hhr intermediate steering shaft warning
 

So 1 week ago I was making a right turn and out of nowhere my steering started clicking/clunking/scratching noise when I turned the wheel. I tracked the problem down to the intermediate steering shaft. I called my dealer about the problem and since I was off warranty it was going to be $468 for the part and another $300 to install. I went online and found genuine GM part for $136. I decided to call the scrap yard to see what I could find and I got a used shaft for $50. I took the used part off the scrap car and it was in perfect condition.

So now to the warning:
I went to my car did all the usual preparations involved in removing the steering shaft. I undid the 2 bolts and when it came time to collapse the shaft to remove it from the car it wouldn't collapse. I used a rubber mallet to try to try to losen it..no go..
I had to take a 600lb ratchet strap and compress it with the strap and even then it was a heck of a time to get it to collapse just enough to remove. I replaced the shaft with the new one and even though I had everything lined up and the steering wheel secured so it wouldn't move I still had to adjust the wheel so it was straight. . But it doesn't make noise anymore..

Out of curiosity when I got the shaft removed from the car I use a regular hammer to hit the shaft to see if I could get it to collapse...I had to hit it will ALL my power to get it to collapse. Then after I finally got it all the way down it seemed to losen up and function properly.

The warning comes because in an accident that shaft is supposed to collapse so you don't suffer major internal Injuries should you come into contact with it...

So my advice is when you do your oil change get under your dash and remove the shaft from the steering column side and give the little shock a few pumps to make sure its in working order...no need to remove it from under the car..

Just curious... What year is your HHR and how many miles on it?

Silverfox

It's 2007 with 190,000 km. I can understand the u joint wearing out nut the shaft seizing is not acceptable. .

Recall??????

GM recalls 1.5M vehicles for power steering defect | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

No recall the seized shaft is a problem across a variety of GM products. I replaced mine last July
Instead of paying the dealers high price , I got mine from a GM dealer on EBay $168.00
To get the shaft out I marked the cut in the yoke to the splined shaft, loosened up the steering column to make room to slide the yoke off.

been hitting my 07 120k cobalts with grease/pb/whatever the hell I have around for the last several months once a week since it seized for the first time. It usuallys goes for like 2 weeks, then starts to bind again. Spray it, and its good for another couple weeks. Just picked up new replacement for a cobalt forum member for $40 after he sold his car! Just need time to get it in.

Great information!

A big thank you to everybody!

obviously the road salt has a lot to do with the issue

No the slider is under the dash not out under the car in the salt spray! I slide my new one open and slathered on some white lithium grease, so far a year later no rattle or seizing, I just lubed it on Thursday

Just wondering can you get some pics of it and we're you open it .. Mine rattle a little bit too .. Can you use hi temp grease?

You don't open it you slide it as far apart as it allows the grease it and slowly slide it closed, work it back and forth three or four times
Wipe off the extra grease and reinstall, if it is nt seized you can do this under the dash
Be sure to clearly mark the splined shaft to time the yoke correctly to realign your steering wheel.

Thanks Oldblue I wasn't aware of that.

You are welcome!

Just got my 2007 back from the dealer. The problem was the steering wheel not returning on it's own. Intermediate shaft replaced. We won't talk price!! I saw the old part. Inside the car the u-joint was as new. Under the car the other joint was heavily rusted. The joint was very hard to move at all. The kicker is there is no provision to grease the u-joint. Sounds like bad design up here in rust land.

You could drill a hole in the slider and tap that hole and install a grease zerk.
However there could be repercussions modifying a steering part!!

I just do the slide trick!

I have added grease fitting to lots of things over the years but I don't think drilling the steering shaft would be a good idea.

It could make a weak point.

X2 to Lucky's advice.

The intermediate shaft and its U-Joint yokes are made from a specially hardened steel alloy, drilling and tapping for a Zerk™ fitting could create stress cracks on a microscopic scale which could over time become a ticking time bomb.

In the event of a failure in the EPS Assist Motor, the intermediate shaft can see stress loading at the U-Joints exceeding 2 tons. A bad power steering motor not only creates extra stress when it fails, but the steering rack is designed for an assisted application.

Although you can steer without steering assistance in the event of a failure, the multiplication ratios between the rack and pinion are all wrong for use without power steering.

In the not too distant past when power steering was optional, the manufacturers used different racks or steering boxes depending on whether you coughed up the dough for power steering.

If you had a "Stripper" without P/S and you replaced the rack or steering box with the wrong one, you found out very quickly that you could barely steer the car.

And yes I know, how could anybody screw up and put the wrong rack or steering box in a car, after all there are the rather obvious visual differences. But I worked as a tire buster/flat rate tech at a Firestone Tire Store/Service Center while putting myself through college and law school, and I had to undo a co-worker's "wrong rack/wrong box" mistakes more than once.