Steering lock repair
 

Eureka! DIY on the old lock can be done! It's not simple but not too electronic, so OK for mechanically competent folk. I've just started my car, dying since Jan 6 (2012!). Not dead yet.

I'll try a write up soon enough after tidying up the mess and having a few joy-rides. I missed the super car.....and now......stuff Nissan's non-cooperation attitudes from new.

Any-one competent and in urgent need can send me an e-mail quoting his name, phone no and car chassis number and the number, date, or photo, of the lock plate.
Also the part number written on the VVEL relay and where it was made plus the code underneath the country...just to help me.

(Still fighting Nissan re the relay... so what did they send on the USA cars?)
(Having broken through the clever "anti-tampering" of the "security lock"
I'm a bit doubtful of telling the world how to anti-tamper!)

When registering lock failures it seems important to know the date of the lock, and the manufactured date of the car.

(The lock circuit board on my 2010 (per contract) car was dated 17/4/2007 and the lock 14/2/2009 and the gas pedal Oct 2008). Bleating Pom!


Fritz

hey so you physically opened up the broken lock and fixed it? :) we're VERY interested if you did that.

Yes, job done and AOK. The lock may now look 2nd hand 'cos it was "break and enter proof".
But it's now had more love than when new, so should stay OK, or as long as the board electronics last.

The locks are seemingly USA born and tightly contracted to Nissan!
Apparently made by Automotive Parts Manufacturing, TN 37743 and MI 48335 and WI 53224.

These are a part of the Huf Hulsbeck group in Germany.

A new lock here is USD 1900 odd, plus fitting. Warranty is chancy but only if the car is trucked 20 miles and stored for a few weeks. Not worth that risk.


Fritz

Yes please more info.

Good job figuring it out! I'm interested in knowing the procedure, but I think you're right about not posting it openly.

I'm down for a pm on the how to.

Sign me up for a PM'd how-to. Or at least a photo of the unit opened up.

me too as well...

Ditto.

me too please. :tup:

post it and let's get it stickied :tup:

Why the hell would you say your right in not posting it ,it's not like he is doing any thing illegal all info on this site and all sites are AT YOUR OWN RISK so post it up don't sit on information only to respond to 500 pm's and have to answer all of them just right it up and pics are good if you have them.:tup:

He means don't make it easier to steal the car by openly telling all how to get past the anti-theft steering lock.

These car are extremely hard to steal and like I said everything posted here is AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Post it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree, post it up. My PM from Fritz was that he wrote it all out in a long PM to me and it didn't go through....

Comprehensive insurance goes up $300 a month after this is posted:icon17:

This.

You're asking him to post up info on how to bypass one of the biggest reasons these cars are hard to steal.

Hummmmm...in that case I better delete my DIY... :icon17:

The steering lock is more for safety. Like when you parallel park on a hill with tire pointed to the curb. :) it can work as theft deterrent if the front tires are turned and shut off while facing a wall.

Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuup

Yep, removal is a snap as shown in the DIY - just tedious with the security screws. Showing the unit disassembly procedure has absolutely no effect on the security aspect.

Exactly what you guys have already said. If there is a fix, please show it and save forum members hundreds of dollars since Nissan isn't doing crap for us about it (so far). There really is no reason not to.

Did anyone that paid to have their lock unit replaced ask for the old part back?

Definitely DO post the disassembly and fix. The benefits will far outweigh any potential risks. Frankly if my car was stolen, I would end up with a new one and my steering lock problem would be fixed. Pretty sure that car thieves don't worry too much about steering locks. And all the anti-theft **** in the world won't stop someone from towing your car away.

So, on with the DIY!

:icon18: indeed! :D

post up the DIY pls. :)

Happy to post: but quoting me
"Any-one competent and in urgent need can send me an e-mail quoting his name, phone no and car chassis number and the number, date, or photo, of the lock plate.
Also the part number written on the VVEL relay and where it was made plus the code underneath the country...just to help me".

Don't know where the relay is? I can help in that. It takes a couple of minutes to get there.

If I get a couple of "helps" I'll post. Blackmail, eh?

OK, delete the personal stuff, but a photo of the lock plate and of the VVEL
relay or their details [and the chassis number(s)] are also my urgent needs!
:stirthepot:
C'mon...help please.

Anyhow I'll immediately post a couple of photos lock dismantled and finished if some-one directs me where to go (!) ...on this site, for the instructions to post a photo.

The DIY text ? Traded for information which may, ultimately, help this site too. I am not giving a DIY on how to sidestep the lock so I actually feel free to post: only showing how to dismantle it and, almost certainly, fix the known (seemingly obvious now!) problem.
Just disconnecting the lock is not practicable....yet.

The DIY is a 120 lines long, but thorough, if tedious, read.

Kenchan.......I'm really indebted to you for solving the problem of pushing the car out of a tight spot with no steering and "thief-proof" bolts to overcome.

Awaiting instructions on how to post a photo or two,

Fritz

hmmm? :confused:

Perhaps you can explain why you need all of these bits of car-specific information. People typically aren't excited to send strangers all kinds of details when they've been given little to no information in advance.

As for posting the DIY, this is not an ultimatum DIY forum. I and many others have posted innumerable DIY threads that have assisted this community through various issues. Never have I asked people to give me something before I'd share the information. However, this is a generous community and I'm sure people would be happy to assist you with your side project if you were generous with posting the DIY to fix this issue.

You'd give the info to any parts shop, a dealer or a supermarket. At least some folk on here understand my doubts, now increased some.

I wish to know where my information, of possible use to criminals, goes.
We're all identifiable here to those who take the trouble and I've had too much of "crime" without wishing to help it.

The same or similar know-how is strongly protected by tuners or the like to "appointed professional firms" to whom you'd have to give a lot of info.

That's it: a shame, actually. I tried.

fritz if you're not comfortable posting, there is no need to. but since you posted in the DIY section all of us assumed you had a solution you were willing to share with us. while most were fixed under warranty, some folks have spent over a thousand dollars fixing this stupid stupid problem (towing, waiting on parts, excessive prices given by dealers, labor to install, rental car, etc).

while i bought a spare for insurance, i wanted to see wat to expect when i do actually open one up when (i say when, not if) one of them fails. that's all.

It's not a one-way street:
At least 3 DIYs, came from me, including one on how Nissan diagnostics" Consult III" makes errors ---expensive to you or, even, to Nissan warranties dept. The DIYs were maybe drowned amidst posters racking up points.

I'm not about to be implicated or blamed in the crazy USA (and now UK!) lawyer rackets. Therefore I show "social responsibility" to those nutters who'll blame me for accidents, car thefts, or injured fingers by saying it's quite a bit above a "DIY" classification.....and it is.

An e-mail to our mutual addresses gets the job done to those who need it. It also gets my own ID.
.....but an e-mail is private mail and, note, never for quoting.

The real surprise is the reluctance of folk to give out the "safety related" information which they probably gave elsewhere, even on this site (like chassis numbers), or to spend 5 minutes photographing a VVEL relay...which I asked for before. Mutual aid.

CAUTION: If you are keeping a "good spare" the temptation may be over-powering to touch the one external screw.
If turned the slightest amount the lock goes into permanently "locked" mode...."for your safety" ...naturellement.... ... and your money:- lots. (1,900USD in Europe).
Pressing an extended lock against the spring may do the same thing.
If allowed to "free fall" this "safety gadget" would possibly bend or break.....so test the lock anyhow before keeping it "as spare".

Let it hang on the car and watch its action...or inaction. ... or engine start inaction.

Notes: The manufacturer who supplies Nissan is German....who gets them made in.....the USA (!) Component parts are "bought out"...and I think, from documents, they're maybe not as the supplier intended them to be used by the lock manufacturer or Nissan. (Pigeons and a cat come to mind!)
Nissan's own QC is apparently zero: P'raps it is "streng verboten" for them to see inside it......and if they did ....they'd maybe "be unhappy" (I would be).....and there is also one "magic" component in there that I can only fathom is apparently for "sucker inspectors", as it seems to do "nothing else".

Fritz

fritz- DIY's basically have a default disclaimer... do at your own risk. you can even type it out.

That's some very interesting information Fritz! Lot's for me to think about.

Ken everything on the net is "Do it at your own risk" there is nobody at my house helping me do stuff so "I'm at risk"if people don't know this already then there are alot more stupid people in the world than I thought.:shakes head:

yep. remember back in school 80-90% of classmates were idiots? well, those are now out and about as adults.... :eekdance: very scary thought. :icon17:

:iagree::roflpuke2:

Fritz, so far everything you've claimed amounts to nothing more than a load of crap.

I'm going to start telling people I can turn water into oil...just send me your social security, credit card, and bank account numbers, and I'll post the DIY.

Spearfish- very bottom of my diy I copy pasted a member's findings and how he fixed his lock.

Spearfish, exuding charm, wrote:
Fritz, so far everything you've claimed amounts to nothing more than a load of crap. (That was a very personal attack...are you a lawyer? ..Or just in training?)

There's similar ethical problems on other one-make sites....with similar rudeness engendering similar results....and folk who thus could never get help anyhow.

And, Spearfish, since I write a "load of crap", may you tamper with that one screw on the lock, or worship at the God of Nissan diagnostics....and pay.

....And I did not use a spare unit...I had no option but to fix my own: or wait...and wait.
I prefer to use my car.....But I'd love to have a spare lock unit as I "could do better".

And re the Spearfish diplomatic "load of crap"....I posted elsewhere the manufacturers of the lock.....but omitted it here as my post was way too long: more "crap"....
Try the USA offshoots of Hüf Hülsbeck & Fürst:
Maybe you have a "connection" with the three USA offshoots. So get to work Spearfish.

Yup, I guess my info is a "load of crap" too, which is how one could interpret Spearfish's self-defeating posts....your call.

.....And one guesses Spearfish posts lots of DIYs, neh?

Fritz

Fritz,
if you decide to post a step by step DIY article with pictures and such, feel free to use this section. For now, this thread is bringing nothing but tension/drama between members. I'm going to close it. I do appreciate you trying to help the members with your original post.

If you need help with uploading pictures, read this : http://www.the370z.com/faq.php?faq=v...faq_vb3_albums or use photobucket.com and insert [img ] picture link [/img ] (<--- no space after g for pics to embed)