Steering Column Bushing....
Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 8:40 pm
OH MY GOD!
So I was doing the things I needed to do on the Forester to get it to pass inspection, and just before I did the alignment I was tackling the issue of a "loose steering column."
So we got the car in the air, pulled the lower portion of the dash apart, and started looking around.
Where the steering column goes through the firewall, there is a white bushing that the column rides inside of, to suspend the column and support it.
Mine had pushed through the firewall.
I pray that none of you ever have to deal with this issue.
It was a 3 person job to get the bushing in, and then we had to shimmy the rubber boot in-between the firewall and the bushing, from under the hood.
So we struggled, with 3 and 4 foot pry bars movng the steering column to various positions, and using picks and such to move the boot into position. It took us about an hour and a half to do this.
The down-side, is that I can see a very real problem if that bushing is left un-fixed for a long period of time. SO if your steering column is loose and moves up and down, this might just be your problem.
The plus-side, is that after I fixed it, I immediately noticed that it felt better to drive, and felt a lot less sloppy.
So I was doing the things I needed to do on the Forester to get it to pass inspection, and just before I did the alignment I was tackling the issue of a "loose steering column."
So we got the car in the air, pulled the lower portion of the dash apart, and started looking around.
Where the steering column goes through the firewall, there is a white bushing that the column rides inside of, to suspend the column and support it.
Mine had pushed through the firewall.
I pray that none of you ever have to deal with this issue.
It was a 3 person job to get the bushing in, and then we had to shimmy the rubber boot in-between the firewall and the bushing, from under the hood.
So we struggled, with 3 and 4 foot pry bars movng the steering column to various positions, and using picks and such to move the boot into position. It took us about an hour and a half to do this.
The down-side, is that I can see a very real problem if that bushing is left un-fixed for a long period of time. SO if your steering column is loose and moves up and down, this might just be your problem.
The plus-side, is that after I fixed it, I immediately noticed that it felt better to drive, and felt a lot less sloppy.
.