1996 Acura RL Logo
Posted on Mar 16, 2009

Steering wheel doesnt move up or down automatically

I have an 1996 Acura 3.5 RL that has a bit of an inconvenience.

It used to be that when you inserted or removed the Key the steering wheel moved up, down, towards and away from me. now it went to the up position and is stuck. It still telescopes but not up or down. Thanks for looking.

  • Anonymous Mar 26, 2009

    This happened on my 97 RL.

    I cant say for sure with yours, but for mine, the gear for the up/down action somehow broke and developed an inch long gap.

    Anyhow,google "acura rl steering column", click on any of the first few linksand you will get an idea of what you are working with.

    Removethe panel underneath the steering wheel. The motor for the up/down willbe right behind that facing down. Unscrew the 4 screws on the panelconnecting the motor to the column.

    Once the motor is off,check to see if that is the problem (it shouldnt be) simply by usingthe tilt steering switch. If the motor is fine, check the gear it wasjust attached to. It will be really greasy, but check to see if thegear is sound.

    If it is a broken gear, I unfortunately dont knowhow to fix it. If more than one person is driving the car (as in mycase) you can finagle the motor onto the gear using the tilt switch andyou can move the wheel into a happy medium for both parties (using theseat for fine tuning). Once done, and every thing is put back together,disconnect the motor cord cause the wheel will be able to tilt, butwill get stuck again once it hits the gap in the gear.





  • rosemondm3 Apr 17, 2009

    I am having the same problem with my steering wheel. I was hoping I could replace a fuse or something like that. Can I replace a fuse?

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  • Posted on Mar 26, 2009
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This happened on my 97 RL.

I cant say for sure with yours, but for mine, the gear for the up/down action somehow broke and developed an inch long gap.

Anyhow, google "acura rl steering column", click on any of the first few links and you will get an idea of what you are working with.

Remove the panel underneath the steering wheel. The motor for the up/down will be right behind that facing down. Unscrew the 4 screws on the panel connecting the motor to the column.

Once the motor is off, check to see if that is the problem (it shouldnt be) simply by using the tilt steering switch. If the motor is fine, check the gear it was just attached to. It will be really greasy, but check to see if the gear is sound.

If it is a broken gear, I unfortunately dont know how to fix it. If more than one person is driving the car (as in my case) you can finagle the motor onto the gear using the tilt switch and you can move the wheel into a happy medium for both parties (using the seat for fine tuning). Once done, and every thing is put back together, disconnect the motor cord cause the wheel will be able to tilt, but will get stuck again once it hits the gap in the gear.




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