QuestionQUESTION: My daughter used the tilt steering and a puf of smoke and smell of burnt electrical took place afterwards. Which lead to my power windows not working, the air conditioning not working and an overheating problem. Are these 3 things interlinked somehow?? Please give some trouble shooting ideas before I completely rip everything apart!!
Thank You
ANSWER: Hi June,
Those symptoms were useful to know and their relationship to the tilt wheel movement, also. I believe that you will find a wire(s) in the multiwire harness of wires that runs along the steering column from under the dash up to the ignition switch, and that has a break in its rubber insulation and that wire(s) carries current to a section of the ignition switch that powers the air conditioning system controls and the power windows (the overheating problem may be related too but I am not certain what you mean by overheating and what units might not be working, specifically) or a wire that carries the current from the switch on to those devices. If the igniton was "on" when the incident happened then I would suspect the latter wire.
I would first look in the power distribution box under the hood (located on the driver's side inner fender, just in front of the strut tower and just behind the air filter box) to find and check fuse H (50 amp) which powers the A/C system and blower and the power windows (labelled "blower motor"). If it is blown then either that incoming wire to the switch (pink/black color) is the one that got shorted when the steering column moved and caused it to short OR another possible wire is black/orange which is the same circuit but on the output side of the ignition switch. So if you will look under the steering column and while doing so have your daughter move the tilt motion of the wheel you should locate where that harness of wires that are passing by the tilting fulcrum came in contact with a metal part of the steering column proper. If you can locate the place (by signs of melted insulation of one or more wires), then you could use some electrical tape or some spaghetti wrap to re-establish the insulated condition of the faulty wires and get your car running right again. Once you have done that, then replace the fuse H in the power box that I suspect was blown.
Let me know how this works out for you. You can use the "thank/rate" tab to get back to me without having to wait for an available opening, using the comment section to enter your message.
Roland
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Hi. Well I proceeded as you suggested hoping that I could go in and find a burnt, seared , broken or melted wire. No such luck. I even wiped them all down, to double check. Replaced the 50 amp and sure enough BLOWN! The blower motor, air conditioner and power windows still no worky!! AARRGH!. Now I've ripped everything apart and it lays all over my floor board! Still starts. Is it possible that the wire housing could be bad? No sure that's what its called? The housing that plugs into the steering column, because it looks as if it may of got warm. Its hard to even check wires for power because the fuse keeps blowing. Can you bypass the 50 amp fuse altogether, and just hard-wire it somehow? I know probably not so smart. Its just irritating. Thought for sure it was going to be a quick fix. I appreciate your time and consideration on my behalf. Thank you. Your the closest thing I have to a knight right now!! ha ha Awaiting your response. Thanks
AnswerHi June,
No, you don't won't to hard wire it, you have to find the short and remove it. Hard wiring it will just start a fire.
I would start at the ignition switch:
The incoming wire (pink/black from fuse H) and the outgoing wire black/orange are side by side in the middle of the 7 pins of that switch's plug. Try to follow the wires along the harness as it goes along the column and see if you can find a short somewhere near the flexing point that is caused by tilting the wheel. The switch is accessed by unscrewing the tilt lever from the side of the column. Then notice that there are screws on the underside of the column in the region of the cover that is just in front of the steering wheel Remove those 4 or so screws and the bottom cover and the top cover will come off. You will then see the switch and you can find those two wires. Then trace along them and find the short on one or the other. That is the only way I can recommend to fix this.
I have to believe the short was due to tilting the column so the area has to be where the column flexes. You can test for a short in the wires with an ohmmeter or a continuity tester, but you are going to have to find the short visually. The other place to look is from the big 50 pin square plug that come through the fire wall under the dash. The pink black wire is at one of the four corners of that square plug, so you could find it there and trace it as it goes to the steering column to see if it could have shorted between the fire wall and flex point on the column.
That is my best suggestion.
Roland
