Vehicle not starting - ESL (Elec. Steering Lock) Problems
02-08-2020, 03:24 AM
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Vehicle not starting - ESL (Elec. Steering Lock) Problems
The web and Youtube is full of horror stories how a cheap $5 Chinese motor has messed up the "German Quality Image". Just got caught myself and should have asked this forum: Was unable to start and turned key around and it started and thought the electronics are just temperamental, wrong! What I should have done then is drive it into my garage, push key in and hear the ESL motor pull out the locking pin to the steering wheel, NOT REMOVING THE KEY, then remove the battery and then pulling out the key. That way one last time to have an unlocked steering wheel and a car safely in the garage.
In my 2007 C220 CDI W204 car (130,000km), a $5 Chinese motor has burnt out slowly in the ESL allowing me to start several times until it died and left me with an additional problem: It needs a complete removal of the steering column and the cutting off of the 10mm bolt holding the ESL in as the steering locking pin is out, a two-hour job with hacksaw to get the ESL out. There is a Part 1/Part 2 video on Youtube by MIKEYZ, a Melbournian, who can show you how to take out the hidden ESL WITHOUT taking the column off, provided the steering lock is not in.
German quality? No more as Aliexpress will sell you this $5 motor by the tens plus tool to take out the four pins holding the ESL together plus tool to take out the ignition lock and the web is full of complaints about users paying $2,000 at the stealerships plus towing fees and being stranded somewhere. So Merc has been using non-German parts. It gets worse: A mechanic claims the NEC security chip on the ESL adds up the number of restarts and believes the vehicle is being stolen and it requires to take out the ignition lock and key and send it off to a locksmith who can unlock it. Plus, if you do not change the motor yourself, you have to get a recon. ESL and that definitely has to be mated to the ignition lock. Merc will not sell an ESL as it is a "theft prevention measure".
Hint: One trick to get that Merc going is removing that lower shroud and hitting that "fatter" part at the bottom of the column where the ESL is attached and that hitting might just get the $5 motor going to unlock and start your car one last time! An American "RAC" equivalent mechanic thanked MIKEYZ profusely as a lady was stranded and he fixed it with hitting!
I had to buy that $5 motor locally as China is "closed". I have paid US$23 extra postage to have the motor by the third of Feb. via TNT "or your money back" and I am still waiting for the money or the part.
In my 2007 C220 CDI W204 car (130,000km), a $5 Chinese motor has burnt out slowly in the ESL allowing me to start several times until it died and left me with an additional problem: It needs a complete removal of the steering column and the cutting off of the 10mm bolt holding the ESL in as the steering locking pin is out, a two-hour job with hacksaw to get the ESL out. There is a Part 1/Part 2 video on Youtube by MIKEYZ, a Melbournian, who can show you how to take out the hidden ESL WITHOUT taking the column off, provided the steering lock is not in.
German quality? No more as Aliexpress will sell you this $5 motor by the tens plus tool to take out the four pins holding the ESL together plus tool to take out the ignition lock and the web is full of complaints about users paying $2,000 at the stealerships plus towing fees and being stranded somewhere. So Merc has been using non-German parts. It gets worse: A mechanic claims the NEC security chip on the ESL adds up the number of restarts and believes the vehicle is being stolen and it requires to take out the ignition lock and key and send it off to a locksmith who can unlock it. Plus, if you do not change the motor yourself, you have to get a recon. ESL and that definitely has to be mated to the ignition lock. Merc will not sell an ESL as it is a "theft prevention measure".
Hint: One trick to get that Merc going is removing that lower shroud and hitting that "fatter" part at the bottom of the column where the ESL is attached and that hitting might just get the $5 motor going to unlock and start your car one last time! An American "RAC" equivalent mechanic thanked MIKEYZ profusely as a lady was stranded and he fixed it with hitting!
I had to buy that $5 motor locally as China is "closed". I have paid US$23 extra postage to have the motor by the third of Feb. via TNT "or your money back" and I am still waiting for the money or the part.
