One of the minor maintenance jobs I had been delaying since I got the car was looking into why indicators didn’t self-cancel when turning left.  I happened to ask Greg to look at it while the car was there. He promptly took the Mercedes emblem badge off steering wheel centre and communicated to me the mark inside wasn’t pointing down to the 6 o’clock position, but rather pointing to 4 o’clock, even though my steering wheel position looked correct when driving straight ahead.

Greg asked me to see if a wheel alignment would fix it before he did anything else mechanically. A quick visit to Donnellan’s in Blackburn confirmed it couldn’t be fixed by adjusting tie-rods. It was at this moment I knew the steering box had been out at some time (prior to my ownership) and hadn’t been centred when being re-installed.

The first task was to remove steering wheel and re-align it, in reference to the mark. This showed the steering box was at least one to two splines out, as the steering wheel was way to the left when driving straight ahead, which was disconcerting.

Back at the mechanic, we had the task to align steering box. The first task is to lock the steering in place. We used a specific tool that didn’t allow the wheel to move.

After detaching the steering shaft, you then remove the drain plug at the bottom of the steering box. Once removed you will see a block inside and when the steering is at centre, you will see an indentation that allows the box to get locked in place with a long-pointed end bolt (used in place of the drain plug). Once locked in place, you reassemble and then remove the bolt.

When off the hoist, a test drive showed steering was ever so slightly off centre, favouring the right. Back at Donnellan’s again, Rocky greeted me, asking if I’d fixed the problem. I said sorry to be a pain and yes, I’d fixed 99% of the problem, but I just needed some final fettling via a wheel alignment. Now my steering wheel is dead centred when driving straight and my indicators self-cancel for the first time since owning the car.

Author:  Nick Gruzevskis is a member of the Mercedes-Benz Club (Victoria) and the owner of this 1979 450SE, a 2005 CLK320 and a SLK230

Editor’s note:  On reading this article, it looks like my 1977 Mercedes 450SLC also has this problem.   

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I had looked at doing this job a couple of months ago.  I quickly saw it was quite fiddly and as I was planning to use the car the next day, I decided to put it off.   Once I realized I would be removing the radiator this seemed the perfect time to do the job as there would be a little more room.   Unlike the high pressure hoses on the output side of the pump, the low pressure hoses are just standard hoses and are on the input side of the pump.

The first one I did was the power steering hose.   I had previously ordered a meter of the Mercedes power steering hose, which should be enough to do 3-4 cars.   I’ll need to do this job on my 300SE at some point.    Doing this job is a good time to change the power steering oil.  Even better, if you have an assistant to do a flush as well.   The pump runs at too high a pressure to do it on your own.

Because of the position of my A/C hose, I found it easier to remove the elbow fitting, as can be seen in the picture below.   The flexible hose is quite short and joins up to a hard one in the frame below the P/S pump.   The old hose allows for the new one to be cut to the proper size.    In the photo below you can also see the hose for the self-leveling rear suspension which is very wet.

My hose was not in horrible condition, but it had been weeping out of the hose material.    The new hose and the size required can be seen below.  The EPC lists the exact size, and for example the 300SE needs a slightly longer one.

The new hose is quite hard to get on the hard line, and the clamp further tightens it on.   I am not expecting any leaks here!   I found my battery cable cutter the easiest way to get a good cut on the hose.    One of my hose clamps got broken on removal so I will need to replace it later.

The hose for the Self-leveling suspension was in a really bad way.   it was leaking quite badly out of the fabric cover, and the hose made a crunching sound, indicating that the inside of the hose had completely failed.   I found the easiest way was to clamp off the hose and cut it, so I could remove the reservoir.   As I had flushed the system recently, I didn’t plan to evacuate the fluid.

The bracket for the reservoir was a bit crusty and at some point I should do something about it.  I don’t think it is supposed to be painted, I think it is supposed to be anodized.    I will have to check.    The hardest hose clamp is the one that connects to the SLS pump.   I needed to find a screwdriver that was the right length and head type.   Too long and the fan got in the way.   Too short and I could not grip it properly.   I think I had nearly all the Phillips head screwdrivers in my toolbox out until I found one that did the job.

I used fuel hose as a replacement as that is basically what the braided hose is.   Again, I was able to use the previous hose to determine the required length.    It was a bit of a fiddle, but I was able to use my finger to stop the oil coming of the top of the reservoir as I turned it on its side and swapped the hoses out.     I then used the hose clamp to stop leakage until I had pushed the other end of the hose onto the hydraulic pump and tightened up the clamp.

I am hopeful that these new hoses will fix some of the worst of the leaks on the SEC.   Especially the SLS hose, that one was particularly bad.    I will be performing the same jobs on the 300SE at some point.

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My plan was to remove the after market chrome wheel arch trims.  I have removed them from both the 450SLC and my 300SE.   On this car they have been attached with both screws and glue.  I don’t think I will easily be able to remove them and not have marks on the paint, so I will leave them in place for now.

Next was to inspect the fuses.  This is something I like to do with a new car to ensure the fuses are all correct and in good condition.   The ceramic fuses used in Mercedes of this era become brittle with age.  I’ve also found that sometimes previous owners substitute the wrong fuses.   On this car all the fuses were correct, but a number were quite old and brittle.   Three of them came apart as I removed them.   Therefore I replaced all the fuses with new ones.

The Mercedes fuse box has places to hold spare fuses.  It is also worth making sure the spare fuses are in good condition as well.

Next was to flush the power steering system.   To do this job properly you need an assistant.  Without an assistant you will get power steering fluid everywhere and the pump will suck air for a few seconds.   I didn’t have an assistant today, so when I do this job on the 300SE, I will make sure I do!   I was pleased to see that the car had the proper Mercedes power steering fluid and not ATF.   This fluid is similar colour to engine oil.    I’m glad I ddi the flush as the fluid that came out was very dirty.     I also changed the filter as a matter of course.

From there I turned my attention to cleaning the inside.  The seats had responded well to a clean and feed, but there were still dirty areas in the interior.   The worst was the headlining.   The sunroof panel was extremely dirty and there was also an oily residue above the drivers head.   I can only assume a previous owner used a lot of product in their hair.     The first picture shows the headlining before cleaning.

The spot on the right is above the drivers head.   I used an Auto-Glym interior shampoo.   It made a big difference and the microfiber towels I was using for the cleaning were filthy from the amount of dirt it was able to remove.   I also used it on some other dirty areas as well as the small carpet in the centre console.   The second picture is after cleaning and while it is not perfect, it is certainly a lot better.  

I also checked the condition of the air filter, it is not bad but does need changing.   This has been added to the shopping list.

Originally I was planning to check if there was any residual charge in the AC.   However, I discovered that the system has never been converted to R134A.   This is surprising as it has been in Australia since 2005.   Since A/C systems must be evacuated before import, it is possible it has not worked since then.   That does not bode well for fixing it cheaply.

Also further investigation points to the occasional puffs of smoke as either Valve Stem Seals or Valve Guides.   The Valve Stem seals can be done with the heads in place, but guides require the heads to be removed.

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The lost threads meant that it was also impossible to remove the nut to replace the bolt.   Luckily the power steering pump is fairly accessible from below (especially with a hoist), so the nut could be cut off with very careful use of an angle grinder.

the picture above shows the situation rather well.   As can be seen the pump can move to tension the belt but the bolt was not tightening properly allowing it to work loose.   The bolt has a little cog at the end so only one side of the bolt needs to be tightening to tension the belt.   We didn’t have one of these so a conventional bolt was used for now and a new bolt will be ordered.

After a test drive full operation of the steering has been restored.

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