Steering Sensor
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 206
Likes: 4
Steering Sensor
I have been having an issue with my steering sensor/ I posted about this issue before, but my issue has not been resolved completely.
Old thread
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...on-sensor.html
Basically, I got the "active handling" and "service traction control" warnings on my dash after I did a cam swap. My airbag light is on and my horn is not working.
I recently replaced the clock spring. The old one was broken. That took care of the airbag light and my horn is working now, but I still have the "traction and active handling disabled" warning.
Today I looked behind the steering column where the steering sensor is. Here is what it looks like:
It looks like the sensor itself is fine but many thing around it are broken. Also, the steering shaft itself has some play as you can tell from the video I posted.
Can anyone help me with this? I just need know what parts I need to replace.
Old thread
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...on-sensor.html
Basically, I got the "active handling" and "service traction control" warnings on my dash after I did a cam swap. My airbag light is on and my horn is not working.
I recently replaced the clock spring. The old one was broken. That took care of the airbag light and my horn is working now, but I still have the "traction and active handling disabled" warning.
Today I looked behind the steering column where the steering sensor is. Here is what it looks like:
It looks like the sensor itself is fine but many thing around it are broken. Also, the steering shaft itself has some play as you can tell from the video I posted.
Can anyone help me with this? I just need know what parts I need to replace.
Last edited by fasttz06; Jan 30, 2017 at 02:48 PM.
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 11,338
Likes: 2,438
From: Eastern
I'm not sure if these service manual items will help, but I'll attach them. It does show the components and it appears that you have a lower bearing failure in the column.
This will likely need replacing and the sensor will need to be correctly centered as well.
Good Luck
This will likely need replacing and the sensor will need to be correctly centered as well.
Good Luck
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 1,375
Likes: 218
I went throught the same thing. DO NOT REMOVE SENSOR YET! THE SENSOR IS FINE.
What happened is this:
One of the plastic clips that act as a bearing mount broke, got jammed into the telescopic column. As you telescoped the wheel inwards, the broken plastic pushed out the support bearing (which is held in with a plastic box!!! and the box clip is what breaks!!).
Rubbish in telescopic stage>jams up against bearing>bearing pops out of mount>bearing jams up against steering sensor>> support bearing pushes out the steering sensor.
Do NOT drive with AH on or any turn where the sensor swings will activate AH. If you turn off AH, the steering sensor swinging wont cause any problems.
FIRST:
park with your steering wheel centered.
If you look above the sensor, you will see a square cutout where the sensor should sit. Mark the sensor for "zero" there. - theres a SMALL ROTATING plastic piece inside of the square block so make sure you mark the inner piece. apply white-out or marker liberally to make sure you get it on there. seriously. i had to buy a new sensor cuz i didn't mark mine properly. the sensor isnt very sensitive to a few degrees of difference (it also auto-calibrates for minor angle differences) so just get it marked in the general area. Tape up the sensor to the shaft so it won't turn over as you work on it as well.
Next, youre going to need to pull the entire steering column to fix properly. (if youre really agile you might be able to fix it with it still in there but i suggest pulling the damn thing. Its a 2-4 hour job tops). You won't have to yank the steering wheel itself, everything can come out in one piece.
Look down the steering column shaft til you see a joint, it should have a nut/bolt holding it in place. Mark this to keep alignment too.
NEXT (this is important too) Tape your steering wheel to the box behind it where the multi-function switches like wipers/turn signal stalks attach. This is to prevent your airbag reel from over spinning once you have everything removed. Use painters tape but make sure this will not turn... really. Or you will be buying a new airbag reel.
to do this, you gotta disconnect the battery, pull the two covers above your feet/knee, disconnect the yellow airbag clips (after waiting for everything to deenergize), disconnect the single bolt holding the steering shaft (that you marked earlier).
theres going to be more clips and **** in there attached to the steering wheel for other stuff like the telescopic motor, etc. undo all those.
Theres four bolts (IIRC) holding the steering column. remove those. The entire column should just drop right out if you did everything correctly. flip the wheel down, shaft up (dont let the wheel move in relation to the box!) and look at the telescopic stage box (the big aluminum rectangle). start removing the plastic crap below the hanging sensor (below, as in closer to the steering wheel).
You may need security torx screw drivers to access some stuff. The way its put together is very basic and easy to figure out. As you start undoing the plastic at the bottom, some plastic rubbish will fall out. Mine was a clip that holds the bearing mount. The mount has 4 clips so I figured 3/4 is good enough and reused it - if you can find a part number that works, let me know...
Anyway, that little plastic piece is the problem to this entire fiasco. You'll see what happened when you get to that piece.
After you get the rubbish out, re-seat the bearing into the plastic sleeve (this takes some strength and proper alignment or you will break the plastic sleeve), fasten the sleeve back onto the bottom of the telescopic box, reinstall everything
...and if you're like me, bitch about GM using **** plastic for the bearing holder.
If you reinstall everything aligned just the way it was supposed to go, it will be perfectly fine. The steering angle sensor is NOT that sensitive to a few degrees here or there so dont worry about perfection. Just don't let the inner ring rotate over. The sensor will only seat under the telescopic crap one way so you'll be able to tell how it should go on. the plastic trim looking thing clips over the sensor. The base of the steering wheel shaft will only go on one way as well (one side is keyed) so as long as you dont rotate the wheel 360, you will be fine.
good luck, PM me if you have any questions.
What happened is this:
One of the plastic clips that act as a bearing mount broke, got jammed into the telescopic column. As you telescoped the wheel inwards, the broken plastic pushed out the support bearing (which is held in with a plastic box!!! and the box clip is what breaks!!).
Rubbish in telescopic stage>jams up against bearing>bearing pops out of mount>bearing jams up against steering sensor>> support bearing pushes out the steering sensor.
Do NOT drive with AH on or any turn where the sensor swings will activate AH. If you turn off AH, the steering sensor swinging wont cause any problems.
FIRST:
park with your steering wheel centered.
If you look above the sensor, you will see a square cutout where the sensor should sit. Mark the sensor for "zero" there. - theres a SMALL ROTATING plastic piece inside of the square block so make sure you mark the inner piece. apply white-out or marker liberally to make sure you get it on there. seriously. i had to buy a new sensor cuz i didn't mark mine properly. the sensor isnt very sensitive to a few degrees of difference (it also auto-calibrates for minor angle differences) so just get it marked in the general area. Tape up the sensor to the shaft so it won't turn over as you work on it as well.
Next, youre going to need to pull the entire steering column to fix properly. (if youre really agile you might be able to fix it with it still in there but i suggest pulling the damn thing. Its a 2-4 hour job tops). You won't have to yank the steering wheel itself, everything can come out in one piece.
Look down the steering column shaft til you see a joint, it should have a nut/bolt holding it in place. Mark this to keep alignment too.
NEXT (this is important too) Tape your steering wheel to the box behind it where the multi-function switches like wipers/turn signal stalks attach. This is to prevent your airbag reel from over spinning once you have everything removed. Use painters tape but make sure this will not turn... really. Or you will be buying a new airbag reel.
to do this, you gotta disconnect the battery, pull the two covers above your feet/knee, disconnect the yellow airbag clips (after waiting for everything to deenergize), disconnect the single bolt holding the steering shaft (that you marked earlier).
theres going to be more clips and **** in there attached to the steering wheel for other stuff like the telescopic motor, etc. undo all those.
Theres four bolts (IIRC) holding the steering column. remove those. The entire column should just drop right out if you did everything correctly. flip the wheel down, shaft up (dont let the wheel move in relation to the box!) and look at the telescopic stage box (the big aluminum rectangle). start removing the plastic crap below the hanging sensor (below, as in closer to the steering wheel).
You may need security torx screw drivers to access some stuff. The way its put together is very basic and easy to figure out. As you start undoing the plastic at the bottom, some plastic rubbish will fall out. Mine was a clip that holds the bearing mount. The mount has 4 clips so I figured 3/4 is good enough and reused it - if you can find a part number that works, let me know...
Anyway, that little plastic piece is the problem to this entire fiasco. You'll see what happened when you get to that piece.
After you get the rubbish out, re-seat the bearing into the plastic sleeve (this takes some strength and proper alignment or you will break the plastic sleeve), fasten the sleeve back onto the bottom of the telescopic box, reinstall everything
...and if you're like me, bitch about GM using **** plastic for the bearing holder.
If you reinstall everything aligned just the way it was supposed to go, it will be perfectly fine. The steering angle sensor is NOT that sensitive to a few degrees here or there so dont worry about perfection. Just don't let the inner ring rotate over. The sensor will only seat under the telescopic crap one way so you'll be able to tell how it should go on. the plastic trim looking thing clips over the sensor. The base of the steering wheel shaft will only go on one way as well (one side is keyed) so as long as you dont rotate the wheel 360, you will be fine.
good luck, PM me if you have any questions.
Last edited by Ahrmike; Jan 31, 2017 at 04:13 AM.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 206
Likes: 4
I went throught the same thing. DO NOT REMOVE SENSOR YET! THE SENSOR IS FINE.
What happened is this:
One of the plastic clips that act as a bearing mount broke, got jammed into the telescopic column. As you telescoped the wheel inwards, the broken plastic pushed out the support bearing (which is held in with a plastic box!!! and the box clip is what breaks!!).
Rubbish in telescopic stage>jams up against bearing>bearing pops out of mount>bearing jams up against steering sensor>> support bearing pushes out the steering sensor.
Do NOT drive with AH on or any turn where the sensor swings will activate AH. If you turn off AH, the steering sensor swinging wont cause any problems.
FIRST:
park with your steering wheel centered.
If you look above the sensor, you will see a square cutout where the sensor should sit. Mark the sensor for "zero" there. - theres a SMALL ROTATING plastic piece inside of the square block so make sure you mark the inner piece. apply white-out or marker liberally to make sure you get it on there. seriously. i had to buy a new sensor cuz i didn't mark mine properly. the sensor isnt very sensitive to a few degrees of difference (it also auto-calibrates for minor angle differences) so just get it marked in the general area. Tape up the sensor to the shaft so it won't turn over as you work on it as well.
Next, youre going to need to pull the entire steering column to fix properly. (if youre really agile you might be able to fix it with it still in there but i suggest pulling the damn thing. Its a 2-4 hour job tops). You won't have to yank the steering wheel itself, everything can come out in one piece.
Look down the steering column shaft til you see a joint, it should have a nut/bolt holding it in place. Mark this to keep alignment too.
NEXT (this is important too) Tape your steering wheel to the box behind it where the multi-function switches like wipers/turn signal stalks attach. This is to prevent your airbag reel from over spinning once you have everything removed. Use painters tape but make sure this will not turn... really. Or you will be buying a new airbag reel.
to do this, you gotta disconnect the battery, pull the two covers above your feet/knee, disconnect the yellow airbag clips (after waiting for everything to deenergize), disconnect the single bolt holding the steering shaft (that you marked earlier).
theres going to be more clips and **** in there attached to the steering wheel for other stuff like the telescopic motor, etc. undo all those.
Theres four bolts (IIRC) holding the steering column. remove those. The entire column should just drop right out if you did everything correctly. flip the wheel down, shaft up (dont let the wheel move in relation to the box!) and look at the telescopic stage box (the big aluminum rectangle). start removing the plastic crap below the hanging sensor (below, as in closer to the steering wheel).
You may need security torx screw drivers to access some stuff. The way its put together is very basic and easy to figure out. As you start undoing the plastic at the bottom, some plastic rubbish will fall out. Mine was a clip that holds the bearing mount. The mount has 4 clips so I figured 3/4 is good enough and reused it - if you can find a part number that works, let me know...
Anyway, that little plastic piece is the problem to this entire fiasco. You'll see what happened when you get to that piece.
After you get the rubbish out, re-seat the bearing into the plastic sleeve (this takes some strength and proper alignment or you will break the plastic sleeve), fasten the sleeve back onto the bottom of the telescopic box, reinstall everything
...and if you're like me, bitch about GM using **** plastic for the bearing holder.
If you reinstall everything aligned just the way it was supposed to go, it will be perfectly fine. The steering angle sensor is NOT that sensitive to a few degrees here or there so dont worry about perfection. Just don't let the inner ring rotate over. The sensor will only seat under the telescopic crap one way so you'll be able to tell how it should go on. the plastic trim looking thing clips over the sensor. The base of the steering wheel shaft will only go on one way as well (one side is keyed) so as long as you dont rotate the wheel 360, you will be fine.
good luck, PM me if you have any questions.
What happened is this:
One of the plastic clips that act as a bearing mount broke, got jammed into the telescopic column. As you telescoped the wheel inwards, the broken plastic pushed out the support bearing (which is held in with a plastic box!!! and the box clip is what breaks!!).
Rubbish in telescopic stage>jams up against bearing>bearing pops out of mount>bearing jams up against steering sensor>> support bearing pushes out the steering sensor.
Do NOT drive with AH on or any turn where the sensor swings will activate AH. If you turn off AH, the steering sensor swinging wont cause any problems.
FIRST:
park with your steering wheel centered.
If you look above the sensor, you will see a square cutout where the sensor should sit. Mark the sensor for "zero" there. - theres a SMALL ROTATING plastic piece inside of the square block so make sure you mark the inner piece. apply white-out or marker liberally to make sure you get it on there. seriously. i had to buy a new sensor cuz i didn't mark mine properly. the sensor isnt very sensitive to a few degrees of difference (it also auto-calibrates for minor angle differences) so just get it marked in the general area. Tape up the sensor to the shaft so it won't turn over as you work on it as well.
Next, youre going to need to pull the entire steering column to fix properly. (if youre really agile you might be able to fix it with it still in there but i suggest pulling the damn thing. Its a 2-4 hour job tops). You won't have to yank the steering wheel itself, everything can come out in one piece.
Look down the steering column shaft til you see a joint, it should have a nut/bolt holding it in place. Mark this to keep alignment too.
NEXT (this is important too) Tape your steering wheel to the box behind it where the multi-function switches like wipers/turn signal stalks attach. This is to prevent your airbag reel from over spinning once you have everything removed. Use painters tape but make sure this will not turn... really. Or you will be buying a new airbag reel.
to do this, you gotta disconnect the battery, pull the two covers above your feet/knee, disconnect the yellow airbag clips (after waiting for everything to deenergize), disconnect the single bolt holding the steering shaft (that you marked earlier).
theres going to be more clips and **** in there attached to the steering wheel for other stuff like the telescopic motor, etc. undo all those.
Theres four bolts (IIRC) holding the steering column. remove those. The entire column should just drop right out if you did everything correctly. flip the wheel down, shaft up (dont let the wheel move in relation to the box!) and look at the telescopic stage box (the big aluminum rectangle). start removing the plastic crap below the hanging sensor (below, as in closer to the steering wheel).
You may need security torx screw drivers to access some stuff. The way its put together is very basic and easy to figure out. As you start undoing the plastic at the bottom, some plastic rubbish will fall out. Mine was a clip that holds the bearing mount. The mount has 4 clips so I figured 3/4 is good enough and reused it - if you can find a part number that works, let me know...
Anyway, that little plastic piece is the problem to this entire fiasco. You'll see what happened when you get to that piece.
After you get the rubbish out, re-seat the bearing into the plastic sleeve (this takes some strength and proper alignment or you will break the plastic sleeve), fasten the sleeve back onto the bottom of the telescopic box, reinstall everything
...and if you're like me, bitch about GM using **** plastic for the bearing holder.
If you reinstall everything aligned just the way it was supposed to go, it will be perfectly fine. The steering angle sensor is NOT that sensitive to a few degrees here or there so dont worry about perfection. Just don't let the inner ring rotate over. The sensor will only seat under the telescopic crap one way so you'll be able to tell how it should go on. the plastic trim looking thing clips over the sensor. The base of the steering wheel shaft will only go on one way as well (one side is keyed) so as long as you dont rotate the wheel 360, you will be fine.
good luck, PM me if you have any questions.
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 1,375
Likes: 218
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,491
Likes: 261
From: Miami Florida
I had same problem with steering wheel positioning sensor after my heads and cam I removed the steering assembly (not that hard at all) rested the steering wheel on a table put the sensor locator clip you are playing around with in the vid to line up with the sensor and hit it into place using sort of a horse shoe shape metal aid and a rubber mallet.
Honestly is best done this way the first time but the second time after knowing how it lines up and what it takes it can be done in place with out removing steering wheel assembly.
Never had another problem or service light.
Honestly is best done this way the first time but the second time after knowing how it lines up and what it takes it can be done in place with out removing steering wheel assembly.
Never had another problem or service light.
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 1,375
Likes: 218
I had same problem with steering wheel positioning sensor after my heads and cam I removed the steering assembly (not that hard at all) rested the steering wheel on a table put the sensor locator clip you are playing around with in the vid to line up with the sensor and hit it into place using sort of a horse shoe shape metal aid and a rubber mallet.
Honestly is best done this way the first time but the second time after knowing how it lines up and what it takes it can be done in place with out removing steering wheel assembly.
Never had another problem or service light.
Honestly is best done this way the first time but the second time after knowing how it lines up and what it takes it can be done in place with out removing steering wheel assembly.
Never had another problem or service light.
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Advanced
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 58
Likes: 59
I am having this same exact problem on my 2009 Z06, I have the column off the car but am not seeing what needs to happen, does the bearing have to move downwards(towards steering wheel) on the tan sleeve? Or does the whole tan sleeve with the bearing on it need to slide down on the shaft to install into the bearing retainer? Neither one seems to want to move at all right now and don't want to apply too much force until I know what needs to happen. Thank you very much!
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 1,375
Likes: 218
I am having this same exact problem on my 2009 Z06, I have the column off the car but am not seeing what needs to happen, does the bearing have to move downwards(towards steering wheel) on the tan sleeve? Or does the whole tan sleeve with the bearing on it need to slide down on the shaft to install into the bearing retainer? Neither one seems to want to move at all right now and don't want to apply too much force until I know what needs to happen. Thank you very much!
Spin the motor by hand and see what moves. The bearing should move inwards to where it needs to seat. Then, whack the steering wheel a few times to unstick, regrease (i recommend dousing the entire thing in WD40 to get rid of the old grease and regreasing with a new better quality grease), and spin the motor the other way. This time, the bearing should NOT push out as the handle telescopes outward since the collapsing/extending section will move.
good luck.