excessive play in steering wheel 190e

[ralf34]

My 1989 190e 2.6 has a lot of play in the steering wheel ( 3 to 4 inches).I checked the tie rods and Joints and they seem to be alright. Also the steering shaft down to the gearbox and the coupler are alright. Does anybody have any suggestions?
THANK YOU

[manny]

Steeringbox itself ?

[Levon's 123]

I have the same thing going on with my Model 123 - After a while the rubber bushings in the front end get mushy - I got a bushing kit from the Mercedes dealer - and I have seen such things for sale elsewhere. My kit cost around $180.00 and I think it has 16 parts in it. I suspect you can get the parts kit cheaper - I don't know what you will pay for labor. You may be able to do it yourself, if you are good at that kind of stuff, although you would have to get hold of some special tools. My mechanic is a front-end specialist, and one thing he said about replacing all those little parts is that once it is all done, you have to get your wheels aligned... He said it would take him less than 4 hours for the whole job, and he has always taken less time that his estimate, which is nice... I haven't had the job done yet, and have been carrying the parts around in the trunk for a year... And in that time, the steering has not degraded at all. Gee - I really should get that done!!! I would check with <**************.com> for info and parts first off. Once you replace the rubber parts and tune it up, it should be good for another 200,000 or 300,000 miles! ~Levon~

[bergmjh]

First check the bushings beween the steering box and the steering wheel shaft. You should be able to steer the car with the window open and look directly at the steering box. Look to see if you have play before the steering box or after it. If you have truely looked over the front end, and still have loose steering then try to adjust the play in the steering box. Screw the adjusting nut out to tighten up the adjustment. 6 mm allen for adjuster and 17 or 19 mm lock nut. Be sure to test the range of motion after adjusting. With the front tires in the air try to steer all the way from left stop to right stop. The steering box can be worn out inside. If worn out when you get all the play out it will not turn all the way side to side. Then you have to have the steering box rebuilt to get rid of the slop. Good luck. John

[mctwin2kman]

It is most likely the idler arm bushings. They go bad and the steering gets sloppy. The kit is under 50 bucks if I recall correctly from when I did mine. Takes about 30-60 minutes to tackle the job.