igende

I have a 1988 Firebird. My ignition lock cylinder would not unlock easily, getting worse and worse so I changed it. However, when I reassembled everything I noticed that turning the steering wheel to the left now feels very notch as if it is catching or rubbing on something. I disassembled a few times now to re-inspect it, but can't visibly see an issue. Wondering if anyone has run into this or has any ideas.

One thing to note. When I was putting the steering plate back on, the one that requires a special tool to remove because you need pressure to get at the small ring, I thought I had put it on correctly, but after apply quite a bit of pressure including using a wrench to help turn the butterfly adjuster, it would not go down the steering shaft far enough to insert the ring so I backed it out. I then removed the plate and re-adjusted it and finally did get it set properly. Wondering if applying that much pressure might have broken something lower in the steering shaft, bearings etc, or maybe even warped the plate, didn't look warped though.

I'm going to remove it again and try just using the steering wheel to move the shaft left and right to see if it still feels notchy without the plate in place, sort of process of elimination.

Any thoughts are welcome. Thx!

igende

Follow-up to my initial post. So I removed the plate in the steering column and then put the steering wheel onto the shaft turned it left and right and walla no notchy feel so it had to be the plate causing the issue. Upon closer inspection I could see that the plate had actually been bent slightly by my mistaken attempt to re-install it incorrectly the first time. Also I could see one high spot where the metal was being scraped shiny and I could see the same on the lock mechanism found on the top left of the steering column. I took a couple of vice grips placing one over the area that had scraped shiny and one opposite and applying some pressure was able to straighten out the plate. I reinstalled everything and no more notchy steering, no more catching, scraping. Working like a charm. Hope it helps someone.

There seem to be two spots where the plate appears to fit comfortably over the steering shafts and allows you to apply pressure with your hands to push it down significantly, but be careful only one of these spots is the actual correct one. If you find that you have to apply more pressure to turn the butterfly nut on the the tool than you can turn with your fingers, the plate is installed incorrectly, back out and re-adjust the plate.