auto_editor

I'm not entirely sure when it began, but I noticed that my '89 Cruiser's tilt wheel can be rocked back and forth and up a bit without using the release stalk/handle.

You can't pull it out/towards you so I think the column itself is fine, but you can move the steering wheel around a fair amount up, left and right when it should be "locked" in one tilt detent or other.

Any ideas?...

Allan R

Sounds like you wore it out. Probably the internal mechanisms are either worn, or have come loose. Get your CSM out and look up the rebuild on that sucker. Either that or pull another decent one from the boneyard and paint it to match your interior.

Highwayman

You have some loose bolts. There are several postings on YouTube that are better than me trying to type something out. Here's the first one I found.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqGNc7gE3uo


I just did my GMC last November and snapped a couple of pictures. You can see one of the bolts in the second picture just above the white ball joint.

pcard

I seem to remember a thread on CO mentioning a set of four screws or bolts in the column that have a habit of coming loose.
I googled "oldsmobile steering column tilt coming loose" and got lots of hits. Here are the top two but you should look at the others too.

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/loos...ix-142742.html

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/susp..._steering.html

Rickman48

Locktite helps prevent a reoccurance, in our lifetime!

Allan R

oldsguybry

that figures .... I had this 78 Regal years ago that I replaced the entire steering column on , because the whole column would all of a sudden lock up ! I went to turn a corner and the part of the column where the shifter is turned along with the steering wheel and went into 1st gear ! I then turned the wheel the other way to complete the corner and it shifted up into park and I came to a screaching halt .... all along it could of just been 4 bolts that came loose . Young and dumb is my only excuse . Like I said in another thread , I put a Chevy steering column in from a bone yard in the ghetto. It was not the same length so I kinda had to make it fit

Red Delta

Horrible design. I had an 85 LeSabre and an 88 Cutlass Classic. Both of them the steering column became loose. It got so bad in the Cutlass that I couldn't get it into gear one day.

Turned me off permanently for 80's GM vehicles. On the other hand, if a GNX fell into the driveway....

Lady72nRob71

Yep, the loose bolts is a common thing. Simple problem and solution.
The bad part is getting to the darn things...

getawaycar

As I recall you have to remove the steering wheel and the turn signal switch to access the bolts. They get loosened up from using the steering wheel as a handle to get in and out of the car. You will need a steering wheel puller to get the wheel off. Mark the wheel and the splines with a sharpie before pulling it off so you can reinstall it in the same position it came off in. Not a big deal but I recommend disconnecting the battery before you start or it will be like playing "operation" with a very loud horn!

Chris

oldsguybry

my kids got that game " operation " and at the same time I remember working on the steering column in the past just like you said with the battery connected , and I got a big surprise when the horn activated ... or it could of been when you try to snap the plastic steering wheel horn cover back on with the battery connected .

Bluevista

80"s vehicles? You need to go back farther.
My '68 GTO had the feared and dreaded tilt wobble.
I don't know when they started using that column design but I imagine that's when the problem first started and the column internals havent changed much since.
I've fixed a few and if I can do it....
I even had to completely disassemble one to replace the spherical joint and a bunch of other little pieces-parts too. When I was finished the car turned left when I turned the wheel right but I got used to it.