I finally got around to adjusting my steering play this weekend on my
84 300D. I backed the allen screw out until it started to get harder, then screwed it back in an eighth of a turn. I got in, turned the ignition on, but didn't start the engine, and sawed away at the steering. It felt much tighter. In all I had tightened it up about two full turns of that screw.A few hours later I went to take it for a drive. Immediately I noticed that the steering was not just tighter, but also hard to turn. I think that I have lost power steering. I thought that maybe I tightened up the steering too much and tried backing it off another 1/8 of a turn. Still no power steering. I drove it to work this morning with no power steering, which created some funny feeling steering. It doesn't have as much feedback, so pulls into turns. It feels very strange. This makes me think that it is binding up in the box and is not able to push back against me as much. I'm hoping that I just need to loosen up the adjustment.
Is there possibly a risk that I have damaged the power steering system by tightening up the steering too much. perhaps hurt a seal or something?
I'm going to try taking another 1/4 turn off after work and see if that helps.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Bill