DIY: Replace dreaded steering-lock on 2009s and early 2010s.

rangercarol · 01-25-2013, 12:12 PM

Our early 2011 has exhibited no signs of a problem, but better safe than sorry. Especially, since it is my wife's car and she is often far from home.
I followed your procedure to remove the fuse and found that there was no effect on the car other than there is no steering lock.
There was a little more to getting to the fuse than I anticipated, but I got it out without hurting myself or the car.
Thanks for the information...

Thanks,

rangercarol

Baer383 · 01-25-2013, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rangercarol

Our early 2011 has exhibited no signs of a problem, but better safe than sorry. Especially, since it is my wife's car and she is often far from home.
I followed your procedure to remove the fuse and found that there was no effect on the car other than there is no steering lock.
There was a little more to getting to the fuse than I anticipated, but I got it out without hurting myself or the car.
Thanks for the information...

Thanks,

rangercarol

Your welcome

Hope you have a good weekend!!!!!

kenchan · 01-25-2013, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg928s

I also noted that there was curiosity as to if the cold had something to do with this issue. yesterday was the coldest day thus far since i bought the car at 7 degrees. Depending on what nissan's diagnoses we could conclude cold as a factor

it seems battery cca might have something to do with it. ive noticed there seems to be some relation to weaker batteries....even for the GTR guys.

SouthArk370Z · 01-25-2013, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg928s

I also noted that there was curiosity as to if the cold had something to do with this issue. yesterday was the coldest day thus far since i bought the car at 7 degrees. Depending on what nissan's diagnoses we could conclude cold as a factor

The GT-R recall lists excess grease as the reason for failure. Grease gets thicker when it gets colder. Cold probably makes things worse, but, with all the failures that happen in warmer weather, is not likely the root cause.

bfowlzr33 · 01-25-2013, 01:38 PM

ughh

i get the heebie jeebies every time i see this thread.. CUT THE BROWN WIRE! AGHHHH!

akmofo · 01-25-2013, 03:57 PM

I'm pretty sure I read this whole thread, and no one has mentioned this yet..

say you take the whole thing apart, like Korrupt did here:

DIY: Replace dreaded steering-lock on 2009s and early 2010s.

Couldn't you just manually rotate the gear into the correct position (depressing the two buttons), then either cut the brown wire, pull the fuse, or possibly cut the motor power on the circuit board itself? (I haven't opened mine yet, going to do it tomorrow).

When the gear is in the position where the two switches are pushed in, is the mechanical lock pushed out and into the steering column? The pictures are hard to tell how the locking mechanism works, but he does say in the last picture "This piece has to be taped down or removed so that you can turn the wheel".

I know Fritz has mentioned he has some detailed instructions, but haven't gotten a response from him yet.

SouthArk370Z · 01-25-2013, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akmofo

Couldn't you just manually rotate the gear into the correct position (depressing the two buttons), then either cut the brown wire, pull the fuse, or possibly cut the motor power on the circuit board itself? (I haven't opened mine yet, going to do it tomorrow).

If the switches are still working, that should do the trick. If grease has gotten between the contacts, it sounds like you have the ability to cut traces and/or solder jumpers to get the proper open/close status. The proper positions are in one of the multitude of SLU posts (Links to posts about Steering Wheel Lock may help locate it, maybe not) or, IIRC, the FSM.

Quote:

Originally Posted by akmofo

When the gear is in the position where the two switches are pushed in, is the mechanical lock pushed out and into the steering column? The pictures are hard to tell how the locking mechanism works, but he does say in the last picture "This piece has to be taped down or removed so that you can turn the wheel".

I've never taken one apart, but going by what I've seen and read, the "lock pin" makes the switches when it retracts fully.

Good luck. Take pics and post a DIY when you figure it out.

akmofo · 01-25-2013, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SouthArk370Z

If the switches are still working, that should do the trick. If grease has gotten between the contacts, it sounds like you have the ability to cut traces and/or solder jumpers to get the proper open/close status. The proper positions are in one of the multitude of SLU posts (Links to posts about Steering Wheel Lock may help locate it, maybe not) or, IIRC, the FSM.

I've never taken one apart, but going by what I've seen and read, the "lock pin" makes the switches when it retracts fully.

Good luck. Take pics and post a DIY when you figure it out.

Thanks,

It's sad I'm somewhat excited to rip this thing apart, out of spite to Nissan and their $1000 quote to fix it. Would probably be more excited not to have to do it at all.

Will be taking some hi-res photos with my SLR.

SouthArk370Z · 01-25-2013, 04:29 PM

It may not be the pin that makes the switches, it may be the plastic ring that the motor turns. It's been so long since I read those posts that I can't remember for sure. If you haven't done so already, download the FSM (any of the 2009-2011 should have the same info) LINK. LOTS of good info in there. If you have problems finding the info you need, let me know and I will see what I can do.

akmofo · 01-25-2013, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SouthArk370Z

It may not be the pin that makes the switches, it may be the plastic ring that the motor turns. It's been so long since I read those posts that I can't remember for sure. If you haven't done so already, download the FSM (any of the 2009-2011 should have the same info) LINK. LOTS of good info in there. If you have problems finding the info you need, let me know and I will see what I can do.

Yeah, looking at it, I was thinking the interior section of the gear ring is what hits them.

bfowlzr33 · 01-25-2013, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akmofo

I'm pretty sure I read this whole thread, and no one has mentioned this yet..

say you take the whole thing apart, like Korrupt did here:

DIY: Replace dreaded steering-lock on 2009s and early 2010s.

Couldn't you just manually rotate the gear into the correct position (depressing the two buttons), then either cut the brown wire, pull the fuse, or possibly cut the motor power on the circuit board itself? (I haven't opened mine yet, going to do it tomorrow).

When the gear is in the position where the two switches are pushed in, is the mechanical lock pushed out and into the steering column? The pictures are hard to tell how the locking mechanism works, but he does say in the last picture "This piece has to be taped down or removed so that you can turn the wheel".

I know Fritz has mentioned he has some detailed instructions, but haven't gotten a response from him yet.

wtf! how come ive never seen this! +1 to you sir

akmofo · 01-26-2013, 12:20 PM

I haven't gotten to test this yet with my car as it's at the dealer, but pulled the thing apart today (which was a pain in the ***, and I kind of mangled it)

Here are the pics of the internals.

Also, made a video showing how the gear works, buttons get hit, and how to unlock the gear if it's locked in the outer position:

Nissan Steering Lock internals, and Unlocking from Locked Position - YouTube

Also, here are the high-res versions of the pictures. The forum only lets me do up to 600k.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1027199...eat=directlink

Background: the car is at the dealer, the dealer wanted $1000 to fix it, so I went there last night and pulled the part out and brought it home. What's weird is that when I pulled it out, it was already in the unlocked position, and I think the switches were being hit. but maybe not all the way in. Regardless, the temporary plan is to just leave the board/motor assembly out of the steering lock all together. The gear is in the unlocked position, and I'll put the board/motor assembly into something else so I can get the car home.

I will say that when I opened it up, you can see in the pictures that the switches were totally covered in grease.

I use a circuit tester, and tested the switches from the bottom of the board. (See the last picture of the bottom of the board). Going from left to right, and connectors 1-6.

When the switch is all the way out, 1, 3, 4, 6 are all connected.

When the switch is depressed (there's only in, no half-way as theorized by Fritz in other post).
1 and 6 get disconnected and 2,3,4,5 are all connected.

This leads me to believe that ripping the switches off the board completely wouldn't work. Also, I don't think if you were to solder 2,3,4,5 together it would work either, because 1 and 6 would still be connected.

SouthArk370Z · 01-26-2013, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akmofo

I haven't gotten to test this yet with my car as it's at the dealer, but pulled the thing apart today (which was a pain in the ***, and I kind of mangled it)...

Fantastic job! Repped.

Now if we could just find someone to reverse-engineer the electronics, a plugin module to fake out the BCM could be built. Maybe someone could build/sell them a lot cheaper than the ~$700 Nissan wants.

Baer383 · 01-26-2013, 03:03 PM

Your efforts are commendable but this has already been tried with no success the electrical parts are to fragile to be taken apart screwed around with and put back to together then expected to work.

akmofo · 01-26-2013, 04:43 PM

I just took it to the dealer, plugged in only the board w/ the motor removed (didn't put the rest of the steering wheel lock in at all). Pushed the two buttons while I hit the start button and it started no problem. There doesn't seem to be any negative impact of just hitting the two buttons, starting the car, then releasing them.

Since this is working, I think now that I have it home I will probably put the board back in the steering lock, without the motor, and will make sure the gear is fully extended pushing the buttons in.

If it's this easy, I don't really see any more reason to mess around with soldering the buttons or anything. If I get Nissan to cover the part replacement, I might try screwing around with it then.

01-25-2013, 12:12 PM	#586 (permalink)
rangercarol Base Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: McCormick, SC Age: 84 Posts: 56 Drives: 2011 370z Cherry 6m Rep Power: 3370	Steering Lock Our early 2011 has exhibited no signs of a problem, but better safe than sorry. Especially, since it is my wife's car and she is often far from home. I followed your procedure to remove the fuse and found that there was no effect on the car other than there is no steering lock. There was a little more to getting to the fuse than I anticipated, but I got it out without hurting myself or the car. Thanks for the information... Thanks, rangercarol

01-25-2013, 01:38 PM	#590 (permalink)
bfowlzr33 Base Member Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: North Carolina Age: 34 Posts: 150 Drives: 09 Nissan 370Z SR M6 Rep Power: 13	ughh i get the heebie jeebies every time i see this thread.. CUT THE BROWN WIRE! AGHHHH! __________________ 07 TITAN CC OFFROAD PKG 06 Mustang GT 5MT 01 Audi TT ABT 6MT

01-25-2013, 04:29 PM	#594 (permalink)
SouthArk370Z Premium Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: South Arkansas Posts: 8,435 Drives: 2014 Challenger Rep Power: 324198	It may not be the pin that makes the switches, it may be the plastic ring that the motor turns. It's been so long since I read those posts that I can't remember for sure. If you haven't done so already, download the FSM (any of the 2009-2011 should have the same info) LINK. LOTS of good info in there. If you have problems finding the info you need, let me know and I will see what I can do. __________________ Steering Lock Links - Search The370Z Bookmarklet - FSM @ NICOclub Mankind has progressed past the need for war but we haven't evolved that far. - NachoMahma

01-26-2013, 03:03 PM	#599 (permalink)
Baer383 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Lawrenceville,Ga Posts: 4,293 Drives: My foot up your azz Rep Power: 30	Your efforts are commendable but this has already been tried with no success the electrical parts are to fragile to be taken apart screwed around with and put back to together then expected to work. __________________ 2013 ZL1 754 rwhp 747 rwtq

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01-25-2013, 03:57 PM	#591 (permalink)
akmofo Base Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Nevada Posts: 22 Drives: 370z Rep Power: 12	I'm pretty sure I read this whole thread, and no one has mentioned this yet.. say you take the whole thing apart, like Korrupt did here: DIY: Replace dreaded steering-lock on 2009s and early 2010s. Couldn't you just manually rotate the gear into the correct position (depressing the two buttons), then either cut the brown wire, pull the fuse, or possibly cut the motor power on the circuit board itself? (I haven't opened mine yet, going to do it tomorrow). When the gear is in the position where the two switches are pushed in, is the mechanical lock pushed out and into the steering column? The pictures are hard to tell how the locking mechanism works, but he does say in the last picture "This piece has to be taped down or removed so that you can turn the wheel". I know Fritz has mentioned he has some detailed instructions, but haven't gotten a response from him yet.

01-26-2013, 04:43 PM	#600 (permalink)
akmofo Base Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Nevada Posts: 22 Drives: 370z Rep Power: 12	I just took it to the dealer, plugged in only the board w/ the motor removed (didn't put the rest of the steering wheel lock in at all). Pushed the two buttons while I hit the start button and it started no problem. There doesn't seem to be any negative impact of just hitting the two buttons, starting the car, then releasing them. Since this is working, I think now that I have it home I will probably put the board back in the steering lock, without the motor, and will make sure the gear is fully extended pushing the buttons in. If it's this easy, I don't really see any more reason to mess around with soldering the buttons or anything. If I get Nissan to cover the part replacement, I might try screwing around with it then.