Steering Column fore-aft movement

[RevMatcher]

Hello, thanks for making this forum a great place!  I'm a new owner so I don't have a lot of useful info yet.  Hopefully I will be able to contribute something worthwhile soon.  I have an issue with my car.  The steering wheel moves along the column about an inch in the fore-aft direction if I push-pull on it, like telescoping.  The lock for the telescoping wheel is engaged, and it moves regardless of the position along the telescoping axis.  I mean, I can release the telescoping lock lever and pull it farther, but once locked it still moves fore-aft about the same increment.  Has anyone seen an issue like this?  

 

My car seems to have been in an accident; the dash is pulled aft away from the firewall on the passenger side.  Also the bracket on the passenger side for the rod that holds up the headliner above the rear seats was broken.  I thought I had a rear suspension issue as I could hear it slide and go CLANK whenever I made a hard turn.  Then it would clank back the other way on the next turn in the opposite direction.  I pulled down the headliner when I realized the issue, then I made a custom bracket from a little piece of oak.  I cut a slot on one end and drilled a hole on the other end, put rod in hole, then bent the rod back to snap it into place on the slider for the moon roof.  No more clanking!

 

BTW I already replaced my oil sending unit based on the GREAT advice here.  Was dropping gauge to ZERO pressure while driving, that will make anybody nervous!!  I also have the airbag light issue, but that is well documented here so no need to ask about it in this thread.

[DBJoe996]

Since you suspect the car was in an accident, is it possible that for some reason the steering wheel was removed and somebody forgot to tighten the steering wheel nut?  The reason I ask is it seems almost impossible for there to be any play along the steering column shaft unless something is not tighten up correctly.  You can see the steering column gear here  http://www.autoatlanta.com/porsche-parts/hardparts.php?dir=996-99-05&section=403-05

[RevMatcher]

Joe,

Thanks for the reply!  I suppose that is a possibility.  I thought I would research a little before just tearing things apart, but the wrenches are coming out soon!

Thanks again,

Tom

[RevMatcher]

Pretty sure this screw is not supposed to be here tearing the **** out of the back of the steering wheel...

[DBJoe996]

Wow!  Who in the world would do that....and why would someone do that?!  No, it should not be like that, of course.

[RevMatcher]

Fixed it.  It appears that the snap ring that holds the steering shaft in place came loose.  Reasons unknown.  Then the previous owner or his idiot indie mechanic screwed a WOOD SCREW into the bottom of the "clock spring" wire coil to attempt to fill the gap.  This had to be some time ago because since then the back of the steering wheel has been rubbing on the head of the wood screw, to the point that now there is a deep groove in the back of the wheel.  

Here's the shaft where it should be:

 

 

Here's the shaft pushed in.  WAAAY in.

 

So the answer is, get the snap ring back in place.  To do this, I had to take out the two philips screws on the "clock spring" and with a lot of gentle tapping, get the snap ring back into its slot on the shaft.

 

Here you can see the snap ring not quite centered in its slot.  Might need to get a new one...

 

VERDICT:  FIXED FOR NOW.

[DBJoe996]

Awesome...good find and good job!  I was going to help with a PN for that snap ring/circlip but I went all over the Porsche PET and cannot find it listed.  So you may have to either go to the Porsche dealer for some research/help, or a junk yard, or buy a box of various sized metric snap rings and just keep trying until one fits.

Edited October 29, 2016 by DBJoe996

[RevMatcher]

Back from a test drive.  WOW what a difference!  Without the drag from that wood screw, the steering is now incredibly light.  At least by comparison.  I had noticed before that after braking hard, the steering would seem stiff.  Then I realized that I was the pushing against the steering wheel while braking, and if I then pulled it towards me it was looser.  Now after this fix I can turn the wheel with one finger!

Edited October 29, 2016 by RevMatcher

[RevMatcher]

To the mods, I noticed that a certain word in my post was replaced with ****.  My apologies, I should have read the site rules more carefully.  You WILL NOT see any curse words in my future posts. 

[judgejon]

hope the rest of the car is ok.  did you buy from a private party, or dealer?

I'd worry about how that wood screw got up in there.  Someone doing some work under the proverbial "shade tree."

welcome to the forum.  Cheers,

[RevMatcher]

Jon, I bought the car from a private party.  This guy didn't seem particularly mechanically inclined.  It's lucky he didn't drive the screw in farther and damage the clock spring ribbon cable.  Of course now that I was in there, the horn doesn't work...

Edited October 30, 2016 by RevMatcher

[RevMatcher]

Well, I was wrong.  He DID damage the clock spring.  Horn was funny/intermittent, then went out all together.  Bought a used clock spring on ebay.  Wrenches out, and opened the column up again.  Here's the old clock spring, looking at the hole in the bottom where the wood screw was.  Look close and you can see the white ribbon cable inside, and the exposed copper where the screw damaged the conductors.

[RevMatcher]

So I installed the new clock spring, but when I put the steering wheel on it wouldn't budge.  I took it all apart again and realized that the old clock spring was mysteriously missing a tab on the back.  On the new spring this tab is attached to the rotating portion of the spring and protrudes into the column behind the spring.  Here's a pic of the old spring and broken tab, taken from the back.

[RevMatcher]

I found the broken tab jammed in the steering column.  I found a post somewhere that said many times people install new turn signal mechanisms too far onto the column, away from the driver.  Turns out this was true on my car.  I took all the shrouds off the column (be patient with the bottom shroud, it will come off) and loosened the 8mm bolt underneath.  This bolt holds a friction-fit collar.  Once loose, I was able to gently lever the turn-signal mechanism about 0.25in closer to the driver.  Now the tab on the clock spring has clearance to rotate.  BONUS - Originally I was just trying to get the horn working.  Now because this tab exists, the turn signals auto-cancel properly.  EXCELLENT!

[RevMatcher]

As I mentioned the accident, I now hypothesize that the clock spring and snap ring were displaced when the air bag went off in the accident.  Those explosions are strong.  But the guy who fixed it didn't realize that the mechanism was displaced towards the front of the car by the airbag actuation.

[Tim B]

I've been chasing what seems to be a very similar issue, I think this solves it! Thanks so much for sharing this - I'll follow up when I get er dun.

Steering column replacement? Mystery knock noise - Rennlist - Porsche Discussion Forums

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996 Forum - Steering column replacement? Mystery knock noise - I've been haunted by a knocking noise in my steering wheel (01 C4 cab). I thought @NIckshu had solved it (link to thread below), replaced the lower steering shaft. Nope!...