Last night, just before getting home, there arose a somewhat serious sounding belt whine emanating from my `87 300SDL, that seemed to occur as I was getting on the throttle.

This morning, steering is... not fluid. The steering feels normal for the first couple degrees of motion, but then quickly becomes rock hard. And then it loosens, briefly, and then becomes rock hard again, repeat until turn is complete. I immediately did the slowest biggest turn around known to man, and headed home.

While turning the wheel, dash indicators come on. The battery light, fuel low, and anti-lock light all fade in, and fade out; their brightness varying depending on how hard I'm cranking the wheel.

If I turn the wheel really slowly, nothing seems out of the ordinary. Motion continues, and no dash lights turn on.

Its rainy out today, and I didnt hear any sign of the belt whine while getting on the throttle that I was hearing last night.

Any ideas? My first guess would be a serpentine belt, but this seems like a rather elaborate series of issues. Anyone have other ideas on what it could be? I've moved recently, and havent yet found a mechanic I trust in the DC area that seems to know what to make of a Benz without spark plugs.

Last, my understanding is that the serpentine belt going in these vehicles is very very quickly fatal to the engine?