My 95 vanden plas steering wheel no longer tilts or telescopes. my grandma, (the origional owner of the car.) said that she heard grinding right before the tilt went out. im thinging its a gear problem. any thoughts? How hard do you guys think it would be to fix? thanks

 

tilt motor grinding perhaps? if so it's a matter of replacing the tilt motor.
not that terrible.

if its a problem with the tilt gear mechanism itself,
that might be a little more involved.

sourcing the parts would be interesting

I'd pull the panels off and investigate

 

the motor sounds when on automatic and you take the keys out. which makes me think its in the gear.

 

or possibly the cable?

 

steering wheel motor reach cable is also a known fault

 

If it is that how hard would that be to replace? You have to disable the airbag to get under there dont you?

 

another thing i just noticed is the the motor only makes a running noise when i push the little wheel thing torwards or away for the seat not up or down.... if that helps in diagnosing it at. thanks

 

if the reach is a known fault how about the tilt function? when i first got the car, it didn't work at all, then i applied a little pressure downwards on the wheel while pushing the tilt *** down and it worked great for about a week or so. hasn't worked since. not a huge issue, but if its just a cable that'd be good news. i can hear the motor trying to work...

 

Unfortunately, we don't have a picture of the piece, but here's a link to it:

http://www.motorcarsltd.com/JLM12187.SHAFT.html

 

can anyone confirm if i have to take the air bag out and such? It says so in my repair manual but i have been told otherwise (which makes sense due to placement). Also how can i be sure weither it is the motor or cable? im wondering why the motor would sound as if it were working when you were trying the telescope function but not the tilt? Thanks