OK, Ill try disconnecting the airbag. If you dont hear from me again, youll know why.
Did all of you need a puller to get the wheel off? I will have to track one down if its needed.

 

you'll need a puller, I rented one from a local kragen (cskauto.com for your local store) for $6/day (have one before you start, GM's is different, their ~$60 tool kit is the one)

 

This is from another post...

Disconnect Airbag Fuse in Passenger side fuse block. It’s the Red 10A.

Cajun / Al

 

I hope it goes well from you Uncle Dannie...take pics!

 

Just got my parts in from fleabay. Paid $25 for them. used pin out from post 478. worked perfectly. had alittle trouble because the pins were a little corroded. I guess after sitting in the guys garage for awhile. oh well after a little cleaning and some dielectric grease and good to go. best mod ever!!!

 

Well, finally got my leather steering wheel in from Gilroy, CA (via Ohio - mis-placed shipment for two weeks). Took off old one. didn't even need a wheel puller, just wiggled the old one off. Had a Nylon Locknut, sorta neat. I immediately ran into huge problems. I mis-read how to remove the airbag assembly. I tried to remove from it from behind the steering wheel, rather than from the back of the airbag. None of you gave really clear instructions on how to unclip and unpinch the connectors from the airbag (I know, if you look closely, it will appear eventually, although seeing the hidden picture in a STEREOGRAPHS was faster). Getting the d**n wiring block out of the holder was a real PITA! And I mean that!!

While struggling, a plastic clip flew off, and a ribbon wire that was wrapped around the steering stalk unraveled. All in all, it took me well over 1 hour to do the job everyone else did in 10-15 minutes. After doing it, it was so easy to see how it came apart and went back together, Ray Charles could plainly see how to do it.

I originally took out the #13 fuse (airbag) and after completing the installation, I turned on the engine, then radio, and all buttons worked! Hurray! I'm typing this before I go out and install the #13 fuse and test drive the car (make sure cruise works). I'm taking my pistol with me in case the airbag deploys or I turn left and the car goes right, or the cruise control sticks on 100 mph and I can't stop. In that case I use the pistol (yep, I'll put the ol' girl out of her misery).

If everything goes well, and the car lives, I'll add an addendum to this post.

 

rotfl

 

Well, things didn't go good. My car is very lucky, I was so mad at it, I pulled out my pistal to put an end to our misery, but the dang gun misfired. Bummer!

While test driving it, I left the fuse out. I got an airbag warning that the airbag needed service. As I turned the steering wheel, I could clicking noise, like a piece of plastic was not seated right. The I spied a blue piece of plastic on the passenger-side fkloorboard, it was a retainer to keep the harness together. I took the car up to speed (for me that's about 70 mph), hit the Cruise Control - nothing, nada, nix, nien. On the plus side, the left hand switch that cycles through options worked, as did the reset button below it. All the music buttons worked, including channel up/down, nolume up/down and the mute/OnStar button.

Now, what happened to the cruise? Possible that it was broken in the accident (it's from a dismantle shop) although it clicks down and stays down until you click it again, then it releases. I'm going to have to pull everything apart again to put the blue retainer on, and check about the plastic scraping noise, maybe I pinched the cruise wire? This may be a very bad day for me.

However, I'm going out and have a talk with the old girl, show her the gun, test fire it and explain what may happen if she doesn't start to cooperate.

 

Wow, an update. Went out, showed her the gun, took off the airbag and pulled the wheel (less than 3 minutes). The blue clip didn't work, because it was slotted for the Cruise Control wires only, nothing for the Audio buttons. Anyway, I fiddled with the connectors, thinking I had a loose wire and that was why the cruse button didn't work. Put everything back together, now nothing works. Did I blow a fuse? If so, where is it?

 

Wow, sorry to hear you are having problems. If you need any pics of how its supposed to look, I have a few.
It sounds like the blue plastic piece is the retainer from the main plug going into the steering column. Is there one installed there now? It seems to hold all the wires in, so if thats missing it may be causing problems.