w140 power steering, how does it work?
 

i read somewhere that the w140 power steering adjusts itself depending on driving situations... like it stiffens up when going high speed and loosens up when going slow/parking... pretty spiffy...

but what if i wanted to disable this feature and just stick with the normal stiffness/looseness throughout?

reason i ask is our w140 got submerged and i want to make it as simple as possible without possible malfunctions... so i'm trying to disable sensor/computer/electronic dependent mechanical functions which may cause trouble down the road, like steering...

before anything else though i'd like to know how the system works... what controls the steering "tension"? is there a solenoid or something? are there degrees of stiffness or is it just stiff and loose?