Loose steering column!

Hi everyone. My steering column seems to be getting loose at the point where it tilts. It is slowly getting worse everyday (as in there is more play mostly with the up and down motion).

Two questions: First, is this a serious matter requiring immediate attention? Is it safe to keep driving the car? And for how long? Secondly, I have done some research on Pennock's and realized that fixing this problem is not an easy task, especially for someone like me. So is anybody interested in fixing it in exchange for a reasonable fee?

Please let me know. Thanks in advance :)

Robin

It IS a fairly intense job - and if you don't have the specialized tools, it virtually just won't happen.

Hopefully they remember to use loc-tite on the bolts (like Saginaw failed to do way back in the day!).

For those interested to hear, here is the upsetting update. Got to the Eagle Ridge GM for my 9:45am appointment. Was told by the service advisor (and the guy on the phone earlier) that it would be a 2-hour job max. By 2pm, my car had not been touched. So I got my wife to pick me up to go walk around somewhere. Returned at 5pm just to be told that the steering column had been taken out but the technician ran out of time to do anything else until at least Monday. It is a fairly complex job, they now say.

So we agreed to put the steering column back in so I could take the car home. To their credit, however, they promise to only charge me for the original 2-hour labour no matter how long the job takes (if I choose to go back there to get the problem fixed).

And I was told one of the parts guys drives a Fiero...

Yup. It was me. You found me. :)

I'm pretty sure the repair instructions say to remove the
column, but people that know the cars well enough know that
they don't have to remove the column. If you've got a long
socket, you can just take apart the upper half of the
column.

I told the tech what to look for, they thought you were
talking about a bracket that just needed tightening, and I
explained that it was a harder job than they thought.

Unfortunately, Saturday was a crazy day here, and one of
the regular techs called in sick. Things happen. Sorry they
weren't able to get the job done. I have troubles
convincing the techs to work on my car too. :)

Cheers,

Kris