AdyGheorghe

Hi everyone. New to this forum and to MB. I recently purchased a 2011 MB R350 CDI with 60k km. The previous owner had an issue with the key module or something like that and he told me that the steering wheel was removed. When I took the car for a drive I noticed that in order to drive straight, I had to keep the steering wheel a little bit to the right, clockwise about 10/15 degrees.
I took the car for a wheel alignment and yesterday (two days after and about 50km made) ESP UNAVAILABLE SEE OWNERS MANUAL message came along with the yellow triangle and TYRE PRESSURE CONTROL NOT WORKING (or something like that, translated from Spanish).
I will go back to realign the front wheels holding the steering wheel 10 degrees to the right as it was before the alignment and the fault messages, and see if the messages go away. Could the problem be caused by misplaced steering wheel by the guy who fixed the key problem and took out the steering wheel? If so, wasn’t the steering angle sensor supposed to trigger the ESP message? Do some of you recommend something else? Thank you!

AdyGheorghe

Today I took the car back to set the steering where it used to be(approximately) but the trick didn’t work. After that I took the car for a new alignment in another shop and the guys tried to reset the ESP warning, didn’t work. Then I thought I have no other choice but to take it to the MB dealer and I got it scheduled for tomorrow morning. I read in a few comments earlier that also the Cruise control may not work and it’s true. No tempomat either. I’m starting to think that it might be the brake pedal switch. Just that the issue started shortly after the wheel alignment.
Anyway, after the whole thing is done, I will write here what I will know.

ODIOUS

Did you do a pre-purchase vehicle inspection by chance?

I once hit small bale of pine needles which fell from a truck on the highway. This was in a Toyota Prius.
It went under the passenger's side wheel and tore out the fender liner under there along with some damage to the front bumper.
Other than that everything seemed good. A few weeks later I took it in for an alignment after getting new tires and when I got it back the steering wheel was off by about 10 degrees.
The mechanic showed me how the wheels were NOW aligned properly according to the laser guided machine.
Apparently the impact bent something which now makes the steering wheel off.
His suggestion, since he didn't see anything obviously wrong when he was under there doing the alignment, was to take the steering wheel off and make adjust it to dead center.

Taking vehicle to the MB shop maybe your best bet since the pros who align suspensions didn't not anything wrong to you.
Plus you have a lot of electronics misbehaving and that's the realm of the dealer or a good independent.

I'd go to the independent before I go to the dealer bcos the indy will like to fix just the issue. The dealer would like to replace the whole steering column and module. That might be a bit of an exaggeration... but not by much.

Good luck and keep us posted!

AdyGheorghe

I only checked myself all I could since the previous owner seemed to be a nice person, father of 3 like myself, he is a police inspector(not like myself), in other words I fully trusted him. Underneath the car there seem to be no problem. He did mentioned that a few months back he had his Indy doing some tightening to some parts of the steering column but that shouldn’t cause the steering wheel to dislocate. I hope the dealer will do a good job today and tell me there is no damage that could’ve caused the steering misalignment. I’ll be posting everything. Cheers!

AdyGheorghe

Yesterday I got a call from the dealer and told me that the problem is caused by the angle sensor behind the steering wheel. Front wheel alignment, new sensor and connecting the “Nintendo” console and programming the new sensor will cost me 825€. Seems fair. Hope there will be no more surprises like this.
I will confirm everything once I have the car fixed.

AdyGheorghe

Today I brought the car home from the shop. They changed the angle sensor and the clock spring. Seems to be just fine now. Joke costed me 730€. At first they said it will cost around 850.
for now I am satisfied.

Astrok

I am have intermittent problems with my sensor. When it goes out cruise control, tire monitor and ESP all go out. Take a lot at youtube for MB steering angle replacement. I would think that's why steering wheel was taken off. I am waiting for mine to get bad enough to change.

ODIOUS

So you have to take the steering wheel off to change the sensor?
Interesting....

Anyone know off the top of their head what this sensor actually does or why its intergral to so many systems?