Have been working on many cars along with many other projects but now is the time to finish the 1996 E300 ignition repair.

Unfortunately the steering lock engaged when the ingition switch/tumbler/sleeve was removed from the lock. Don’t know why. The key was in the correct position.

Now I need advise on removing the steering lock from the steering wheel.

When I achieved unlocking the steering wheel by walking the bolt back with picks through the 2 drilled holes and turning with a screwdriver, the bolt would not come out. Have to move the bolt a bit more to clear the catch bolt.

Hi Biodiesel, I have a problem and it's that the ignition cylinder got stuck. A locksmith was able to fix it, but the steering remains locked even though installing the cylinder should have allowed me to unlock it (the initial problem was the cylinder, not the steering). Do you have any recommendations? Or should I drill it like you show?

I forgot to mention that the steering locked when I moved the steering wheel before fixing the ignition cylinder, since I thought that the reason my key wouldn't turn was because of the steering lock, but it wasn't since the key wouldn't turn before the steering got locked

In the end I followed your recommendation, and indeed the steering unlocks, but now I have the problem that when I installed the lock, it keeps locking up. I unlock it and it locks up again. Any recommendations

This is a common problem and there are a number of posts on how to deal with it.

First, my condolences. You’re screwed. Okay now that we have that out of the way here’s the cheap solution.

I just did this on my C280. I was super dumb and ignored the jamming ignition lock till one day it didn’t turn. I even had the core out a couple of times to clean and lube it but no I was too dumb and cheap to swap it out.

Get a Dremel or similar hobby grinder with a cable driven hand piece. Put a carbide ball burr or a stone in the chuck and grind away the release pin on the steering lock. It is a little disk on the stalk of the lock. Just grind that pin back so the lock can slip out of the column. Many images online.

The faster way is just use a sawzall to cut the lock in half. Bolt and all. Do this from below the dash. Do not cut the column. Just the neck of the steering lock. Then extract the bolt of the lock with pliers and you can remove the retaining pin that holds it in the column. This is a much faster and easier way to remove the lock. It is much easier to remove the lock in 2 pieces because it is a tight fit down there. Also you will not be salvaging the steering lock so you might as well chop it in half to speed up removal. This is how a smart locksmith would do it.

I ground out the pin with a cheap Wen hobby grinder with a cable wand attachment. It took twenty minutes to grind. I got a lot of dust in my eyes. It was super hard manipulating the lock out because it is bulky with the cylinder core still intact and locked in the steering lock. In retrospect I should have just hacked the lock in two and taken it out in two pieces. I couldn’t salvage the steering lock as I said.

Good luck. Maybe I have some photos to post. I didn’t want to show this one because I felt like such an idiot for getting it jammed in.

Heracles - I found on my 300sd that if I used a cheap import switch in the lock assembly I wasn’t able to turn the lock after it was assembled. Everything was fine disassembled but the second I got it all put together something jammed inside. What I found is there was a tolerance in the switch portion that was off and it caused binding. This was due to the junky Chinese switch I used to replace my OE switch that had burned its contacts. I managed to get things working smoothly by shimming the three screws with washers. The switch needed some clearance and tightening it down took up that critical clearance without spacing washers.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles
97 C280 147k miles

Ykobayashi thanks for responding man! I wanted to tell you more about my problem. My ignition lock is solved, meaning the key now turns normally. The problem I have now is that the steering doesn't unlock with the key. I followed the biodiesel manual and the steering does unlock, but now the problem I have is that when I install the lock and start up, the steering locks again, and I have to follow the manual again to unlock it. So in conclusion, I install the lock, when starting up the steering locks, I unlock it and so on. Is there something I should do so that the steering lock works correctly?

I have reviewed the manual carefully. I was installing the lock with the key in position 0, not position 1 as the manual says. I'm going to try installing the lock in position 1 and I'll come back to tell you!