On my 90 Formula, I have a tilt steering column w/cruise, w/airbag. It's missing the small plastic cover that goes over the left side around the tilt lever. Are these all the the same from 82-92? I see some listed on Ebay, but they say 82-89. If there is a difference, what is it? Also, the brights don't work (pull back and no click) so I"m assuming something is missing there as well, but I haven't had time to get into it.
Thanks!

 

 

Somewhere around 1990, the design of the upper column changed to add a small cover that snaps on/off to cover the cruise control switch pigtail. It's a nice thing if you ever change the cruise/wiper stalk, but some people manage to bust the cover.






Brights on airbag cars often dont work because the tilt pivot pins like to back out. Once the pivot pins are pushed in, the rod will move far enough to click the switch. The other common issue is the rod drops out of it's pocket in the switch.

 

 

Thanks for the info. Drew! Now, I just have to go find one and snap it back on. Something is up with the column that may have something to do with the brights because the PO showed me that if you pull downward on the steering wheel hard enough, the tilt will engage without the lever and then go back up (kind of springy). I mean, you have to really pull on it. Normal driving this doesn't happen. I might not have known that if he didn't show me since I don't pull down on steering wheels. The tilt still works normally as well with the lever. As soon as this heat gives up, I'll look into the brights.

 

Not without changing a bunch of parts.

Some movement is normal. When it gets really bad the tilt will wobble all over. It seems like the tilt pivot pins (39 in the diagram) wear worse on airbag cars. They'll back out and wear down with lots of tilting. Some people gotta hang on the steering wheel like it's a jungle gym, or disgusting fat-bodies who should lay off the jelly donuts have to jerk the tilt lever and let the column slam up every time they get in or out of the car. That kind of abuse will wear the pins faster. Anyway, if they're just backed out, it's just a matter of disassembling the top third of the column, lifting the 'bowl' (19) a little, then you can see the pins and tap them back into their bores. The last column I rebuilt was worn really bad, so I hit the pins with a little loctite. I won't know how well that fix works until the car is back together, which could be a LOOOoooOOOOooooong time from now.

Another shot of the bright rod/cup arrangement... If the rod falls out of the cup, the switch won't click.

 

Thanks for the pics! Even though it's 1000 degrees outside, I went to the garage real quick and pulled back on the lever and noticed the entire plastic assembly (switch?) behind the pig tails is moving outward as I pull back the stalk, but it stays in there. Anyway, ordered the cover and will check to see if the rod is still in it's pocket later since I'll have to remove the under dash panel to get to it. Too hot for that right now!

 

Are you missing #24 too? With #24 in place, it shouldn't move around much. I suppose it's possible the switch could be broken, meaning the wiper switch... Because it's hinged and it should be anchored by pin #22.

 

Well, as it turns out, looks like I just needed to look harder! I found the original dimmer cover in the car. In the driver's side cup holder pocket is the original owner's manual and just forward of that is a little dead space behind the actual cup holder. It was hiding up in there! Snaps on, snaps off. Guess someone was attempting to look into the brights issue and gave up. Started to look into the brights, but got into a half a dozen other things instead. I'll get back to it.