telescopic steering wheel

[CANADIANCADDY]

I noticed today that I could not get the steering wheel on my wife's 1998 STS to telescope towards me. Using the switch I can still manouver the wheel north and south as well as away from me but as mentioned I cannot get it to come up to me unless I use

my preset position button on the door. Such being the case is the problem likely a faulty steering wheel control switch on the steering wheel post and if so is it a major issue to replace it?

Many thanks,

Paul

[RDWRIOR]

Paul,

Based on your description of the symptoms you are experiencing with the steering column, and having studied the electrical schematic for the column, I believe that a faulty switch mechanism is the most likely cause of your problem, or possibly a damaged wire or a poor connection of the switch wiring to the column's control module. Much less likely, but also possible, is a faulty control module.

The switch has a long 5-wire harness that connects to the control module. Replacing the switch requires that the switch's wiring harness first be disconnected from the control module, then the wires must be detached completely from the the column. Finally, the lower trim panel must be removed from the bottom of the column, so that the backside of the switch can be released from inside the trim panel, and the switch and its wires pulled out through the mounting hole in the panel. All of these steps can be done with the column installed in the vehicle, and no special tools are required, but access to the switch's wiring connector, the wire attachment points, etc., is difficult, which makes it necessary to remove some of the other trim panels and a bracket from below the column. Even then, the job can be difficult for a person doing it for the first time (it was for me), especially since your vehicle has the cruise control stalk that prevents the column's lower trim panel from dropping straight down.

All of this work on the column is easier to perform with the column assembly removed from the vehicle, since the assembly, with all of its switches, wiring, trim panels, etc., is installed into the vehicle as an assembly in the GM factory, with just the steering wheel and airbag installed afterward. Unfortunately, removing the column assembly from the vehicle is itself a difficult job.

I can give you more detailed step-by-step instructions for checking the switch's wiring connection and/or replacing the switch, but I will forego typing all of that here, just in case the type of work that I have described above makes you want to take this job to a Cadillac dealer. Furthermore, since no one responded to your post right away, maybe you already had the problem professionally repaired. In any case, please post a reply and let me know if you still want to try repairing the problem yourself, or, if you already had the problem fixed for you, what sort of repairs were required.