Cascade Crew

Camaro350Z28 · Member Joined: 06 Mar 2004 Posts: 237

I need to save some money but i have no idea what the hell is going on in one of these columns. The blue car broke down last night, the column completely fell apart and the car just shut off. All from the thieves of course but i do need to get this fixed. and just wonderin if anyone has done and what type of labor and tools i might need? i mean i bet everything in the column needs replaced so.. i dunno just lookin for imput
thanks

Tim

Twilightoptics · Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 12:23 pm Post subject:

Then replace the whole column. Find a used one, buy a new ignition switch and put the new switch in. Basic tools. Then put the whole column in.

TecherB · Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 5:47 pm Post subject:

I have a whole column that you could buy. the column i have is complete down to whare it ataches to the intermadiet shaft. Mine will work if you dont have an air bag. If you have an air bag take it to some place and claim this on inshurance it is not worth trying to do your self if you have never replaced a colmin before becaus you can brake more things then alredy are.

it would take a coupel of hours to replace it depens on what is missing and what all needs to be replaced. they are usually held up by 2-4 bolds or nuts to the dash then another 4 whare it connects to the intermediet shaft. plus at least one electrical connector and you need to make shure that you put it in with the steering wheel and wheels aligned or you can mess up a clockspring(depending on style).

mine will work if you dont have an air bag.

RSFreak · Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 7:59 pm Post subject:

I put a column in my friends GTA last summer. It was pretty easy and straight forward. He just went to Pull-A-Part and got a column from a car with the same specs as his and it went right in. Remove the plastic under dash pieces on the driver's side and inspect your column. You should be able to see the retaining bracket and wire harness. Remove the bolts holding the retaining bracket and the column should drop down. Then remove the wire harness. There is a bolt that connects the shaft on the column to the shaft from the steering pump in the engine bay below and to the right of the brake resevoir (right where you'd expect it to be). That one gave me some problems, but only 'cause it was difficult to reach and I didn't have all of my tools with me. Old column out, new column in. Reconnect everything in the reverse order of removal and you're done! Plug and Play operation really. Of course, the car I worked on was an '87 and didn't have VATS.

laegion · Member Joined: 08 May 2004 Posts: 96

sounds like you need to tighen the 4 bolts that hold the top part of the column to the bottom I've had that problem on two cars but only one got bad enough that it messed with the ignition linkage. to take it apart if you really want to do it that way you have to use a steeringwheel puller to get the steeringwheel off, and a pin puller to get the tilt joint pins out, and then a reverse torx to tighten the bolts that hold the column together, I would also suggest getting some lock tight to keep it from coming apart again, and other than a swivel for tightening the bolts I don't think you need any other specialty tools. The steering column looks alot more intimidating than it really is, I was quite afraid to open mine up but I got it back together perfectly once I used the right tools.