*URGENT* How to break my steering wheel lock / My car almost killed me twice *URGENT*
10-27-04, 11:33 AM
#1
SA all the Way!
Thread Starter
*URGENT* How to break my steering wheel lock / My car almost killed me twice *URGENT*
Well, the short of it is, i need to break/disable my steering wheel lock, because it locked up on me today twice in left hand turns and had there been any oncoming traffic/no place to saftely brake and slow down while still turning left, i would have probably died. So i NEED to know how to do this, because i'm taking the car for new front tires and an alignment tomorrow morning, and then friday night, i'll be driving about 200 miles, and then another 200 miles back on tuesday... and i dont want to die.
background:
car was stolen a yearish ago, and they snatched the steering wheel lock, so now i start my car with a screwdriver (ghetto, i know... but i dont drive it very often) so i realized within the first few days that the steering wheel would lock up on me, but then i found a way around it. If you made sure to lock the wheel before you started the car, it would never lock up on you, so i thought i was okay (yeah i know i was playing with my life there, but whatever.... i've wisened up now) and that was the case for the last few months when i've actually been driving the car, and all the time i was driving it before it was parked while i was at school ( 5 months last year). Today however was different, because i did the normal thing, but it locked up on me once, and i thought maybe it was a fluke, but then it did it again about 2 miles down the road, needless to say, this **** has to stop.
so we shouldnt have the info out there about how to break the steering wheel lock for just anybody to see, so if you're gonna answer the question, PM me the answer PLEASE. Feel free to post in the thread with questions/comments... but i NEED TO KNOW THIS BY TOMORROW.
-Kurt (pleading for help)
background:
car was stolen a yearish ago, and they snatched the steering wheel lock, so now i start my car with a screwdriver (ghetto, i know... but i dont drive it very often) so i realized within the first few days that the steering wheel would lock up on me, but then i found a way around it. If you made sure to lock the wheel before you started the car, it would never lock up on you, so i thought i was okay (yeah i know i was playing with my life there, but whatever.... i've wisened up now) and that was the case for the last few months when i've actually been driving the car, and all the time i was driving it before it was parked while i was at school ( 5 months last year). Today however was different, because i did the normal thing, but it locked up on me once, and i thought maybe it was a fluke, but then it did it again about 2 miles down the road, needless to say, this **** has to stop.
so we shouldnt have the info out there about how to break the steering wheel lock for just anybody to see, so if you're gonna answer the question, PM me the answer PLEASE. Feel free to post in the thread with questions/comments... but i NEED TO KNOW THIS BY TOMORROW.
-Kurt (pleading for help)
10-27-04, 11:54 AM
#2
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Don't worry about others seeing it, it's elementary and no one will be shocked I'm sure. It'll take a few hours though, so hopefully you have time.
Pull the wheel, pull the switch assembly and you can see the key mechanism. It's held on the steering wheel shaft by 4 bolts (IIRC) but they are "security" bolts with round heads. Theoretically you can slot them somehow and use a screwdriver to remove, but clearance was an issue too, so vice-grips worked for me. Slow process though, unfortunately. With those removed the key assembly can be removed. There is a hole in the wheel shaft that a piece from the assembly drops into in order to lock the wheel (you'll see it quite obviously). You could carefully fill that hole or else remove the piece from the assembly if that's possible (can't quite remember thinking back). Alternatively since you have to have it off anyways, maybe you should consider getting a new ignition switch and just go back to normal key operation.
Good luck!
Pull the wheel, pull the switch assembly and you can see the key mechanism. It's held on the steering wheel shaft by 4 bolts (IIRC) but they are "security" bolts with round heads. Theoretically you can slot them somehow and use a screwdriver to remove, but clearance was an issue too, so vice-grips worked for me. Slow process though, unfortunately. With those removed the key assembly can be removed. There is a hole in the wheel shaft that a piece from the assembly drops into in order to lock the wheel (you'll see it quite obviously). You could carefully fill that hole or else remove the piece from the assembly if that's possible (can't quite remember thinking back). Alternatively since you have to have it off anyways, maybe you should consider getting a new ignition switch and just go back to normal key operation.
Good luck!
10-27-04, 12:43 PM
#3
Airflow is my life
10-27-04, 12:44 PM
#4
Frankencar
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jutny if you decide not to get a new ig switch please get some sorta of electric cut off atleast, i don't want your car getting stolen again! wish i could help with steering wheel lock but not sure about it
10-27-04, 01:07 PM
#5
SA all the Way!
Thread Starter
thanks guys, i'm gonna get a new switch sooner or later, but i want a whole matching lockset, which is expensive and not very readily available anymore.
and i do have an electical cut off, so its not going anywhere.
edit, i was kinda hoping it was as easy to break as some hondas, where you just pull the column cover, stick in a screwdriver somewhere, and hit it real hard, and pop its off.
and i do have an electical cut off, so its not going anywhere.
edit, i was kinda hoping it was as easy to break as some hondas, where you just pull the column cover, stick in a screwdriver somewhere, and hit it real hard, and pop its off.
Last edited by jutny; 10-27-04 at 01:09 PM.
10-27-04, 01:35 PM
#6
I found with mine that a little muscle works well just grab the wheel and yank fix mine, My steering was screwed up even with a key. Same thing happend to me was driving and it locked which pissed me off so i just twisted the wheel and snapped the lock.
10-27-04, 01:57 PM
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IIRC, I remember thinking to myself, "Gee, the last thing I'd want to do is try to sheer this off with brute force." Can't remember the reasons behind it though, but I still recommend taking it apart. If you hurry you can probably do it in about an hour. Great link Carl, that would be even easier and less messy than brute force. Personally I'd still take it apart, but the dril would work.
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10-27-04, 07:42 PM
#8
SA all the Way!
Thread Starter
well, i got it done, but FYI, the SA lock cylinder is different than the FB one, so i didnt know where to drill, allthough had i gone with my instincts, i would have been right. Anyhow, i got it off (used a cold chisel to slot the bolts... then used a hacksaw once they were out to make a REAL slot)
i ended up destroying the lock cylinder trying to get out the locking tab dealie... so i just drilled straight through into where the ignition switch bolts up, and now i just stick a smaller screwdriver farther in and right into the igniton switch itself.
*shrug*... anybody got a SA lock cylinder they wanna give me?
at least the ******* thing wont kill me now.
i ended up destroying the lock cylinder trying to get out the locking tab dealie... so i just drilled straight through into where the ignition switch bolts up, and now i just stick a smaller screwdriver farther in and right into the igniton switch itself.
*shrug*... anybody got a SA lock cylinder they wanna give me?
at least the ******* thing wont kill me now.
