Steering column play
 

I purchased a 1989 Carrera about a month ago - great car in nice condition. Just today I began to experience a lot of play in the steering column - about 1 inch up and down and 1/2 inch left to right. There is no play in and out, and the steering response is still fine. The steering wheel now shakes when going over the slightest bump. This came on all of a sudden, as if a bracket just became loose.

Any ideas on what may be causing this?

DaveJ911:


I bought an 87 Carrera a couple months ago and it has a little play as you describe too. I have been trying to pretend it is not there. I will be curious to see what people have to say.

It does not feel like a steering box or tie rods. It is the actual column.

Mike

Do a search on the board, and you'll find your answers.

As I understand it, there's a bushing in the column that fails over time. You have to remove the steering wheel, and all you do is push the new bushing on, leaving the old one to slide down inside the column. From what I've read, there's no need to remove the old one. I'm sure our host sells the bushing.

I think it's a pretty common problem, with an easy fix.

Yep, Pelican sells the bushing and there's even a technical article on this website to explain how to do the r&r. The original bushing was plastic, the replacement is metal and not expected to fail. Good luck!
Ryan

I just did this fix...very easy to do.

You want Pelican part F-347-739-02.
Doesn't remove all the play, but get rid of the slop from a broken factory plastic bushing.

Funny, same thing just happened to mine the day before yesterday. Was working fine with zero wobbles and pow all of a sudden the wheel got real sloppy. I've ordered a new bushing along with a new bearing kit that Pelican also sells.

At first it seemed like there was too much play for it to be the bushing, but I took off the steering wheel and it looks like that is the problem. I just ordered the Qwik-Fix Sleeve.

Thanks to all for the help.

Yeah, but you have to remove the old broken up bits.. don't leave them in there.

part# 928 347 739 02

The "quick-fix sleeve" referenced above is actually a metal 928 part that serves the same purpose. John Walker's part number is the part I used to solve this problem a week ago. Good as new.

yeah, I had the same problem in my car a couple of months ago. Lucky for me my turn signal switch went out about the same time, so I had a two-fer:)

ricwon,

When you say your turn signal switch went out, what did it do? At the same moment my steering column slop appeared my turn signal switch began acting funny. If I have the headlights turned on and use the signal, the high beams come on when the signal cancels. Is this what yours did? Just trying to decide if the column wobble broke the switch or was it worn before and I just now noticed it?

N8: My guess is that it's a bad coincidence. Your switch is displaying the classic symptoms of failure. Since you're going to have to take the wheel off to fix either problem, I'd do both at the same time. Our host sells the parts.

Scott

Trouble is I've already replaced the bushing. Oh well, getting the wheel off is no large task.

So, as long as I'm putting a new switch in, where do I get that relay kit? Does Pelican sell that too? I know most of you make it yourselves but, while mechanically inclined, Thomas Edison I am not. The fear of a smoldering 911 forces me to leave the electronics to those more qualified.

Do a search on the board for "sucro". Marcus Sucro sells a kit for about $20. I don't think our host sells something similar.

Hi Nate, My steering wheel started getting slop in it. I could move it up and down about 1/2 in. Then soon after that I was leaving work, turned my headlights on and all I got was the parking lights. I was able to get home by holding the turnsignal switch in the hi-beam flash position. I originally thought that it was a faulty headlight switch, but after researching the pelican archives determined that it was probably the turn signal switch. I bought the switch and column bushing from our hosts here and also installed the marcus sucro relay. These parts seemed to completely fix the problems and my headlights seem brighter but that could be my imagination:) The relay is a good upgrade especially if you are running higher wattage bulbs. ric

Just to close this one out: I installed the steering column bushing and it did the trick. Good as new.

Thanks for the follow-up. Congrats! :D

I want to add to this. only because I have a slightly different experience. I, too had up and down play, and was told it was the bushing. It was actualy the COLUMN MOUNTING BOLTS directly behind the tachometer allowing the whole column to shift up and down by about a quarter of an inch.