Steering Collum Q's
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 6
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From: Cali
Steering Collum Q's
On Saturday night my Iroc got stolen. And recovered the same night. There is minimal damage around the door jam which I'm not to stressed about. "they" did jack up the steering collum the blinker/washer wand is gone and the ignition switch no longer contacts. And the bonus to all of sch-It is that I have insurance, just not theft insurance. So I am going to have to do the repair work myself. What is the going rate on a used steering collum? How hard of a job is it to do? Possible complications? I was able to roll start the car but then the broken peices shifted and that no longer works. So I am also wondering if any one knows how to hotwire the ignition switch. I know the trick of bypassing the coil, but that's to impractial of a method for usage right now. And since this would be a tip for theives, e-mail me
(the_great_one@zapo.net ) the reply instead of posting it. Please understand I am not looking to steal another car, I already have 2. I'm just down on my luck and need to start my car. Any help is much appriciated
(the_great_one@zapo.net ) the reply instead of posting it. Please understand I am not looking to steal another car, I already have 2. I'm just down on my luck and need to start my car. Any help is much appriciated
Supreme Member
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 2,227
Likes: 46
From: North East GA
Car: 1989 Firebird
Engine: 5.7 LS1
Transmission: T56
Well sorry to hear that, I had someone try to still my car once, but my coil wire was laying in my desk. So they stole my radio instead. Where my car was they were 4 other sports cars stolen that week, so they knew what they were doing. I supprised the cop he didn't think I could get the car to crank to drive it home, I had to hotwire it to get it home.
DO you have VATS (resistor in the key) on your car, its an 89 so should be standard.
If so you will need to do this if they didn't mess up your key cylinder.
Get a junkyard collum make sure it comes with a key, I think I payed $60-70 for one 2 years ago.
Get a steering wheel puller, $20 advanced or where ever.
Mount in your new collum and pull the steering wheel off of it if it came with one.
be careful not to break the brake light switch at the base of the collum I did, and the next day I almost wrecked the car because I was driving with cruse control on and hit my brakes but my car kept trying to make it go 70mph, then I relized my cruse wasn't turning off, and got it stoped.
Then you have to pull the plate off the collum they make a puller to do this but I just did it by hand.
They are a few screws down there next to get the turn sig off, then you should be able to access the keycylinder, take it out and put your old one in.
They should be a tech artical or in the manuals on procedure, I just did it on the idea of if I can take it apart I can fix it LOL.
Put it together and you should be good to go.
If you car doesn't engage the starter at first turn off the car and wait 45 min for the ECM to except the changes to the vats system. You may need to unplug the battry also, to reset the ECM.
The other option which I don't recomend is bypassing the vats system. bulldogsecurity sells the parts to do this where you can use a remote starter. This away you can use an 82-88 collum, or just leave the j-yard key in it. The VATS keys are like $60 also so getting an extra set is not cheap.
http://www.bulldogsecurity.com/shop/mall/access2.htm
I think there is a way to make the ecm learn the new vats settings, I don't know how though.
I had put my collum in my car and then tried to crank it, I was mad when it did nothing. I called a friend which gave me a guys number at the dealer he knew, he told me about the vats and how it works.
On starting your car right now, depends on how they did it, you should have a rod that runs down the right side of the collum, just push it in and the car should start, but have your key in the ignition to engage the vats system. Any time you try to start the car without the key in you will deactivate your ECM for like 15 min.
Just dont drive it around much because the broke the collum lock, that keeps the wheel from turning and you never know if something might slip and make it where you cant turn the wheels.
If they cut wires, I just had to do it trial and error on my car.
the key actually has nothing to do with starting fbodies the switch is in the floor, the key just unlocks the collum and then pushes the rod down to the switch.
DO you have VATS (resistor in the key) on your car, its an 89 so should be standard.
If so you will need to do this if they didn't mess up your key cylinder.
Get a junkyard collum make sure it comes with a key, I think I payed $60-70 for one 2 years ago.
Get a steering wheel puller, $20 advanced or where ever.
Mount in your new collum and pull the steering wheel off of it if it came with one.
be careful not to break the brake light switch at the base of the collum I did, and the next day I almost wrecked the car because I was driving with cruse control on and hit my brakes but my car kept trying to make it go 70mph, then I relized my cruse wasn't turning off, and got it stoped.
Then you have to pull the plate off the collum they make a puller to do this but I just did it by hand.
They are a few screws down there next to get the turn sig off, then you should be able to access the keycylinder, take it out and put your old one in.
They should be a tech artical or in the manuals on procedure, I just did it on the idea of if I can take it apart I can fix it LOL.
Put it together and you should be good to go.
If you car doesn't engage the starter at first turn off the car and wait 45 min for the ECM to except the changes to the vats system. You may need to unplug the battry also, to reset the ECM.
The other option which I don't recomend is bypassing the vats system. bulldogsecurity sells the parts to do this where you can use a remote starter. This away you can use an 82-88 collum, or just leave the j-yard key in it. The VATS keys are like $60 also so getting an extra set is not cheap.
http://www.bulldogsecurity.com/shop/mall/access2.htm
I think there is a way to make the ecm learn the new vats settings, I don't know how though.
I had put my collum in my car and then tried to crank it, I was mad when it did nothing. I called a friend which gave me a guys number at the dealer he knew, he told me about the vats and how it works.
On starting your car right now, depends on how they did it, you should have a rod that runs down the right side of the collum, just push it in and the car should start, but have your key in the ignition to engage the vats system. Any time you try to start the car without the key in you will deactivate your ECM for like 15 min.
Just dont drive it around much because the broke the collum lock, that keeps the wheel from turning and you never know if something might slip and make it where you cant turn the wheels.
If they cut wires, I just had to do it trial and error on my car.
the key actually has nothing to do with starting fbodies the switch is in the floor, the key just unlocks the collum and then pushes the rod down to the switch.
Last edited by Aviator857; Aug 7, 2002 at 01:06 AM.
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