All of a sudden, the Up/Down function of my steering wheel does not work. IN/OUT works fine. Tried disabling/enabling the easy exit function with no luck. Anyone experience this and is there a reset that can be done?
Steering Wheel Adjustment
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When I got my 2013 SL550 home I had to go to the local dealer to get a few parts. My wheel did the same thing as yours. I went to the service department to see how much to repair it. The guy came out to my car, got in, moved the wheel way back, used his left leg to put upward pressure on it and slapped the rim hard with his right hand - It has worked fine ever since. He says users climb out of the car using the rim for assist and lock it up. What really surprised me - NO CHARGE! They have a new customer when I need them because of the way I was treated.
I hardly drive my SL, but recently realized the easy in/out (up/down) function was not working. My service guy checked to see if it was covered under the CPO plan, which it was. However, my curiosity got the best of me. With a little research, I found that the pictured component (worm gear) is what operates the up/down function. I knew the motor was working because I could hear it clicking. I pulled all the happy horse shit out of the way, beginning with the lower dash, black cover (pain in the ass), two screws, all the components attached to it just unclip, OBD plug, & wire harness. Rear cup holder fascia, left side console trim, left side wood trim on dash, the fuse box cover, left side, there is a screw up in there. A few screws drops the knee air bag. No need to unplug the air bag, it will lay there. A this point you'll be looking right at the worm gear. A few allen heads and the worm gear pulls out from the electric motor. The electric motor has an opening that the drive end of the assembly goes into. Very simple, you'll see. I expected to find something broken, but found that the black block that is driven by the worm drive was actually just seated tight against the stop (black arrow in pic). The electric motor does not have enough torque to unseat it. As RussBarnes said, it maybe possible to use leg pressure and maybe hit the steering wheel to jar it loose. To reverse the torque to move that black block off its seat, would really take a lot. Incidentally, when the worm gear is removed, the steering wheel will move up and down by hand. Looking at the two pics, I think you'll get the idea in regards to trying to reverse the torque. I just white lubed everything, put it all back together, all is fine. The picture of the whole assembly is off of Ebay, I did not remove the whole thing, just the worm drive.
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2002 CL600, 1998 SL500, 1999 Porsche 911, 2005 AUDI A8, 2006 Bentley GT, 2013 SL550
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Had the same problem plus seat would not go up and down. Moved seat all the way forward and all the way back and problems solved with that reset. Worth a try rather than a trip to dealer
When you say all the way back, is that all the way in or all the way out? What is back?
Thanks
I have the same issue, and I want to try this.
1982 380SL, 1995 s500, 1998 SL500, 2001 e320 Wagon, 2014 S550 4matic
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This is exactly what I had to do to mine 2 years ago. Been fine ever since
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2002 CL600, 1998 SL500, 1999 Porsche 911, 2005 AUDI A8, 2006 Bentley GT, 2013 SL550
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59 Posts
Conflicting stories about all the way back or all the way in. I can just try it both ways. Not clear about where to hit it hard -- where on steering wheel -- top or bottom -- hit it up, down or straight in. Thanks for any clarification. I want to try this
I also have a 2013 MB 550SL with the steering wheel jammed in the up position. I spoke to a rep at Mercedes who told me that the motor had to be placed at a cost of approx. $800. I read what you had done...tried it and it it WORKED. The only difference was instead of using my hand I wrapped a towel around it and hit it with a hammer. Thanks for saving me $800.
DMSC
MY SL350 HAD THE SAME STEERING WHEEL ISSUE THE VERTICAL UP/DOWN DIDNT WORK.
ASKED MB TO CHECK DURING SERVICE IN JUNE BUT THEY WANTED GBP 99 DIAGNOSIS CHARGE.
SINCE I HAD READ SOEM OF THE SOLUTIONS IN THIS FORUM AND I GAVE IT A GO.
I USED THE AUTO-ADJUST AND MOVE THE STEERING TO THE HIGHEST POINT TOWARDS THE DRIVER.
SLAM THE TOP OF THE STEERING WHEEL.BINGO, IT WORKED!
THANKS FOR THE TIPS BUDDIES!
MY SL350 HAD THE SAME STEERING WHEEL ISSUE THE VERTICAL UP/DOWN DIDNT WORK.
ASKED MB TO CHECK DURING SERVICE IN JUNE BUT THEY WANTED GBP 99 DIAGNOSIS CHARGE.
SINCE I HAD READ SOEM OF THE SOLUTIONS IN THIS FORUM AND I GAVE IT A GO.
I USED THE AUTO-ADJUST AND MOVE THE STEERING TO THE HIGHEST POINT TOWARDS THE DRIVER.
SLAM THE TOP OF THE STEERING WHEEL.BINGO, IT WORKED!
THANKS FOR THE TIPS BUDDIES!
OK. I just went through this ordeal, also.
I’ve had my R231 (’14 SL550) for six years. Other than replacing the auxiliary battery (and all the nonsense a weak aux battery causes), I’ve had no trouble with this great little car!
Then, seemingly while sitting in the garage, this NO-Tilt-Steering-Column problem started. You guys seem to know all about this. For the record, I do keep the easy-exit feature on AND I’m sure I routinely put downward pressure on the wheel when exiting the car.
Fortunately there are many online articles and references to this problem and how we may correct it. Some simply suggesting we take it to the dealership for a $1,200 replacement tilt motor (which, by the way, does NOT resolve the potential for this problem to recur). Others suggesting the “absurd” recourse of beating on my car until it relinquishes a normally tilting steering column. I confess I thought this was a load of crap.
Since the SL dash is so well buttoned up, I used a bore-scope to look behind the dash and try to learn what the mechanism was that was failing. I easily saw the worm-drive which tilts the column is at end-of-travel and over-torqued to the UP position (like a tightened screw and nut) and the motor doesn’t have enough torque to reverse out of it. In engineering parlance we call this “taper-lock”.
Russbarnes’ post is spot on. I didn’t beat on my steering wheel. But, I did use my knees to force the steering column even farther up to reduce the wedge-tightening effect and allow the motor to reverse away from full-up position. I can see how adding some light impact to the steering wheel may also help.
So, thanks for your experiences and your willingness share them. That allowed me to overcome my initial skepticism and ultimately find the solution (which many of you already had).
Thanks!
I’ve had my R231 (’14 SL550) for six years. Other than replacing the auxiliary battery (and all the nonsense a weak aux battery causes), I’ve had no trouble with this great little car!
Then, seemingly while sitting in the garage, this NO-Tilt-Steering-Column problem started. You guys seem to know all about this. For the record, I do keep the easy-exit feature on AND I’m sure I routinely put downward pressure on the wheel when exiting the car.
Fortunately there are many online articles and references to this problem and how we may correct it. Some simply suggesting we take it to the dealership for a $1,200 replacement tilt motor (which, by the way, does NOT resolve the potential for this problem to recur). Others suggesting the “absurd” recourse of beating on my car until it relinquishes a normally tilting steering column. I confess I thought this was a load of crap.
Since the SL dash is so well buttoned up, I used a bore-scope to look behind the dash and try to learn what the mechanism was that was failing. I easily saw the worm-drive which tilts the column is at end-of-travel and over-torqued to the UP position (like a tightened screw and nut) and the motor doesn’t have enough torque to reverse out of it. In engineering parlance we call this “taper-lock”.
Russbarnes’ post is spot on. I didn’t beat on my steering wheel. But, I did use my knees to force the steering column even farther up to reduce the wedge-tightening effect and allow the motor to reverse away from full-up position. I can see how adding some light impact to the steering wheel may also help.
So, thanks for your experiences and your willingness share them. That allowed me to overcome my initial skepticism and ultimately find the solution (which many of you already had).
Thanks!
I freed mine off using the banging method, and I've activated the easy access function. The last time I used the car everything seemed to work fine. But you are bang on the money with the taper lock description I think that is the sole issue.
So some time has elapsed since last post, and it is stuck again. I think the problem lies with the exit assist as it must wind the wheel up to the top of it's travel which results in MaceoR231's explanation.
So how do we overcome this?
So how do we overcome this?
I can't say this will fix your situation, but for the six years I owned mine, I never had another lock up:
Adjust your #1 driving position to fit you. Then for the parking, I saved #2 with the wheel moved up, but not all the way where the electric motor would jam it, and moved in/out where it was easiest for me to exit. When I parked I pushed #2, turned the engine off. It never jammed again.
Good luck.
Adjust your #1 driving position to fit you. Then for the parking, I saved #2 with the wheel moved up, but not all the way where the electric motor would jam it, and moved in/out where it was easiest for me to exit. When I parked I pushed #2, turned the engine off. It never jammed again.
Good luck.
Ok Thanks for that I'll try it.
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My brand new (to me) 2013 SL550 seemed perfect but 2 days after I bought it, the steering wheel stopped going up and down. Thanks to this thread, I fixed mine in a few minutes and did not have to go back to the dealership with some harsh words. Thanks, everyone.
ps. I'm also turning off the auto ez-access and using a memory button just until I lose some weight....
ps. I'm also turning off the auto ez-access and using a memory button just until I lose some weight....
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