Mike in CO

You are correct that the "give" (breakaway feature) is at the U-joints. But it appears that the circlip plays a key role as well. I believe it is used specifically because it will hold the shaft in place in normal usage, but will pop out of the slot under significant pressure, with the U-joints allowing the steering shaft and wheel to be pushed away. My problem is that it is releasing too easily.

The tube that the shaft goes through under the dash, and the bearings in it, are very rigidly clamped in place. By putting a solid spacer between the bearing and the steering wheel, I am essentially tying the shaft rigidly in place as well, thus eliminating the ability of the U-joints to allow the shaft to "give".

Anyway, I'm really hoping a new circlip does the trick. I'll post the results.

flash968

ah - fortuantely i haven't had to dig in there yet (reaching very fast now for wood to knock on) so i can't see the profile of the groove for the circlip - i guess i should stop banging on my wheel then

let us know how it works out

300guy

Mike, how did you solve this problem?

my 944 has the same problem...I can see that something looks broken at the firewall.

thanks!

Mike in CO

If something is broken at the firewall, then you are probably experiencing a different problem. Nothing is broken at my firewall.

The new circlip didn't solve the problem. I haven't fixed this problem yet, but the experts at pca.org advised that they have seen my problem before, and the only solution is a new steering shaft, which is over $300 from Sunset!