smoke from steering column on '93 GP

I have seen and smelled smoke coming from the steering column (tilt wheel) on a '93 Pontiac Gran Prix. It hasn't blown any fuses. The car is otherwise very clean (grandma's car) and I have never heard of any issues with the column on these cars and was wondering if anyone else had. TIA

Reply to
James Goforth
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I had it happen with both of my Grand Prix's (1991 and 1992). It's the blinker mechanism or whatever it's called (sorry, I don't recall the name of the part) inside the steering column. It's the thing that makes the blinker 'click' off when you turn the steering wheel. I didn't replace either on my cars, as at the time, they were well over $300 (Canadian). That, and it didn't happen too often. I had an uncle look at it (GM dealership mechanic) and he said not to worry about it, as it was (at least, at the time) a known issue with these cars, and most didn't bother with it.

Reply to
80 Knight

Thanks, Knight. Your explanation sounds plausible. IIRC the part you refer to is the cancelling cam.

One thing, though -- on both occasions when it smoked, the vehicle was just going straight down the highway with the cruise on -- not making or coming out of a turn.

So I'm wondering if yours _only_ did it during turns, or if the cancelling cam can cause that smoke even when it's not performing its function. TIA

Reply to
James Goforth

I had a '91 Regal (same car in reality) and twice the steering column smoked. Scary at first, I was ready to bail out and let it burn, but the smoke stopped. The canceling cam did not work properly for a while, but after the second time it smoked, it started to work again and was not a problem for 50,000 miles afterwards.

In my case, it happened going straight but one of the time I may have had the turn signal on. I never knew, until now, that it was a common problem.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Never happened with the signals on. It always happened while I was driving straight down the road.

Reply to
80 Knight

Hehe funny, I thought I was the only one who'd seen this. My 94 Lumina did it too a couple of times, usually right after I started the car for the day and hadn't even moved yet. Only happened like 1-2 times. I just shut the car off when I saw the smoke and let it stop, waited a minute or so, turned the car back on, no more smoke. Never had a problem with the cancel cam, either.

-GV

Reply to
GlassVial

"James Goforth" wrote

Common problem in those years. It has nothing to do with the "cancelling" cam. The problem is in the signal light switch assembly. A couple of contact points get a bit hot, they have grease on them....you get smoke. I've replaced dozens of signal light switch assemblies in order to fix the problem.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_kai

Seems to be a common situation, especially with Crapillacs like mine. Happened a couple of time to me, ignored it, went away.

Reply to
NickySantoro

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