SL/R129: 300SL Steering Box Leak..Have a question
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: Nashville, Tennessee
Mercedes 300SL
300SL Steering Box Leak..Have a question
Newbie looking for opinion what is wrong and what caused it. The items incircled in red appears to be where the fluid is leaking from my 1991 300SL Automatic. I found a Circlip that appears to have worked it's way loose and fell into my driveway. The round (what I am going to call) inner cylinder that is sticking out of the housing appears to have a groove where a circlip would fit to hold it in.
The circlip doesn't appear to be damaged so I'm at a loss to understand why it failed. Could one be so lucky as to reinsert the circlip (assuming it will hold), fill it up with fluid and everything's peachy? Probably not. Any ideas what could be the underlying cause as to why this failure occurred.
Car has 61,000 milies on it.
Thanks!
The circlip doesn't appear to be damaged so I'm at a loss to understand why it failed. Could one be so lucky as to reinsert the circlip (assuming it will hold), fill it up with fluid and everything's peachy? Probably not. Any ideas what could be the underlying cause as to why this failure occurred.
Car has 61,000 milies on it.
Thanks!
Member
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 126
Likes: 5
From: Saint Augustine, FL
1998 SL500
That is a cover (#8 below) for the steering box's control valve (#4) and reaction pistons bore. The circlip is an "internal" style that sits in a groove in the bore's wall.
If the circlip appears undamaged it may not have been properly seated when assembled. It would be best to get a new clip however, and again if it appears undamaged, reusing it may work...
If the circlip appears undamaged it may not have been properly seated when assembled. It would be best to get a new clip however, and again if it appears undamaged, reusing it may work...
