g77rvd

Ok so i'm in the process of replacing the dash wiring harness ( the orig one the p.o. had hacked up and overloaded pretty bad ). Previous to this project I had installed new sport steering wheel, I think i may have pressed the hub on the steering coumn to far. Is that possible?

The reason I say that is because i was going to pull lock plate to check conditions of return cam etc and first dust cover thing with 3 little screws got stuck on shaft ( last time it just lifted right off ) and even after removing retaining ring for lock plate does not pop off.

Now my only thought has been to possibly take a file to tapered shaft where it is preventing lock plate from moving. Would this be a bad idea? Should i just replace column?

I would prefer to just replace parts in column/ repair if possible.

Any advice is greatly appreciated

69442C

There's a spring, and a failry strong one, that goes under the horn contact ring and this spring needs to be compressed to remove the lock ring that holds the lock plate down. Is your spring still there and did you need to compress the spring to remove the lock plate ring? The dust cover just sits there and is held on by those 3 little screws. Are you sure there's no rust in there holding things together? I would spray a little WD40 in there to see if that releases things. If the colum is not in the car, you could try tapping the shaft down a little (put the wheel nut on first and have it flush with the top of the shaft so you don't ruin the threads on the shaft) to see if this gets things to release. I would not file anything as those parts were designed to fit. Are you sure the lock plate splines were lined up correctly when you put it together the last time? I'm thinking the spring is missing and you pulled the shaft up too far when you tightened the wheel in place, which is similar to putting the wheel on too far but that can't really happen. Can you submit a photo or two?

Bluevista

You are using a lock plate removal and installation tool aren't you?
Maybe somebody messed up the shaft trying to get the ring and lock plate off without the tool and the burrs or roughness on the shaft are jamming up the lock plate?
I'd take my tool and push the lock plate down, assuming it has the spring, and carefully check the shaft for anything that may be preventing the lock plate from coming off.

g77rvd

Well took it apart before last month when installed the sport steering wheel, it was a pain to push lock plate with one hand and pop out ring with other but the spring was definately down there. I went in there to replace horn contact ring. When I installed everything i tightened the heck out of it trying to minimize the gap between column and hub.

So i'm thinking i may have pulled the shaft up too far causing, for lack of a better word flaring of the shaft. Where the first time the dust cover just popped right off this time i had to do some persuading to say the least to get it off.

When i got the snap ring off the lock plate moved past the rings groove and got stuck on the shaft. Installed everything and looking closer there is a ring of a raised portion that seems to be causing my woes. Would filing this problem area be detrimental to anything once its all pressed together again.

g77rvd

not initially lol, but now i have decided might help. opinion on negative impact from removing damaged area preventing lock plate removal?

g77rvd

Just to give a little more back ground on why i'm even trying to get in there.....

my dash wiring harness had some serious problems thanks to the previous owner. Luckily I was able to get a original harness from another member on here that has never been molested.

So hooking that up and also was able to find a dash in much better condition so i figured why not.

Now this is where i'm at, everything less courtesy lighting is connected. but when i turn key nothing. Battery is currently at 12.5v , the voltage at bat + at hei is about 12 with key on but nothing when I turn the key. now after leaving key in on position smoke starts coming out of top of column so i figure I should investigate.

I did spray the column black to match the new interior ( orig was blue ) but i was pretty careful to cover stuff up.. i thought but now i'm thinking maybe some paint got into the column causing me my current issues?

Any thoughts? could the possibility of paint dripping in the column cause the key turning not to complete the ignition circuit?

g77rvd

yellow arrow shows raised area on shaft

unfilled arrow shows snap ring in place, lock plate can not move past yellow indicated area after ring is removed.


oh and a pic of the project previously had a two tone dash blue pad and green face

69442C

On the issue of the lock plate, it appears to me that the steering wheel grabbed some of the material on that splined area and created a small ridge. I would file that are down smooth and I think the plate will come off. Paint in the column should not cause smoke to come out of the column. I'm afraid it's difficult to offer insight into what is going wrong electrically as there are many variables to consider. Are you sure the harness you installed is exactly the same as what you removed? Any chance someone screwed up the wiring in the column for the turn signal switch. You could try to unplug the turn signal switch harness at the lower section of the column as that has nothing to do with the car starting. The switch that is operated by the key cylinder in the column is at the base of the column. Make sure that is plugged in and possibly check voltage to the heavy red wire going to that switch as it should always have voltage to it. And make sure the switch is being activated when you turn the key.

g77rvd

So I ended up taking some sandpaper to the material on the splined area that was preventing the lockplate from coming off shaft. Dissasembled everything put back together ened up being i forgot to connect the purple wires from the nss ... guess never forget to check the simple things. But needed to fix lockplate situation anyways so I guess it wasn't a total waste of time.