I also think my steering is a bit on the heavy side! Also, when I turn and let go of the steering wheel it doesn't self-correct. Anyone experienced that? I'm wondering if it could be an alignment issue.

But still I doubt that an alignment will fix the cause of the heavy steering?
I have a bad squeeking sound now so I'm wondering if perhaps worn ball joints or tie-rod ends can cause the steering to feel heavy?

 

My guess would also point to the ball joints. This happened to my fathers S430 but not yet to my S55. It creaks when they are worn. I see you are in Norway. My family has a home in Stromstad Sweden not that far away.
Good luck.
Johan

 

Yeah, my mechanic had the same creeking noises on his e-class, so I'm gonna replace the lower control arm.

But what about the heavy steering and failing self-correct ? any pointers ?

I've been to strømstad many times, both on vacation and "shopping"

 

"shopping" huh... The booze store. You Norway boys sure do party hard!
I think that most if not all your steering issues is being caused by those worn ball joints. Good luck.
Johan

 

Hi guys I have a S500 2005 and my steering has been making creaking noises whenever i turn on my AC as if the power steering has gone bad however i had that replace last month so i dont think thats the case Also the steering is alot heavier than before. any idea what this could be? when the AC is off then everything is smooth.. thanks
Im at 99,000 miles if that helps and i can hear a lose knocking sound on the left wheel side im guessing that could be the thrust arm... just some info in case it would help..

 

Check your balljoints.

 

thanks ill def have that checked out

 

Hi everyone,

Summer 2021 the steering wheel of my 2004 S500 got heavy an it’s the same since then. No one could help me solve the issue. So far I have changed the following: steering rack and PML valve, new steering pump with new oil from Mercedes. Even changed the ESP module. Whole front end of the car is new. Nothing solves the heavy steering problem. Used to be very light when car is stationary and then become heavy while driving. If you have any suggestions, it will be very appreciate!

 

I don't want to insult you, but...

Have you done the reset? Engine running, turn wheel full left, full right, full left, center.

Have you had any error codes pop up?

 

No error codes.
I turned the wheel full left, full right, center. Multiple times.
I will try your suggestion left, right, left, center and will tell you what is going on.

 

No joy.
Could it be electrical issue? Not enough current for the PML valve, but enough not to throw an error?

 

i didnt get a chance to read the whole thread yet so i hope that what i'm saying is new ,
usually the reason why the steering is heavy is because of the steering sensor that comes attached to the steering box which will allow more oil to flow to the steering box based on your speed . i attached a few pictures of the sensor and the location of it in the steering rack . it can be replaced without removing the steering rack .

the location of the sensor in the steering rack box

closeup pic of the two screws that holds the sensor

the sensor

 

Thank you for your response. This is the PML valve, I’ve replaced it three times. All of the three that I have are working properly according to Star Diagnosis. When tested directly with voltage from the battery all of then open and close. Also they have the required resistance values.

 

Anyone?

 

My current power steering pump is 120bar one. The one on the car before that was with 128bar operating pressure, the original one. Could that be the issue, those 8bars of pressure? Some people says it's too little to cause the problem?

 

It would be interesting to check for binding in the system. If you jack both front wheels off the ground (floor jack under front central jack point is easiest way) and turn the steering wheel from lock to lock, how difficult is it? With no weight on the wheels, it should be pretty easy to do.

 

ok yesterday i had a friend who had the exact same issue u r facing now and we spend about 6 hours yesterday trying to figure out what is the issue until we did fix it ... here is the situation and what we did to solve it :-
-his steering was heavy , Y10 code ,
so
- we tested another sensor , DIDNT WORK .
- tested the sensor on the car with 12v power source ( just connect a battery to it while its fitted in the car) steering works perfectly so the sensor is working
- removed the sensor from the car and tested its resistance outside by connecting a multimeter to it ( it should read between 5 and 12 ohm ) it did read 8 so the sensor is perfect.
- started the car and disconnected the sensor and checked if any voltage is coming from the wire ( the sensor connector ) we had zero volt so we figured that the issue is either from the wire or from the ESP,BAS unit ( located in the fuse box of the driver side , let hand drive )
- we followed the wire so we found out the it ends inside the fuse box driver side as i said and its green and blue wire so we removed the big electrical connector that has these two wires and checked for the continuity in both wires and it was okk ( let me know if u need photos to guide u so i can take some and send it ) which means that the connectors and the wires is OK too
so now the only way is to check the ESP,BAS unit for any issue .
- we removed the second connector that is connected to the unit and we opened the unit from inside and wallaaaah we found some chips inside that there pins looks connected by small amount of rust so i was surprised and showed it to my friend and he said the following ( OMG i remember now , 2 years ago some water was spilled on that fuse box when he was washing the car but he tried the car after and it was fine !!!) so HERE YOU GO .
WE GOT SOME PAINT THINNER AND CLEAND THE WHOLE BOARD WITH A SOFT BRUSH AND DRIED IT OUT WITH A FAN AND FITED EVERYTHING TOGETHER AND THE STEERING CAME BACK TO LIFE ! ,,, but we had ESP,BAS message on the dash so we connected the MB star and deleted the codes and everything got back to normal .

 

I have tried everything in the past two years and still no result. The other day I tested the car with Star Diagnosis and no faults was found. Valve, rack, pump, hoses all of this is new. I even bought another ESP module, still no result. Any new ideas will be highly appreciated! Thanks! It’s an absolute mystery at this point, two years and no one can fix it……