2010 S550, just picked up and went to adjust steering wheel. Power Up works but power down and in and out does not function. Was going to check fuses first but my understanding is that up & down is the same fuse and in & out is same.. Their is no noise from motors at all unless up is pressed so figuring fuses any additional wisdom would be great. don't want to articulate steering wheel any higher.

 

this was not about how to ...but misfunction, thanks guys!

 

Mine is a 2011 and the steering column does not go in/out. Up/down works fine.

 

Could be motor (25 in diagram) or shaft (45) see attachments to get an idea of what is involved to inspect/repair/replace.

 

thank you for the diagram i will dig into this issue and give a follow up

 

checked fuses both good 47 & 48, have power up but no other function, kinda leaning towards switch since the motor runs on wheel up and doesn't on any other direction, opinions? thanks,

 

Revisit diagram there are two motors, 25 is the one of interest. Could be motor or associated shaft.

 

So i saw a post on reset procedures (i wish i could find the link) any ways commentor mentioned holding switch fully in the up position for ten seconds. at the time my wheel would only go up so i figured if it got "stuck" in the up position i would just drive a different car till i could get it to the shop. well i lift the switch up and nothing moved counted to 10 and magically the wheel would go down.. but still acts does not function normally. but i was able to get it into the correct height that i wanted. now terrified to move it again. so i guess if you have a similar issue hold switch in one direction for ten seconds might work. side note did not seem to help in out function by holding switch forward or back.

 

I have the same problem, I can hear the lifter is engaging for a sec when I pull the lever up, I think there's a spiral gear that drives the column up and down that might be worn out. Please let me know if you solve this, I will do the same here

 

Try extending the wheel all the way forward, then push up with your knee at the same time push the lever up, I heard that helped in some.cases

 

there's a distance calibration set up..... after its been played with (front or rear SAM update I think does it) you must go through max movement till it re-establishes limits...

 

How is that done excatly ?

 

just move the switch.... the guy did it with STAR but the car wanted it done by the user.... as that guy posted.... fully up down, in and out then it was all normal again and the memory worked

 

In my case I can hear the motor kicking in when I pull the lever up or down, I think it might be that spiral plastic gear that moves it up and down.
how hard is it to open the steering column?
I have tried holding it like you guys said but nothing happened
at this pothis dint want to mess with that because last thing I need to be stuck fully extended lol
its already in position for my tiny wife. Literally on my knees

 

Germans must be an odd shape

I have mine fully extended and turned off the move unnecessarily and break it feature the day I got the car... I'm 6'3" and 240lbs never once thought there wasn't room to get in or out... not much leg room to the pedals though !

u get far more on most cars

 

Just so you know, that's a $3500 repair/

 

I'll tell you what breaks these plastic bits. It's excessive weight and pressure, like using the steering wheel to assist in getting out of the car. I had ti break myself of this habit when I bought my first Mercedes. It's possible to replace the worm gear in the C-Class, and the E-Class. I don't know if it can be done in the S class. Mercedes just replaced the entire steering coloum.

 

I have this problem and normal or any calibration does not work. Reason is the wheel up-down mechanism is jammed in the lowest position. In normal case for calibration you move it all the way up and all the way down and hold the switch at each end for a couple of seconds and the system finds it’s limits but this procedure is no help when the wheel is stuck in the lowest position and won’t move up at all.

 

that's not good ! yep, mine pre calibration (once it had lost the plot) only went up or more up till it was silly..... but once you hit the limit of up, the others come back in to play. Can you get it out of the stuck down, by trying a seat memory preset?

 

It will not move. The motor tries when you first try to go down and then up. It just won’t move. It is stuck in place and this is quite common issue amongst these cars by what I have read in the forums.

I took the little motor out to check on it and it works and is strong.

 

Mine goes in, out, and down but no up. A bit snug getting in and out. Think the "hold it up" fix might do something?

 

I drive a 2009 S550 W221. Beginning a couple of months ago, I started not having the ability to control my steering wheel position ... sometimes it would go up but not down, later it would go down but not up ... and never in nor out. I believe I tried the manual recalibrate procedure but that is some time ago.

I had some time this week so I started looking at the issue using my Foxwell scanner. For the area that included the steering wheel, I got Dr-side SAM-Driver signal acquisition and activation module fault with a code of 9041. That code points to the aux water pump but I thought perhaps there was an issue with the SAM.

Long story shortened, I came across not only this thread but also some videos that claimed to show the location of the driver side SAM. So I looked into the area above the driver footwell but all I located was the Central Gateway. As long as I was that far I took it out, unplugged it, inspected it, and reseated the plug several times, and then replaced it. When I tried the steering adjustment again, it was working up and down so I went through the four directions manual recalibration and it was working properly ... even moved up with the easy exit feature. I retested with the Foxwell scanner and got several faults relating to CAN and Central Gateway, all of which cleared and stayed cleared. Except for the 9041 ... which I think legitimately means I have a bad aux heater pump which I will address later, if I have the time.

Interestingly, I had also been having driver dynamic seat issues during that same time frame and when I got done with the disconnect and reconnect of the Central Gateway, they all seem to be cured.

After stumbling into this "fix", I found several web sites talking about the CAN and module problems that can be experienced with a bad Central Gateway. As far as I can tell, my Central Gateway just needed to be rebooted or reintroduced to my car.

Does any of this make sense?

BTW, I did not find a way with my Foxwell scanner to directly address the Central Gateway ... or maybe I am just too impatient.

 

Yes, makes sense.

I had issues with all sorts of error codes from different modules and the problem was the CGW. It has unsoldered pins that are just pressed in place and my fix was to simply just solder them. These pins are the ones that you connect the harness to so disconnecting / reconnecting can either make it better or worse if the pins move.

I have had no errors since the soldering job.

 

Hmmm, mine goes in and out but it is stock in the lower position. I will give this a try as soon as I find the location of my CG. Thank you for the post.

 

My 2009 S550 W221 Central Gateway was above the hood release latch ... and to the left ... clipped on to the side of the auxiliary battery. I released the lateral clip by opening the fuse panel on the driver's side dash, rotating aside the fuse block by taking out the two screws ... the inboard clip was accessible while in the footwell.