QuestionI know you deal with Oldsmobile, but I thought that your experience with cars may be able to lead me in the right direction. I've never had this happen to me, in my entire 35 years of life. And I know that sometimes cars have similar symptoms for similar problems. Every once in a while, when I would start my car, it would not start. I'd have to wiggle the key a little and then it would start. One day I started my car and it wouldn't stop starting. I turned the key to the off position and it still wouldn't stop starting. I became frantic and started wiggling the key quickly back and forth to the on/off positions and finally it stopped starting. It wouldn't start again. I noticed that there was a whisper of smoke coming out of the steering column, near the ignition. I got out of the car to look under the hood and I noticed a whisper of smoke come from underneath the hood on the passenger side. When I opened the hood the smoke was gone and I was unable to locate the source of the smoke. A friend of mine was able to get the car started by touching something to the starter. He took the cover off the steering column hoping to find a burnt wire or some other source of the smoke, however he was unsuccessful. Since the cover was removed from the steering column, the air bag light now comes on. My friend says he thinks I need a new steering column. What do you think? My car is a '95 Buick Skylark with a 3.1 engine. It has about 135,000 miles on it.
AnswerNO you do NOT need a new steering column. Your mosy common and most likely problem is the ELECTRICAL IGNITION SWITCH usually loacted on the steering column under the dash as it has 2 or 3 large RED wires and numerous 3 or 4 more other wires attached to it. If you cannot find it on the steering column, Look on the transmission gear selector at the transmission linkage.
The smoke was probably coming from the starter because it was starting to get REAL HOT because you could NOT stop it from running.
When your friend took off the steering column cover he unplugged the 2 wire air bag electrical connector under the dash. Just plug it back in.
I am pretty sure that you need to replace the ELECTRICAL IGNITION SWITCH under the dash located on the steering column as stated above.
There is a posssibility that you have also damaged the starter. So once you replace the above said switch and have problems with the starter, You may have to replace it also. However, If you remove it from the vehicle and hand carry it into any large auto parts store they will test it for you for free.
If you contact me at:
meperganfortis@msn.com
I can e-mail you a picture of what you need.
