Steering wheel tilted. How do I adjust?

Hi,
I had my VX aligned a couple months ago after replacing the torsion bars. Right after I left I noticed that my steering wheel is turned about 10 degrees to the right when going straight. I called the shop and they said bring it back. I just didn't have time, and still don't. Their hours and my work hours just don't match up.

So, how can I fix the wheel? I've done it on older cars without airbag by just removing the nut and pulling the wheel off the shaft and re-centering it a couple splines over... but I'm afraid to do so on an airbag vehicle.

Granted... It's just an annoyance, and not affecting drive ability.

Thoughts...? (other than "take it back to the shop") :)
Thanks!
---JIM---

I've heard that it's best to have the situation corrected with another alignment because of the alignment of the clock-spring in the steering wheel, but I've taken airbag equipped steering wheels off before to correct for such mis-alignments. The only difference to consider with SRS equipped vehicles is determining the procedure for de-energizing the airbag circuit before unplugging it so the possibility of it activating is decreased/eliminated.

The associated procedure for a VX can be found in the downloadable manual by running a search for "Inflator Module".

You should take it back to them. Its just a toe adjustment, a good tech should be able to do it in under 20min. A reputable shop will not charge you if the alignment was recently done too.

I know you dont want to but i think it would be foolish not to. Why mess with the airbag clock spring etc when its a simple and free fix. Its going to take much longer to do that.

If you adjust your steering wheel your steering geometry will be skewed

X2...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by etlsport

You should take it back to them. Its just a toe adjustment, a good tech should be able to do it in under 20min. A reputable shop will not charge you if the alignment was recently done too.

I know you dont want to but i think it would be foolish not to. Why mess with the airbag clock spring etc when its a simple and free fix. Its going to take much longer to do that.

If you adjust your steering wheel your steering geometry will be skewed

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....fool with the steering wheel now and the Domino effect will ensue IMO.

Jo

I'm also kinda weary about the shop saying... "no, I don't remember saying that you could come back. I'm gonna have to charge you for another alignment."

if you unhook the battery the evening before you plan to do the work, the bag charge will be gone. We just unhook 'em, the night before, at work

The time it's going to take you to do this correctly will be much much longer than the time it will take you to drive to that shop if it's withjin a mile one direction.

Go for the alignment. The splines in the steering wheel are fairly large and may cause the steering wheel to be off centered in the other direction. :_brickwal

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VXorado

Go for the alignment. The splines in the steering wheel are fairly large and may cause the steering wheel to be off centered in the other direction. :_brickwal

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That makes sense
I think I'll live with it for a while then realign in a year or so. I don't want to take off from work for this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VXorado

Go for the alignment. The splines in the steering wheel are fairly large and may cause the steering wheel to be off centered in the other direction. :_brickwal

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And unless you already have a puller that will work, you will need to pick one up at your local purveyor of all parts auto.

Here's the LONG version of one of my mis-adventures...http://www.vehicross.info/forums/sho...0&postcount=36

Hope you at least get a giggle if you read it.

And some more steering wheel related discussions/instructions...

http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=19504

http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=19251

BTW...When I first read the title of this thread, I thought Alzheimers had you in it's icy grasp, & you couldn't figure out the tilt function...:_thinking