john_sc400

95 SC4. 96k miles.

This is different from the other issues described here. My tilt-telescope work and sound fine, but the entire column assembly has about 3/8" play from side to side when it is fully extended. Up and down are fine. It's quiet annoying to be able to grasp the wheel and rattle it back and forth.

I took it apart before reading this thread (shame on me!) and couldn't find the problem except possibly a bad bearing that has gone bad on the shaft that moves it in and out. Maybe, maybe not and I have no idea if I can get it separately to try it.

BTW--it didn't look like the pictures shown on page one of this thread.

TheLexor

Sorry, no experience with this problem. Sounds like something on the SW shaft is either loose, worn out or broken. You didn't find any parts or fragments when you disassembled the unit, did you? You did not mention if the wheel moved side-to-side when it was not extended toward the driver. If it still moves when closest to the dash, you might have something loose at the connection point at its base. This is all deductive reasoning and assumes there is nothing wrong with any articulating part of the SW assembly.

neurocity

iTrader: (17)

Mine does the same but, from top to bottom. I also have to be pulling on it, and its not much, maybe a quarter of a inch either way.....

Some slop in the gears/mechanics????

Not enough of a nuisance to make me want to stop loving her......is it wrong!?!?!?!?!

john_sc400

The column moves most when it is fully extended.

I didn't do a whole lot of disassembly, but yes, I did find a bad bearing under a very large locknut type arrangement. (wish I'd taken a pic). The lock nut was about a metric #24 wrench size and it was a locknut for a similarly large threaded piece that supported the end of the worm gear shaft that moves the column in and out.

Three bolts removed the whole cap/retainer/locknutted assembly and allowed me to view the worm gear shaft. The bearing in the support had come all apart. It contained really, really tiny ball bearings.

Now that I've tested the car, I suspect that this bearing is the culprit, because I tightened the tension on it slightly, even with the bearing gone, and the column doesn't move as much from side to side as it did. Or better said, it moves, but with more friction so it doesn't just rattle back and forth,

I'm going to head to the Lex dealer today to see if the bearing is available. I fear not. I think it's part of the assembly.

aliga

iTrader: (147)

i have an entire column with motors (complete column), 110 shipped if anyone is interested.

john_sc400

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The bad news is the dealer diagrams don't even show the area where the bad bearing is located.

Here's a photo.
This area is under and to the left side of and parallel to the actual steering shaft.

(FYI, there's a similar, but perpendicular arrangement with an even larger lock nut under the steering shaft).

In the center of the red circle is a large lock nut (metric #24 wrench) that secures a 'bolt' that can be adjusted with a hex wrench. It works by loosening the lock nut and turning the center 'bolt' with a hex wrench and then tightening the lock nut again to hold it in place.

I was nosy so I took it apart. You can see two phillips screws on the plate to which the bolt and lock nut are fastened. There are actually three, the third is hidden behind the bracket. Removing those screws revealed a worm gear that moves the column fore and aft. The closer end of the worm gear is held in position by a bearing that is under a slight tension using the aforementioned lock nut assembly.

On mine, the bearing was in pieces. Some of the little *****, much smaller than BBs, had fallen out and were stuck in the lithium grease. The two halves of the retainer/race for the ***** were split apart and no way to repair them.

So I carefully stuck as many of the ***** as I could find back in the race, retained them with grease and reassembled.

There is definitely less side to side play now, or maybe there is just more friction so it doesn't feel as clunky.

Not a good fix. I'd like to get another bearing, but it doesn't appear to be a dealer serviceable part.

Or I wonder if I'm even trying to fix the right thing for side to side movement.

takumi117

Nice write up, my steering wheel tilt broke yesterday and luckily i found this thread, i followed instructions and now it works like a charm. Thanks you guys!

markesc

iTrader: (2)

I've had the sc for 2 years, mine has always worked, but I get a lot of noise from it. Is this simply a lubrication issue? I'd think it would have died by now if it was going to. It's a 95 with about 95k on it.

Okcomputer

I used this to fix my tilt steer yesterday. All I needed was a washer behind the gear and now its workin perfect. thanks for the writeup.

tjj13401

Since this just happened to me, I thought I would ressurect the thread for anyone else interested.

TJ

Psionic

My back/forth went out. I wiggled it back and forth a few times and it started working again. I think its because I use it as a handle to get out of the car while its still moving. I stopped doing that

Gibenstein

I just did this fix and took a pic of the washer I used.... I used a regular washer, 1 behind the wheel and 1 infront of the wheel. I found out that the wheel is 1/2 and it fits perfect on the shaft and turns with the wheel (also this 1/2 washer is the same size as the wheel itself so it was perfect!). I just lubed it up and put everything back together and it came out perfect. Here is a pic of the washer:



I talked to the guy at the hardware store and me and him agreed that using a regular washer would not cause damage to the wheel b/c it turns with the shaft and since its lubed up real well it will just slide anyways. BTW these cost me $0.19 from Ace hardware.

dinhNER

iTrader: (5)

awesome work now when mine stops working i can use this thread , gj again !!!

pito

I have been trying to diagnose my problem.

I don't hear any click or any noise when I press the button for the steering. However, when I put the key in the ignition the wheel comes out and when I pull the key out thw wheel goes back in. I should point out that it does this whether or not the auto button is pushed in or not.

I have been tryin to do a search on fuse location but have turned up nothing. I also read about a possible relay issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

JamaicanSC

I'm having problems removing the clamshell around the steering column, are there any pics of this. I removed the screws, and it just doesn't seem to come off.