) , or both? Because from what i understand there is front and rear (the bushing is rear ).
There are 2 engine mounts and one transmission mount. The transmission mount was very easy to swap out. The 2 engine mounts, not so much.
There are 2 engine mounts and one transmission mount. The transmission mount was very easy to swap out. The 2 engine mounts, not so much.
I wanted to add one more piece of information that may be helpful to those with a pre-facelift E350 4maic. I found it difficult to nail down exactly which style engine mount fit my car. I spent a lot of time on various websites but still had conflicting information. Apparently, there are 2 different types of mounts specified for the E350. I didn't want to get the car apart and discover I had the wrong parts, so I ended up ordering both types and returned the ones I didn't use. As it turned out, the mounts pictured above were correct and, although many sites specified the mounts pictured below, the ones below were not correct for my application. Perhaps the mounts pictured below are for a non-4matic?
There are 2 engine mounts and one transmission mount. The transmission mount was very easy to swap out. The 2 engine mounts, not so much.
I wanted to add one more piece of information that may be helpful to those with a pre-facelift E350 4maic. I found it difficult to nail down exactly which style engine mount fit my car. I spent a lot of time on various websites but still had conflicting information. Apparently, there are 2 different types of mounts specified for the E350. I didn't want to get the car apart and discover I had the wrong parts, so I ended up ordering both types and returned the ones I didn't use. As it turned out, the mounts pictured above were correct and, although many sites specified the mounts pictured below, the ones below were not correct for my application. Perhaps the mounts pictured below are for a non-4matic?
i would think the ones on the bottom (lemfoerder) are for non 4matic as you mentioned
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