Steering lock

Site Subscriber Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 458

what would cause my steering lock to stop working?
Also indicator auto - off isn't working i assume they are linked, could something have feel out of place?
thanks

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

indicator auto off is prolly due to the steering wheel/column bein somehow shifted up. or it cud be just broke

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

if by the steering lock doesn;t work you mean the wheel sisn;t locked but the engine etc still starts then what JB said.

Smacked the steering wheel back down.

Site Subscriber Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 458

right smacked steering wheel back down now the bugger won't stop turning. obviously wheels still turn and then stop but steering wheel will keep going round, there is a small firm point when wheels stop but nothing major. and still no steering lock action
Thanksfor the help chaps

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

where did you hit the wheel?

I assume you popped the front off and hit the nut?

or do you have an airbag wheel?

Site Subscriber Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 458

No airbag, took front off and hit nut!

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

ok.

Did the wheel move down at all?

Site Subscriber Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 458

yeah moved down but not all the way as i discovered that the wheel didn't stop turning so thought i best stop and check

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

well somethign sbroken. Have a look at the column UJ's, the lower one may have stripped itself, its th eone with rubber in it btw

Site Subscriber Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 458

yeah moved down but not all the way as i discovered that the wheel didn't stop turning so thought i best stop and check

Site Subscriber Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 458

i've just found a small bar in the foot well about 15mm in lenth and 2 mm in diamter, could be a bad sign. will check all uj's could the hitting it have broken something?

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

looks like, you do know that its not safe now though

Site Subscriber Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 458

yeah not looking good how difficult are changing parts on the steering? are they readily available?

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

depends what bit it is. Its not to bad tbh, even changing the rack could be worse.

Whole column swap is fiddly rather than hard.

Site Subscriber Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 458

cheers chris for the advice will get it looked at later to see what it is

Site Subscriber Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 458

just to update the situation:
the reason the steering was sticking out was the bottom clamp wasn't tight enough, simple can solve that.
as for the constant turning of the wheel, well the top UJ is held in place by two little bars which are sandwiched between shaft and UJ (shaft has little divots in it UJ has small hole) creating a compression style joint. this is obviously all pressed in palce as the shaft also has a lip to prevent the UJ being removed easily. anyway i found that the small bar that fell ouyt earlier was one of these pins, god knows where the second one is, if it was there since i owned the car.
anyway my cousin (mechanic/ fabricator) said we have one of two options weld it, or new steering column! so bearing in mind the first one broke we've opted for welding! going to do it friday as both me and my cousin were getting ear ache of misses'! he said the weld would be alot stronger, and i have faith in him!
Thanks Chris for the advice i will take some pics of the work we do for a progress report might be useful for someone else.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

the bottom one normally goes and it normally welded up as theres rubber in it which disintegrates.

But a welds a good idea.