creekman

Hmmm, I thought I had updated this post on the status of my steering problem... I have a good car buddy, Patrick digs in, hands on. He's worked with cars as a business or for his own inventory for 40 years or more. Patrick brings along a smart young man and tells Shawn to take loose the steering column. This is the steering shaft that is flush with the bulkhead and the rearward end receives the steering wheel. Shawn gets the shaft out, but as he does this he says, "What's this"... I immediately knew what it was, the nylon splined sleeve was about 6" long and was placed between the female and male, it was also clocked have only one way to fit. This entire post of several months was because this missing part. Why didn't we look at the parts book and order a new one... Probably because Porsche no longer offers the part, if you wanted the part you would have to buy the entire assembly and that is $2,000. The reason the nylon splined bushing doesn't show in the parts book is because it's part of an assembly. I'm guessing there are other examples of this throughout the car. Now we had he fix, but how to fix it became the issue. I have survived for all these years having over the top ideas, but through friendships and other people bowing to a better idea. In this case I was going to hold the nylon sleeve tight against the male spline. Patrick thought the idea was good but not the hose clamp. He suggested greasing up the female entry area with bearing grease so if any of the gasket maker ooze out we could separate the parts for installation. Well in theory Patrick was correct, I greased up the female interior wall for about an inch on the entry end, dab a little gasket maker on the male spline, however... there's always a but or however... In this case the thin fragile Nylon is nearly 20 years old and you could how delicate the part was, by the time the male end was partially inserted, I had gasket maker every where including me... There was no way I was going to destroy this Nylon splined sleeve... So now in panic mode I shoved the2 assemblies together hoping that enough grease was pushed ahead to keep the two parts from bounding forever. The next morning my helper was easily able to remove the male spline. I doubt you could insert the female into the male end. You can barely see the male end flush with the bulkhead. My guy was in the cabin with the seat still in place, I bet it took nearly an hour to get the splines engaged, after that it was pretty straight forward. The nylon splined sleeve probably came out when we dropped the gas tank. Mitch Leland “Home in the Hill Country"

Ok, READ AND WEEP... Here's my final answer... Today I was showing 2 car buddies the loose steering (play) in the steering wheel. I've been chasing my tail for 3 months on this, nearly considered filing a Non-OP with the department of public safety. While removing the under dash steering shaft Shawn while on his back found a white plastic sleeve with splines. Once that was inserted into the female spline all the play went away. The picture I posted a couple of days ago appeared to have very little engagement when in fact it had quite a bit once we had access to both upper and lower shafts. My parts guy, Glenn Sager at Pelican Parts said he had never sold one of the columns , which gave me pause and stopped me from moving ahead on a used part. Bottom line: 1`. The missing splined plastic liner caused the play. 2. As I understand it none of the steering column parts are available here or in Germany. 3. I can use my plastic piece and it will be fine, because it was fine for 90,000 miles. 4. I can see if I can find a late model year and if they have the same plastic sleeve. Glenn is working on that. Again, not only does Porsche not stock the larger steering components, but also does not always show smaller part and part numbers..

Ok, READ AND WEEPSteering column pics.rtfd.zip Here's my final answer... Today I had 2 car buddies showing them the loose steering (play) in the steering wheel. I've been chasing my tail for 3 months, nearly considered filing a Non-OP with the public safety. Wle removing the under dash steering Shawn while on his back found a white plastic sleeve with splines. Once that was inserted into the female spline all the play went away. The picture I posted a couple of days ago appeared to have very little engagement when in fact it had quite a bit. MY guy Glenn Sager at Pelican Parts said He had never sold one of the columns , which gave me pause and stopped me from moving ahead on a used part. Bottom line: 1`. The missing splined liner caused the play. 2. As I understand it none of the steering column parts are available here or in Germany. 3. I can use my plastic piece and it will be fine, because it was fine for 90,000 miles. 4. I can see if I can fine a late model year and if they have the same plastic sleeve. Glen is working on that. Again, not only does Porsche stock the larger steering components, but6 also does not show the part and part number...

Well boys and girls, I think we isolated the steering wheel play, but don't how come or how to fix it. The play is in the splined connection. However there's more male spline out than in. We think if the male was pretty much engaged in the female splined aluminum tube there would be no play in the steering wheel. Does anyone know what the dimension is of the free outside exposed male spline? Now I'm assuming if the male and female were more engaged the play would go away...But there is no adjustment, the rack bolts down in one place and the under dash bolt up in specify connections, again no adjustment. I've been all over that car for 10 years and it has never been crashed front or rear. As far as I know everything can only go in one way. Yet I still get the feeling this all started when we remove the gas tank and solenoids valves. I have a video, but I don't know if they're allowed and I don't know how to send it, for now I'll just include a pic. Can anyone tell me how much male spline is inserted into the female aluminum tube? I'll bet it ain't much... Double click for larger view... There's about an inch that looks like it was further into the female spline since there's no rust.

Well, I thought when I installed the rebuilt rack my problems were behind me, After bleeding the system I still had the original play in the steering wheel, I still think there's a broken part here, it's not a wear problem. There's nothing left to fix or do until we get the housing out from under the dash. I bet the upper universal is now the culprit and I'm afraid to drive the car if something in fact is broken. Has anyone removed the steering housing from under the dash to tell me how much of the dash has to be removed to get to the housing? Thans... Mitch

Question for JFP in PA. I Ordered the lower steering shaft with included the rag and universal... Unfortunately It's not to be had in the U.S. and no time frame given from was given if and when fromm Germany... And I still don't know if that's the problem. my Pelican guy doesn't have any breakdown of what's inside the steering housing under the dash. One thought is find and buy the whole business, am I correct salvage yard prices should be half of retail. My front end guy had it on the rack and said everything looks normal, then if something is broken why does the steering still works. Any thoughts..., if he/we had a parts breakdown, it might tell us what did go wrong... Thanks,

Hardtailer, Thanks for you interest and reply. I don't recognize the steering rack from your picture. Here's mine, also my car is a C4S. I'm not sure, but there might be a difference between our cars... I was positive the problem I have is in the housing under the dash since I've checked the play and it had to be in the in underdash part. So this Saturday my helper who is smaller and a lot younger did another test before taking the dash apart. JFP from PA said it was a hard job, maybe only second to taking down the gas tank. Then I talked to my long time friend and parts man at Pelican Parts without any conclusion.a A day later he sends me an e-mail saying in all his years of ordering and selling Porsche parts he has never sold the undersash part of the 996 steering system. So that gave me pause... What I'm going to do is order the lower portion that connects to the rack to be sure the internal female splines are good, if not I'll have to pay restocking fee, but at least I can be sure what's not the problem. I've had the steering rack rebuilt by a company in California that does nothing but steering racks and can exchange Porsche steering racks. I chose to have mine rebuilt... So the problem is not there.

Ya, I know you're right... Glad you haven't lost your sense of humor... I just didn't need this right now as I'm knee deep in finishing a 5 year restomod project...

The lower parts are already separated. I've got to figure out how to move the car away from the lift so we have access to the interior (that's one problem with a 2 post lift, you can't open the doors all the way), remove the driver's seat and have at it. I'll first be sure that the universal can't be bought separately if that's the problem, I don't know what's going on in the housing, but I can't believe it's any more than a shaft supported by bearings at either end. Also, I wonder if the lower universal could be modified to be used for the upper universal... Just to be sue, we slid the lower female spline end into the male at the upper joint, we removed the steering wheel and clamped vice grips on the steering wheel post, I held the vice grps from turning and Josh had play, and he held I turned. The play is completely loose, no bind or grind. I agree there's no connection between the gas tank and this problem. Thanks again, P.S. Not sure why this fun stuff happens to me, maybe the Porsche Gods are getting even with me for installing that 480 HP fire breathing V8...

JFP, Looking at the above pictured of the steering unit, it would seem that my attachment with No. 1 is the last spline/bolted part? From the No. 1 universal to the steering wheel spline it must be just a solid rod with support bearings. There's no play in the rack, no play in the rag and the lower universal . So unless I'm missing something it has to be the upper universal. If that's the case the under dash housing still has to come out. That's a lot of work if I've missed something. This isn't a wear problem, it's a broken problem because it just happen, and it happen concurrently after removing the gas tank.

First off I've spent hours trying to reply with attachments, this has always been easy without problems. Apple seems to have an upgrade every couple of weeks, fixings bugs and improving security. I wish they would just leave things be... The rack has not been installed because then you wouldn't have room to install the column rods. Unfortunately we thought the lower rod with the aluminum female spline and rag would be the culprit, but it's tight. The problem is going to be with the housing under the dash as you pictured above. Is that unit serviceable... Not sure why this has happen, I have 93,000 miles on the car and don't autocross or abuse the car. JFP, I cannot begin to find the words to thank you for your help and support. As a DIYer you isolate yourself from going to the dealer or an Indy if there was one here. Stay tuned, film at eleven...

I've had the rack rebuilt, but we already had figured out that you have to have the column rods in place with the install. However, your pronouncement that the rest of the steering comes out the bottom is news. At this point we weren't sure, so thanks for that.... No. 1 Could be a suspect, I say that as we have checked everything up to no. 2. I'll attach a pic of the shaft end of no.1 No. 2 We can hold the steering wheel to be sure there was no play in the steering wheel connection, we removed the steering wheel and turned No. 1 by re attaching the the female splined other half. No 3. The books book calls it adapter. But you can't fix it if you an't get at it... What bothers me is the play in the steering wheel is so obvious What bothers me is if the alignment is off a tad and that could produce the steering wheel play. This is the end of No. 1, from the top you can see the rubber bellows that I attached yesterday. No. 1 and 2 are a fine piece of work but there is a through bolt that pinces down on the male spline, I say that because that's how they handle the one off the steering rack That leaves us wih the adapter? How big/bad of a job is it to get that down.

Well I'm still at it, I won't give up. We have isolated the slop in the steering column too the second universal or the adapter, both will be suspects... Does anyone have any experience how to get these 2 parts out for inspection. The rubber boot covers everything I'd like to se

JFP... Good explanation, then much like the quiet setting on the exhaust, another Government reg.... I didn't have a code for the head lights, the code I have is ABS and PSM. I have not been able to erase either of those codes with a comom OSB reader or my Durametric program. You had said early on that I'd have to have the dealer reset the steering angle after removing the gas tank. I thought that maybe I can't remove the two codes until I have the steering angle set. I have a shop nearby that has all the Porsche data in his alignment system, but cannot do the steering angle. My plan was to take the car to the dealer and have the steering angle set, then let my local alignment shop finish the alignment. I just hate paying the dealer shop prices.

JFP in PA, I thought I would get support that the sensor had nothing to with the headlights... Then there's a motor inside the light housing that follows the input/output of the sensor. If that was the case the headlights would be jumping up and down as the road conditions change. I wonder how many owners with the Litronic headlights know of this feature.