ALright...I have an 88 iroc with PS and tilt, and about 2 days ago my steeering wheel (no matter if im driving or when im stopped) just seems to jiggle. I mean you can move it up and down and left and right with your hand...it doesn't do it by itself...it seems like something is loose, but the steering wheel bolt seems tight. What should i look for??

 

Is it the just steering wheel moving or is a good portion of the steering column moving also? My guess is you have the loose column syndrome. You should look at going to your local Auto store and renting a steering wheel puller, pull out the blinker canceling cam, etc. Behind this, look for three or four bolts that I belive are torx that have loosened over time. Take them out one at a time, add loctite, and retighten. Reassemble and you're done. It is about an hour job because little things get frusterating. If I'm not mistaken, there is a tech article on this somewhere. Look around - I hope you find it. Good luck!

 

Is it loose at the tilt joint? If it is, there are 4 bolts in the column that need to be tightened. Here is the tech article from thsi site about how to fix it.

https://www.thirdgen.org/newdesign/t...ngcolumn.shtml

The article can be a little vague is spots, but if you get stuck, you can ask here for helpt. Tip: The entire tilt lever unscrews from the column. Just untwist it like you would any other bolt and it will coem right out. That cost me soem time there. Overall, it's not too bad of a job. It took me about 2 hours to disassemble the column and about 45 minutes tog et it back together. WOW! Somethign went together faster than it came apart. I would suggest loctite on the bolts befoer you put them back in. The bolts are external torx head bolts, so you'll need those sockets. I beleive E10 or E15 (big difference between em..sorry), but I can't remember. I just bought a set of them at Sears. If you can't obtain the tilt-steering pin remover than you can make one (don't know how to do that, cuz I've never seen the tool before), or you can do like I did. I used one of the thin, telescoping magnets you use to pick up stuff to reach in and pull out the top two bolts once they were loose. Then, I used the magnet to place them back in the holes and than tightened them right up. I haven't had any problem with them loosening upa t all. Oh yeah REMOVE AND INSTALL THE BOLTS ONE AT A TIME. Otherwise, your column will fall off, and you will be in a world of sh*t trying to get it back where it's supposed to be. I beleive there is a plate on the other side of the firewall that they thread into, and it's not easy to get to. ANyway, good luck, and get it taken care of before you're driving and it comes off in your hands. That would be bad.

 

Boy this problem is cross generation. I've had that problem when my '81 as well.
I just did some major work on my '82, and sure enough the four bolts are lose. I swear every car with that GM tilt joint has the same problem.
Just make sure you use lock-tight on those bolts.

BTW: you might need to get a steering spring compressor as well. Personaly I use a Moroso valve spring compressor with one arm, and some dentist tools to get that *&^% snap ring with the other. (You'll see what I mean when you get there.)
I use a slide hammer on the pins, and start digging through the bottom of your tool chest for some screws to fit those pins.
The pins are just pressed in, but not that bad. I ussualy get it them out in one powww.


Ron

 

Do an archive searh on the topic. I've got a two-page respnse, with diagrams, torque specs, and everything. The tech article can be a little vague, but it covers a lot of years and models.

Use LocTite 242 (service removeable threadlocker) and torque the Torx cap screws to 15 ft/lb.

Get a steering wheel puller and "third hand" lock plate depressor while you're at it. You'll need it. Get some white lithium grease so you can clean and re-lube the tilt universal joint, column balance spring, turn signal cam, and ignnition switch linkages as you reassemble. Also get a couple of 8-32 machine screws and some nuts so you can make your own pivot pin remoal tool.

 

Thanks guys...i took off the wheel, and i saw the 4 little torx bolts and 3 of them were loose, so i tightened them with some locktite...shouldn't be going anywhere fast.

 

I had the same problem a couple of weeks ago.
I pulled the column apart down to the torx screws but they were not loose but the bearings in the column had collapsed and had fallen apart.
I replaced the bearings and it fixed the problem.
So check the bearings also.




Jeff