Hoping to tap into the great wealth of knowledge here on this site and those of you with WAY more experience than I have. Having my Dad's 1966 Olds 98 restored and the mechanic tells me the electrical problem causing blinkers not to work is a steering column issue. He tells me he's having trouble locating a steering column and I told him I'd take the problem to the masses. Can anyone offer advice on how to track one down? Thanks in advance!

 

specifically, the turn signal switch which resides in the steering column. And is probably somewhat easier to replace. Unless you wish to take the opportunity to upgrade to tilt or tilt & tele perhaps. That might justify a column swap.

I have a '66 convert parts car but it's been in the weather for years.

See if you can get the switch alone first.

year, model, and whether with tilt or not will matter most. Try NAPA perhaps? Look up the PN at wildaboutcars.com?

 

rockauto.com shows availability of a turn signal switch for your car. Cost is about $75 plus shipping. You can drill down through their menus, or just do a part number search for part number SM200 or SM203.

 

Sounds like your mechanic doesn't want to work on the column and is just advising you to replace it? Is that correct?

Octania, if yours turns out not be in good shape would a 1967 Olds 98 column work for Bud?

John

 

I have a 1966 98 tilt telescope column. still in the car

 

The hot setup is the tilt & telescoping column. Should run $100-200 on eBay' though theres one there for $1000 presumably on the bigger fool theory.

They work well, but the turn signals are complex with cancellation cam near the wheel connected via a Bowden cable to the actual switch lower down on the left outside of the column. Whats tricky is the cable stretches over the years and makes it hard to make a left turn signal if worn. Olds made tilt & tele for both toronados and big cars 88's/98's' but lower shafts are different length so they don't swap. You may find that Buick, Pontiac or Cadillac may swap though. But only B or C bodies. I'm not sure how many years they carried on with this design. 66 is a sure thing' direct bolt up. 67-68 may work' but those dashes were very different from 65-66.

 

Looks like you have some good info there to solve your problem, which is typical of the help you will get here at CO, welcome to our site.

 

Hey droids! I'm new to the forum today....saw this thread and figured I'd give it a shot....do you still have this column? What shape is it in? Are you willing to sell it? Thanks!

 

I do still have the column. still in car. plastic on wheel is cracked from age and sun. missing turn signal lever, some damage to collar where turn signal lever is.

 

 

Thanks for getting back! Can you send some pics? How much would you like to get out of it?

 

hey all, I have a 1966 Ninety Eight with the tilt\telescopic wheel. And of course I have the same issues as everyone else. Actually had.. now I think the cable has snapped completely as my left turn signal is always on and will not shut off. It just happened tonight and I wont be able to tear into it till the weekend. It appears impossible to find a replacement cable. Has anyone confirmed the compatibility of a cable from a different make/model? If not has anyone got specs to manufacture one on my own? The length would have to be pretty dead on right to work I would think. Any better ideas? Thanks in advance for all of your help!