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hey everyone, my ignition lock on my 02 ls430 went bad. I found a great locksmith that rebuilt the whole thing for me. Now my issue is i went to put the steering column back on and it wont line up. The 4 bolts that hold up are a inch away and no matter what i do i cant pull it enough to get it to line up. Basically the steering column is in too far. I didnt take the whole thing out i just dropped it down to get to the ignition. Any advice or tips? the gears at the bottom look lined up. All my searches bring up steering wheel removal and install no matter what i search.
Does your car have the telescopic steering option? If so, it may have retracted or the telescopic screw is hung up on something. Can you post some pictures?
Last edited by rkw77080; Sep 15, 2014 at 04:21 PM.
Yes the car does have the telescopic and the bolt for it is off. The telescopic motion moves the mounting points to the steering column? That i hadnt thought of. Ill get some pics posted tommorow. Meanwhile ill see if that makes a difference.
Yes the car does have the telescopic and the bolt for it is off. The telescopic motion moves the mounting points to the steering column? That i hadnt thought of. Ill get some pics posted tommorow. Meanwhile ill see if that makes a difference.
After looking at the attached drawing, I doubt if the telescopic steering has anything to do with the steering column going too far in. It sure sounds like something has dropped, or moved towards the front of the car. I know the LS430 is equipped with a collapsible steering shaft. I just cannot tell which one from looking at the drawing. I'll dig around and see if I can find something for you.
One question, refer to the drawing, did you detach the steering column from the No.2 Intermediate Shaft Assembly?
I didn't detach the intermediate shaft but I'll double check that to see if it came off. All I did were remove the 4bolts to drop it and I took off the ignition switch. I didn't touch anything else. Is it possible for the intermediate shaft to slide in too far?
There are 2 places that the sliding can happen. At the farthest end, you will see the "No.2 Intermediate shaft" inserted into the "Sliding Yoke Sub-assembly" and is held in place by a bolt. And then you have the shaft from the steering column inserted into the "No.2 Intermediate shaft assembly", also held in place by a bolt. Either one of these connections may have slid in too far. I'd start with the one from the steering column end.
I just spent hours on this and still couldnt figure it out. The bolt for the steering column the goes into the no2 shaft is super tight i couldnt break it loose with a breaker bar. I tried with the telescopic motion and it made no difference. Is the bolt for the no2 shaft that goes into the yoke in the engine bay? I dont see how that woulda came loose either since the other one was so tight.
Sorry to hear about that. You're correct, the No. 2 shaft has a rubber boot in the middle. This boot is clamped onto the firewall, so the other end is in the engine bay near the rack and pinion assembly.
So i finally got some time and I checked all the joints. There all as tight as can be. Also the shafts are both in what looks like the right amount. This thing is driving me crazyyyyy
Sorry that you’re still struggling with your steering column. I’m perplexed on this one, too. Maybe xtr3me can chime in – he has done some amazing work on steering columns.
Let's take some measurements so we can isolate where slippage has occurred.. In the pic below I have removed the brake return spring and bracket so I could get a more accurate measurement. The telescoping motor is removed and the end of the tape measure is placed on the flat side of telescoping motor bracket. From the bracket to the end of shaft is 6" or 4 3/16" from end of shaft to center of spring brake bracket mounting hole..
Yours should not vary much, if any...
As you can see in photo below, measurement taken from end of rubber boot to steering shaft is 4 1/4" . Not sure if this measurement is a very reliable source though, due to boot placement
Let's take some measurements so we can isolate where slippage has occurred.. In the pic below I have removed the brake return spring and bracket so I could get a more accurate measurement. The telescoping motor is removed and the end of the tape measure is placed on the flat side of telescoping motor bracket. From the bracket to the end of shaft is 6" or 4 3/16" from end of shaft to center of spring brake bracket mounting hole..
Yours should not vary much, if any...
As you can see in photo below, measurement taken from end of rubber boot to steering shaft is 4 1/4" . Not sure if this measurement is a very reliable source though, due to boot placement
Have you fogured how to put it back on? I have the same problem. Thanks!
Have you fogured how to put it back on? I have the same problem. Thanks!
Yes actually. The problem was the steering column collapsed. Didn't wanna fork out who knows how much for a new one so we pulled the shaft back out with some big tools , big words, and a vice! Then put in a new c clip that holds it from collapsing and it's been good to to since then. Theres a lot of little pieces all over the steering column. Everything has to be right or else it won't go back in. Share what happens please.
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Cant get steering column back on!
