I've got a 1980 W116 300SD with around 400,000 miles. One of the previous owner's selling points of the car I own was "Steering is A+, just had the alignment done." I've noticed that the steering wheel shakes from side to side, most noticeably at around 20 MPH when I have light sideways pressure on the wheel.

I took my car to the alignment shop (that is recommended by my local independent Mercedes repair shop) to have a front end alignment. I had tires put on recently and they checked for balance, no problem there. The shop said that my ball joints, tie rods, basically all of the front end parts look great like they were replaced recently. They also said that the alignment was way off but now it's corrected. They said that the shake is still there and that it is caused by a worn out steering box.

There is quite a bit of slop in the steering box, but I am wondering if the shaking of the steering wheel would actually be caused by the power steering pump.

Can a bad steering box cause the steering wheel to shake from side to side? Can I tighten the steering box? Should I suspect a bad power steering pump?

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1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Highly Optioned, 350,000+ Miles