126-1991 300-SEL Ignition Switch Replacement

[Mike Murrell]

Larry Bible diagnosed an a/c problem yesteday as being related to the ignition switch.

Arthur Dalton indicated I need the following part:

http://catalog.eautopartscatalog.com/mercedesshop/sophio/wizard.jsp?partner=mercedesshop&clientid=catalog.mercedesshop&baseurl=http://catalog.peachparts.com/&cookieid=1EQ0PTV2S1K70S0HWG&year=1991&make=MB&model=300-SEL-006&category=M&part=Ignition+Switch

OK. I went to the 126 CD for my 1991 300-SEL and things start coming together at task 46-640 - R & R steering wheel lock.

Step A in 46-640 is "Removal and installation of ignition/starter switch"

Preliminary work includes:

Steering Wheel Removal - 46-610
Instrument Cluster Removal - 54-250

A sub-section of 46-640 is Part D - removal and installation of complete steering wheel lock. Lots of work in this task.

Searching thru the archives, I found a thread where Benzmac indicated instrument cluster and lower dash panel need to come off in order to remove steering lock assembly.

My question is do I really need to remove the steering wheel or can I get away with just removing the instrument cluster/lower dash panel? Looks like I'll need a small wire that might be fashioned from a paper clip or something similar.

Thoughts appreciated.