steering wheel loose & telescoping stiff

[rem503]

Yesterday, I just noticed the steering wheel on our 2000 base Boxster (27000miles) was loose and rattling.

After removing the negative battery cable and waiting for the air bag to be safer to handle, I removed the steering wheel to get at the loose steering wheel nut.

The most difficult part of removing the steering wheel was removing the two T27 torx screws behind the steering wheel. I had to use a T27 torx screwdriver bit in a very narrow holder to fit in the recessed hole. All my torx screw drivers were too long to fit between the steering wheel and the dash. I used the T27 screwdriver bit in a 1/4" drive ratchet.

After safely removing the air bag and disconnecting the air bag electrical connector and horn wires, I marked the splines so the wheel would go back in the same position. Sure enough, the large (24mm) nut holding on the steering wheel was loose. Even with it's heavy lock washer, the nut loosened up in less than 30000 miles.

Since I had the steering wheel off, I was hoping to fix the stiff telescoping steering mechanism. Our steering wheel will telescope but it requires alot of effort. With the steering wheel still off, I removed the four philips screws holding the rectangular front face of the column cover. Next, I used a small T8 torx bit, to remove the two small screws on each side of the column cover. I pulled the top plastic column cover off to expose more of the steering column. I noticed a dry smooth shaft that the slides in and out. I greased it up with a small amount of white lithium grease. It seemed to help the movement of the steering wheel a little bit.

I put an arrow in the photo by the area that I greased.