My 2000 LeSabre has a tilt wheel and yesterday the lock or latch that holds the wheel in position quit working. Now the wheel stays in the upper most position, which aint nice to drive. Before I start ripping things apart, I need to know if this is an easy repair and what to look for. I am a mechanic/machinist by trade, so I am not afraid to try the repair, I just don't want to get in there and not be able to repair it. Anyone help??? or should I take it to the garage for repair.
Thanks JJK64

 

There are some special tools you should have to compress the spring in the steering column. This will make the job a lot easier when disassembling the column. Everybody is different when it comes to mechanical work. You probably can do it as long as you don't need the car right away if you should need some special parts.
The ideal thing would be to get a steering column from a salvage yard and tackle that one first.

 

Thanks Hanky for the reply. I was gonna take it to a mechanic for repair as I didnt want to get in there and screw something up, then have to get the car towed..!!! I did a search in google and came up with an anwser that worked for me, as I had nothing to lose. A couple of people had the same problem on different Buick models...the answer was, have someone hold the tilt wheel latch in open position, then take both hands and pull down on the steering wheel as hard as you can and it should release... BINGO, I did that and the thing released is working fine again. Another tip, was don't let the wheel release without holding on to it as this is what causes the problem.

 

Thank you for the info. Never came across that problem or solution before. Glad you didn't have to get involved in that steering column.

 

Yeah, I hear that, wasn't looking forward to the repair $$$$ either.

 

If you're not familiar with todays steering columns the amount of info needed is considerably more than in the past. Because we do some of these jobs often we take for granted that there are air bag concerns , Ign lock concerns etc.,and we forget to remind some folks of these concerns. Good thing you googled the problem and rec'd the simple solution.