the steering colum on my Oldsmobile is real loose... I don't know how it happened.... 3 days ago I noticed it was a little loose... I come back from Florida, and my mother used the car while I was gone a little... and it is really loose... she siad she didn't notice anything...

but the whole wheel moves side to side etc... and if it is pushed to the side enough, it'll prevent the highbeams from working, and the shifter gets kinda pushed too.... when turning the wheel with my fist, it'll move up and up etc...

...is there a way to tighten this? I remember on my uncles old '88 Pontiac 6000 the solum got real loose... then broke.. that was a long time ago.... is there any way I can fix mine though?

I guess you could not wiggle it around ;) J/K

no clue here sorry.

anyone? GM used this same steering colum.... forever....

Is this not the that allows even the stupidest people to steal a car by basically cracking it off??? Do a search on a GM steering wheel column Lock online........I nearly bought one when I was ready to buy a Grand National........they are popular with those guys.

anyone? GM used this same steering colum.... forever....

my friend had a olds cutlass ciera same steering wheel as yours pretty much and he had to go to the junkyard and get a used steering column,wasn't expensive i think it was only 50 bucks and his dad and him did it in less then a hour . A Bolt on the upper side of the column snapped off when he was moving the tilt.

the outside of the colum didn't brake or anything.... but the actual steering wheel itself moves while "locked" with the tilt....

... at the local junkyard there are about a dozen of the 88's just like mine there... and a few with the same interrior... how do I go about removing the steering colum? atleast there is no air bag....

Check out www.oldsmobileforums.com/forums/ - it's not busy like here, but it's all Oldsmobile...

I had talked with a guy a while back in the RWD forum about this. It is a fairly major disassembly job to get to the bolts that are loose. I think a guy had posted a link in there about it. My fingers will get tired explaining it again!! :D

ahhhh......

... it looks like the whole steering colum has to come out....

... can it stay like this forever? or can it get worse?

I am really not in the mood to wrestle with a wrecked car at the junkyard outside in 30* weather, then come home, and do it to my car.. plus, next week, the Olds will be my only car.. it'll have to wait until the Spring....

... this isn't cool now....

You don't have to remove it to fix it, but the work involved almost makes changing the column more practical. And no, you can't ignore it. Eventually it will get so loose it will shut off the ignition from the wobbling. :eek:

There are three bolts behind the steering wheel that bolt the tilt assembly to the column itself. They are notorious for loosening up over time. You need to remove the steering wheel to get to them. You'll need a wheel puller and a lock plate compressor would be a big help, too. Once the wheel is off you need to take the turn signal cam/swich out and then I believe you will see them. I think even after you remove that stuff they're still recessed pretty deep (it's been a while). You can rent both tools from a local rental place. Either can be purchased for $20-30 each, too.

HTH,
Jim

ugh.... this is going to be a huge pain.....

I was thinking, I have to remove the lower dash to install a cdp... that it may help from there.... but I guess not...

so the wheel has to come off? where can I rent these tools, and once I do get the wheel off... the bolt just has to be replaced?

how long will this take, figuring that I'll probably run into toruble somewhere.... not fun....

It's not really that bad - I'd budget an hour if you've never done it before. The bolts don't need replaced - just tightened. You need a steering wheel puller and a lock plate compressor. Some local auto parts stores rent them, if not they may know where to rent them. They're not really expensive if you think you'll need them again. I bought both and have used them lots of times.

I can't remember if the bolt heads are torx or 10mm. If you know someone with a shop manual they may be able to help you out. Also, there's lots on this on the Turbo Regal (Grand National, etc.) web site at www.turbobuick.com . Most if not all the turbo cars had tilt wheels (it may have been required as part of the LC2 (turbo 3.8) package, I don't recall). I do know that it's a common problem. If you search on "loose steering wheel" you'll probably get tons of hits.

Jim

There's stuff about it here too in the front wheel drive section.

There's stuff about it here too in the front wheel drive section.

I'm sure there is, I just posted what I was familiar with. I'm new to the Caddy family.

You don't really *need* a lock plate compressor, either. It's a real b*tch to reinstall the lock plate w/out a compressor, but 2 people can do it. I've actually done it myself with a couple of screwdrivers.

Jim

They're inverted torx heads, but a 6 point 1/4 in. drive socket slides over them nicely. I dunno if a one hour estimate is something I'd count on. Turbo Jimmy must be a flat rate prodigy. I took over two on my first and I'm pretty good with tedious work.
You basically pull the whole outer shell of the column off. This includes the lock cylinder. On my Caprice I also seem to recall lowering it. A tilt pin puller is needed to pull two pressed pins that the tilt pivots on. It's just a small gizmo that you could improvise.
If you really feel nervous about it Wolf, and you feel like taking a road trip up I-84, I can slam it out for you on a Saturday morning if the weather is good. It's gonna cost you a cup of coffee to start and a cheeseburger when we're done though!!

They're inverted torx heads, but a 6 point 1/4 in. drive socket slides over them nicely. I dunno if a one hour estimate is something I'd count on. Turbo Jimmy must be a flat rate prodigy. I took over two on my first and I'm pretty good with tedious work.
You basically pull the whole outer shell of the column off. This includes the lock cylinder. On my Caprice I also seem to recall lowering it. A tilt pin puller is needed to pull two pressed pins that the tilt pivots on. It's just a small gizmo that you could improvise.
If you really feel nervous about it Wolf, and you feel like taking a road trip up I-84, I can slam it out for you on a Saturday morning if the weather is good. It's gonna cost you a cup of coffee to start and a cheeseburger when we're done though!!

It's funny how the memory fades.....it's been a long time since I did it and I forgot about the tilt pins. And I think I did pull the trim off underneath and lowered the column by loosening up the nuts that hold the column to the dash support. But, again, it's been a while and I've had the column out of the car a couple of times so I don't exactly recall all of the reasons why. It was stolen so I had to pop a new column in it. Then I had to pull the dash for some reason......One of the reasons was to fix that loose tilt thing.

Sorry if I was misleading, but it's not an awful job - certainly don't need to replace the column or anything really - just needs tightened.

Jim

Wow... now it seems more difficult.... funny though.. I love working on cars, yet i do not look forward to this....

I will have to see if Advance Auto Parts rents these things out.... I am not working Firday so maybe then....

right now, my mother uses the Olds... her car is here, but will not run... I quickly tried to start it, either not getting a spark, or fuel.... I will have at take a look at it.... but it isn't good, beucase i really can't tie up the Olds if my mother has things to do...

in fact, maybe that is why the bolts got loose in the first place... when I got the car and started driving it... I hardly ever moved the tilt, I would just set it, and that was it.... since my mother has been dirving, she puts the seat all the way up, adn the sterring wheel up (I like to drive with the wheel almost sticking stright... not tilted on an angle) and when ever i get in the Olds, I change the seat and wheel back... it is an older car and I guess moving it around too much is casuing it to go... I wonder how much longer the power driver seat motor will hold out :hide:

barge ..... that trip would be nothing for me... and I love driving.... but I would just feel..... I dunno.... strage for going by you just to fix something on my car :)..... I'll have to see if i can do it... I can see it now.. the wheel is off, ignition stuff hanging out... and then I can't get it all back together.... like I said before... no air bag... very good thing....

Oh, I do have the factory service manual for 1989 Oldsmobile Eighty EIght/ Ninety Eight... it is in the trunk, I should take a look at it and see what it says about removing the steering wheel....

See how you end up feeling about it Wolf. I'm always tinkering with something, although I usually take my own stuff to work on my days off. It's no big deal. It's more about hanging out and shooting the crap. I've got an extra column in stock to use for parts in case some little gizmo breaks. My poor wife is surrounded by my love of cars. :bonkers:

I was at the store today and forgot to ask about renting tools... darn...

I think I should be able to do it... just seems like alot of small parts in tight places... not my idea of fun....

maybe I'll wait until I get the part from Pioneer that I need for my cdp, and install the cdp and fix the steering wheel all at once....

I bought a harmonic balancer removeal tool.. guy said it will work for steering wheels too... and it did...

I got the wheel off, and the pastic cover behind it.. but i have no idea what to do next... there dosn't seem to be anything in the manual either....

it is getting alot worse too... the whole colum can move alot, if the key is in accessory position, you can move the colum and they key goes off... and you can move the shifter out of park without the key in it...

it is 3:10 right now.. I gotta leave at 4:15 to go to work.... and... it is snowing.. kinda heavy too (roads have snow on them)... there is no way I am taking the '93 out... so I will stick the steering wheel back on, put the nut on it and be off.... I only work 6 mins away...

.... but I really need to get this fixed... and it seems like everything in the colum has to come out... I never did one of these.. if I can get some help, that would be great :)

This is what I am looking at:

.... but I really need to get this fixed... and it seems like everything in the colum has to come out... I never did one of these.. if I can get some help, that would be great :)



You're closer. This is where you need the lock plate compressor. That black metal plate with the notches is the lock plate. There's a big heavy spring behind it and it's held on with a ring/clip on the column shaft. A lock spring compressor takes the load off the ring/clip so you can remove it and then remove the lock plate. Once the lock plate is out you should be able to see what's going on.

Jim

I didn't get one of those... I'll have to pick one up....

so how does it work? behind the lock plate it looks like the directional and other stuff....

once the lockplate comes off.... is that all the needs to come off? or do I still have to dig thru stuff?

after spending 6 hours yesterday replacing the waterpump, t-stat and other BS.... then about 2 hours today finsihing the job form yesterday.. then it started to snow, so I drove the car on the ramps and did an oil change.... while it was snowing.... this dosn't seem that bad.... I am in the car, no snow falling on me, or engine oil dripping in my hair/mouth (I knew it didn't taste like water) and if I get cold, I run the enigne for 5minutes with the heat blastin....

so what exactly do I need to do? I may take a trip out to Advance Auto in a bit... they should have it... lock plate compressor... I was saying ring compressor for some reason....

The turn signal cam/switch is behind that plate. You need to take that out too.

Here are step by step instructions from the Turbo Regal site:

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/suspension/t_steering.html

Jim

oh man, why does this have to be so involved.... this seems like it is going to be a major pain...

I am not working tomorrow... so hopefully I'll just give in and do it already...

oh man... I am so fed up with this....

... I got a lock plate tool.... then I went to the local Chevy dealer, they don't carry any tools or anything.... the guy was saying that the same thing happened on his '86 Monte Carlo, and once he got the lock plate off, he was able to tighten 3 of the torx screws...

So I went home and started tearing everything out... whole dash is apart, evertying is off of the steering colum... I was able to get the sheild of the colum off, but the wiring for the directional prevented it form coming out all the way... I was unable to unplug the harness under the dash... there is no way for the wires to come out... so I was able to get the sheild off od the colum....

looking inside, I see 1 bolt that is loose, and when I move the colum, the bolt wobbles... that is the only one I see, and there is no room at all to tighten it... there are 1 thing on each side with threads in it... I take it those are the pivit pins? and I have no way to get at them.... then once i do I realized that steel cage thing can't slide off becuase of the wire harness... the car can now be started by simply moving the little slider thing on the left side, directionals are used by grasping the plastic directional thing and pushing the inner piece to one side or anything.... I can throw the weel on and put the nut on hand tight... then the car is driveable...

... I don't have the tools to do this... if it was a nice sunny day, 70's it would be different... it is 30's... heavy freezing rain... real crappy outside.... then this day isn't going good either... my mothers boyfriend has my '79 DeVille becuase his car is still in the shop getting a new enigne... my mothers car is in the dirveway but wont start becuase it isn't getting fuel.... I was supposed to go yesterday to pay my insurance, and the '93 gets "withdrawn from use" so I am not even supposed to be dirivng it... that leaves my Oldsmobile as the only car that can be driven... but as it is now... it is not in any shape to be driven.... then to top all this off, my dog died this morning after suffering for 9 hours thru the night....she stopped eating 5 days ago.... ugh....

I just want my car done, and I am tired of messing aroudn with it... I was thinking about taking it to the locl shop that knows us well.... I just don't know if they are willing to finsih the job that I started.... all the pieces I took off are scattered around on the center hump... I have an idea of what goes where, but someone else may not.... right now, I wish I would have known that this was going to be impossible given the circumstances... saved $30 on tools, and paid someone $100 to do the job.... I have had it....

I'll snap a last picture... to show what I am dealing with... I know I am close... but without getting a way to get this wire harness out, there is no way for the rest of the stuff to come off... I was going to just cut the wires, and splice then back... but I am not in the mood to do that... then without the pivit pin removeal tool, I can't get those thigns out either..... then when that is all done, I really hipe I can piece back the directional and all the other junk so that it works again....

reading that site again, there is still more stuff to do after the pivit pins are out.... I have spent another 3 hours doing this today..... I don't think I can keep doing this....

oh yeah, and when rmeoving the lock plate... or doing something.. I broke that little plastic tube.. it is for the horn ont he center of the wheel, so I'll just remove the wire going to it.. and now I only have the 2 buttons ont he spokes, and not the center for a horn... not a big deal since i never used the center anyway....

Sorry to hear it's gone so bad for you. If you're going to take it somewhere, I'd put it back together the best I could. They might charge you more if they know you're in a bind.

Jim

Eh....

just as I was ready to slam my fist thru the windsheild... I remembered another step on Turbo Buick... this 1/2" diamter thing with a square... push in with a screw driver and twist it... just to kill time... I decided to do it...

to my surpise, that opened the area up to the bottom bolt I could see... then when I looked over, the other one was right there... so I grabbed my screwdriver handle thing which already had a 1/4" socket on it... I was wable to tighten both of them up without a problem... and, that was all it took, as the colum is hard as a rock now... I was very happy...

... then I ran into probelms putting it back togehter, but go it... only thing i left out was the little plastic piece with metal that goes need the ignition lock cylinder... I thought it was the reminder thing that the key was in the ignition, so I figured i could live without it... but... it was actually the thing for the horn... so now I have no horn...

maybe tomorrow I'll go to the junkyard.. now that I have the tools, I'll find a car like mine there, pull the wheel, take the plastic horn piece that I broke, and study how those 2 metal pices go... maybe I can get mine like that... having a horn is always good, but my inspection is due next month... so I need to get it fixed... oh, and for whatever reason, the steering wheel dosn't lock when the key is out anymore... I don't care though.... atleast the car is safely able to drive... I am very happy...

Thank you very much for showing me that site... it did help alot, as without it... I woudln't have known what to do... Thanks again :)

Thank you very much for showing me that site... it did help alot, as without it... I woudln't have known what to do... Thanks again :)

No problem. I'm glad you stuck with it. Now you can rent your tools out to other unfortunate souls with the same problem. All those columns do it eventually.

The not-locking has something to do with the lock plate. When you shut the ignition off there is a pin that pokes through one of the notches in the lock plate. You must not have put that back together right. It's not really a big deal. That plastic horn thing should be the same on just about any GM car from the same year. You push in and turn and it pops out. I've broken more of those than I care to remember.

Here's a scan of my 1987 service manual. Should be similar if not the same as yours:

Right click, save as THEN RENAME WITH A PDF EXTENSION (if you have to - my browser was smart enough to realize it's a PDF file). It's a PDF file, but I have to fool my stupid hosting software into thinking it's an HTML file because it doesn't like file sharing:
http://www.turbojimmy.com/gm_tilt_column.htm

Jim

I am not able to save that file...

... yeah... I didn't have to remove the pivit pins or go any further... I suppose if I had to tighten the top bolts I would though...

I do know that it's a common problem. If you search on "loose steering wheel" you'll probably get tons of hits.

Jim

It really IS a common problem. I've had three cars (all GM with tilt steering) that had the GM wobble. Although, I've never done the repairs on them. I just let mine go. They got to a place where the wobble didn't get any worse and I, being lazy, just never got around to do the repair.
However- I DO intend on fixing my present steering wobbly-goblin. Thanks for all the info on how to do it. :)

:worship:

-Brix