Got a used steering wheel for the ML550 that was in really good condition, arrived today, so after work I went out to swap it out. I’ve replaced steering wheels before, so this wasn’t my first rodeo by any stretch of the imagination.
Did the battery disconnect, as no matter what people say, I am scared of airbags when the system is powered up. Waited a good 30 minutes for everything to bleed off. Used my proper Hazet/MB bit to remove the airbag screws, wish I had this years ago. The newer cars have a little retaining clip on the airbag connectors you have to lift up to release them. Didn’t appear that the original steering wheel had ever been removed, original marks were on it. Tough to loosen, but got it off without too much (major) effort. Took the original into the house where I had good light to remove the telematics switches and spoke trim pieces I had replaced when I got the car. Definitely a lot easier to do on a flat surface than on the car. Transferred the new switches and trim to the “new” steering wheel. Got it mounted and the bolt tightened down with some new thread locking compound. Connected everything up. Went to install the airbag and it just wouldn’t fit properly, the bolts didn’t seem to want to start. Checked them out, they weren’t boogered up, which was confusing. Rather than risk messing up the bolts or the threaded portion of the airbag, I ended up removing the horn plate in the back of the original steering wheel and removing the airbag bolts from it. I swapped the whole horn plate and hardware from the original steering wheel with the “new” steering wheel and airbag bolts. Airbag fit perfectly after that. Proper gaps all around, centered properly, etc. Connected the battery, fired it up, no CELs or anything else, although I’m sure if I run the DAS on it there will be some faults from powering up/down, but those shouldn’t affect operation. I’ll run a full scan on it tomorrow. Checked the telematics and everything else, no settings lost other than today’s driving mileage and time. Big deal. Had to reset the clock as it was off a couple hours, but I didn’t want to roll the car out of the garage to let it see GPS satellites and get a time signal. A bit more effort than I had planned, but all in all a successful swap. No more ragged steering wheel with stitching coming off and the leather cover loose. Huzzah! -D _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
