Steering wheel moving sideways , is it impact damage?

[fkdhrz]

Hi there guys im only new to this forum, however I have an NSX where the steering column goes left and right , when I looked into the manual pages 17-5 it says that the column is designed in such a way, where if the vehicle has a collision the energy is absorbed into the steering column and wheel bending the u-plate. My question is how do I go about repairing this? is a whole new steering column needed ? or is it just a u-plate part replacement?

thanks much

 

[scammy]

There is a nylon collar that holds the steering column in place just above where your toes are when on the brakes, that may have slipped out so undo the bolts that hold the sleeve on and slip the collar back in and do up the bolts again

 

[fkdhrz]

checked that, Ive gone under and looked at where the play (movement) is and its where the steering column sits in the u shaped bracket referred to in the 17-5 section of the worlshop manual, how do i fix this?

 

[scammy]

that nylon collar should be in that 'u' shaped bracket. the bracket holds it in place

 

[fkdhrz]

im not talking about that nylon bracket, it a metal bracket that actually is created for impact damage heres a photo of what i mean

 

[shawn110975]

is your NSX black? is the interior black?

the plastic has cracked there are 4 bolts with a plastic sleeve they have cracked. have you noticed when vacumming the car any yellowish gold chucnks of plastic? they might be blue plastic dep on year.

assuming the car has not been in a wreck and this has just happened.

 

[scammy]

where is that photo? i have played around down there a lot lately with changing the ABS system installing new NSX R pedals and the brake booster and clutch.
so photos would be good also it's a lot easier if you take out your seat to work on things down there

 

[fkdhrz]

I have a mac I dont know it wont upload its a u shape bracket on the page numbers ive specified in the original post up there, in the workshop manual please help

 

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Hi, fkdhrz.
If we are talking about the U shaped brass colour metal piece as in the photo, then the side way movement at the
steering column is a very common issue with those who grab on the steering wheel when getting in and out of the car.

Whenever I see some side way movement there, I ask the owners to show me how they get in and out of the car and
you will be surprised how many owners are using the steering wheel to support their body.

Even those claimed that they never touched the steering wheel and yet when they performed the above request,
they were surprised by themselves to find out that it became their unconscious habit.


The steering column assy is designed to move forward under strong impact at the steering wheel.
The column assy will keep moving forward and then the entire steering wheel/column assy is designed to drop down to
the floor under severe impact.

The side way movement is actually caused by the gap created around the baseball home-base shaped silver metal piece
holding the brass U shaped piece to the frame.
If you lie down on the driver side floor and look upwards, you will see a silver nut on each side of the steering column with
home-base piece with a slot at the side.
This is how it should look like when there is no side way movement.

The home-base piece is sitting inside a V shaped channel and it has a slot on the side.
Every time when someone grabs on the steering wheel to get in and out of the car, side way force was applied allowing the
home-base piece to slide resulting in tiny gap as marked in blue arrows.
This is the cause of the side way movement.

Once this happens, unless you reset the position of the home-base piece, you won’t be able to fix the side way movement.

If you left the side way movement too long, someone applied too much force or indeed involved in accident that allowed
the home-base piece or V channel to deform, then you will be forced to replace them.

If you lie on the back and play with the parts involved, you will understand how to reset the position of the home-base piece.
You don’t need to remove the two silver nuts. Just loosen them.

Hope the parts are not worn otherwise you won’t be able to eliminate the side way movement.

Kaz

 

[JMChristopher]

Welp, I think I need to resurrect an old thread here. I lowered the steering column so I could remove the dash and now I have a bit of play side to side.

I looked through a few threads about this and this one has the clearest explanation. The problem I run into, even after following all the information in the posting regarding this issue is this: The left side "home base" piece will move all the way back to the correct location. The right side piece will also move to the correct location while the column is dropped, but once moving the column back into position it will slide out of position a little bit. After messing with it a bit more, I realized that the white plastic clip under the brass piece in the above image bends out just a little bit, allowing the "home base" bit to move out of alignment. With the column in place, I attempted to pull the column towards me like this and other threads have instructed, but it just doesn't go into the right location. There ends up being about a 1/8th inch space, kind of like this, but much less so:

I don't think anything is deformed or broken. Is there a chance that I could have over tightened the nut the first time I put it back on? I will post some pics if that helps. Maybe I should just take it to the dealership?

Thanks for any help.