Many Problems

[Wraith]

Hey. I used to be a member here, guess I got deleted for not coming here for a while. Oh well. About my car, it's a '97 GA GT coupe and it is having problems after winter. 1. The steering column has this rubbing sound when I turn it. 2. The lights where the air conditioning and heat is do not come on anymore. 3. The lights for D, R, 3 etc do not come on, just the little orange dot. 4. When idling there is this shudder/shake. Some of those things I have an idea as to what may be wrong, but I'd like other opinions. Thanks if you can help. I'm sure the thing with the lights isn't a fuse because the fuse for that part is all of those kind of lights and the rest still come on at night so.

-Ryan-

[GaSC/Tnfs]

for your steering column try oil (fundamental). I'm not good with lights so I"ll just skip those.

as far as a shudder at idle speeds there is a number of problems that could occure.first check your spark plugs to make sure they are clean, or if you've changed your spark plugs make sure they are the right kind. then check your wires to make sure they are running the charge. (pretty unlikly though) I'm not sure if the 97's have conventional distributors or not. but if so you might want to check that too. and last, make sure your idle sensor isn't starting to burn up.

[gagt98driver]

The steering column: Oil will not help the rubbing noise. In fact I've never heard of any reason to need to grease or oil your steering column (except greasing the gear selector assembly and cable in some cars such as was done to my fiancee's Regal).

More likely the rubbing noise is the result of the main ignition wire (its about 10 or 8 gauge) being rubbed against something inside the column. I had to have my ignition switch replaced because I too was experiencing a rubbing noise in the column which I thought nothing of at first - until I kept blowing the ignition fuse under the hood. The ignition wire was rubbing against a metal bracket inside the column when the wheel was turned. After a year of making the noise, the braket had cut through the insulation of the wire and was causing a dead short. IIRC there is either a recall or TSB on this problem with the steering column.

The lights are most likely just burnt out bulbs as all of the dash lights are wired together through 2 common fuses - one for the lights themselves and secondarily routed through the main ignition fuse under the hood. If it was a fuse, all of the lights would be out.

I too have the a shudder/shake at idle. Does your car run smooth at idle for a bit (30 sec. or so) then stumble/shudder for a moment and then resume smooth idle - repeating the process over and over. If so I don't know what to tell you. The dealership has run diagnotistics on it and checked various things out and they are at a loss to explain it.

[o0five0o]

Might the shake/shudder be a broken exhaust hanger? I think thats what my shaking problem at idle would be

[Wraith]

First of all, thanks for the help. I too think the burnt out lights are probably bulbs so I'll replace those and see what happens. As for my shudder/shake gagt98driver mine is exactly as you described. I'm getting that checked out hopefully this week by a mechanic that I always take my car to. The steering column noise will also be checked out, I'm not going to leave it for a year. It's been doing that for a few months already. oOfiveOo it's not a broken exhaust hanger because I watched my duals when I have had the car running and they stay perfectly still, even when revving. But yes, thanks for the ideas and help. I'll let you know when I get everything checked out :)

-Ryan-

[4kQuad]

Wraith.

This is what I would do.

Start the car, let it idle go back to the back of the exhaust pipe. Put your hand down there in the wind or flow of the motor.

When your hand is close enough to it you will feel the ( i'm going to say Puff) puff of the motor firing each time the spark plug sparks it burns the gas causing a wind. The Puff or wind comming out should feel like puff puff puff puff and so on, on your hand, If you can make it crap out put your hand in the motor exhuast flow do you feel more like Puff Puff Puff Puff Puff Puff.

What I'm trying to say is the puff should stay constant with the RPM of the motor. Any time you feel the rythm skip you felt a miss.

If it's missing when its crappen then spark is being lost for some reason.

[mikem220153]

I wonder if one of your ignition coils could be arcing?

[Wraith]

I don't think it's the ignition coil. I'll know forsure next week when I take my car to my trusted mechanic. Take it in on Monday.

[gagt98driver]

Originally posted by Wraith
I don't think it's the ignition coil. I'll know forsure next week when I take my car to my trusted mechanic. Take it in on Monday.

Please let me know what you find out because I'm betting the cause of the stumbling will be the same on mine and I'd eventually like to get it fixed.

[HondaCivicsSuck]

something could be wrong with your EGR


Joe

[Wraith]

Well, I got my car back from the mechanic yesterday. He said he didn't quite know what the shuddering was from and that he didn't think it was serious enough to spend a bunch of money trying to find the problem. He put some injector fluid in to see if that worked a little. So far I don't seem to notice a shudder as much.