Steering Column Repair: noise in steering column, 1997 buick skylark, skylark 3

Question
I have a 1997 buick skylark,3.1 liter,with 65000 KM on it. Lately there is a noise comming from the bottom of the steering column and traveling up to the steering wheel and it feels like something is dry and/or binding like a dry or worn bushing kind of noise/feel.I took it to GM and they said that lots of the GM steering assemblies do this and most people live with the noise and that it was not dangerous. I'm a little choked by their respose and the fact that there is hardly any milage on this. They said sometimes you can lossen the bolts on the rack and pry it away from the firewall enough to get lubricant in there and solve this problem that is caused by a dry seal but when they looked at mine they said this was not possible on this model and to solve it would require a rack and pinion relacement. Any advice would be appreciated !

Answer
Hello Greg,
I'm afraid the only real fix for this is to replace the rack and pinion. If the bushing is dried out, it will soon fail completely. A dried out bushing is not uncommon on a 9 year old car. You may want the have all the bushings inspected on the front and rear suspension.

Hope that helps.
Have a great day!
-Jay