Sorry, I didnt get an Email notification of a post in here. I just used the whole unit just because I didnt know which part was actually failing. Glad to hear its working for you. I have about 10k miles on mine so far with no problem.

 

Yeah, even the fella who was replacing it was like
"Ok, let's do the easiest first, If that dont' work, Then we'll do the whole bottom"
The only problem we though we were going to have is I got the unit as a whole,
Steering wheel, deployed airbag, standard steering with no stereo/CC gauges,
Ignition switch with no key. Blah Blah Blah
But yeah, I am thankful that we tried the easiest thing first and it was a sucsess..
Not known that my GM dealer gave me the code saying Power Steering failure, I could
only assume that it was the motor that was Facked, and nothing else.
Let's say I lucked out
(KNOCK ON WOOD) LoL.

 

i got to do this to, so is there any need to line anything up a certain way when putting that new motor in?

 

If your putting the whole power steering unit it lines itself up with the long bolt from the side. If you are just replacing the motor (black cylinder) it looks like you just need to take off the 2 12mm bolts and install the new one. It looks like it doesnt need any sort of special lining up. I Just pulled the motor from my spare column to double check. I can get you pics if you need.

 

cool thanks man. looks pretty basic no need for pics but thankyou

 

So i got mine put in under warranty and they put in crooked. When i was using the telescopic adjustment, i noticed that one of the sides (that touches the top that stops it from going any higher) is higher then the other. Is this an easy fix?
And my steering was always pulling to the left but now its not as bad. Could the column being crooked have anything to do with that?

 

i know they can put it in turned to much to the left or right, but the column itself is kinda hard to put in crooked. Im guessing its that little plastic cover not clipped down all the way. push it down

 

Ya, the cylinder is a simple swap, liek you were saying
2 12ml bolts, either or, you'll know just by where your wire is sitting of which way
to bolt it back on. but it don't matter. All we did was took off the ps motor off the column
that I purchased from the salvage. Pulled off the bottom cover under my steering wheel.
One hand in by where your trunk release is, The other under your steering wheel,
Approx a 6 minute fix. Too bad GM wouldn't just sell the ps motor.
Would make things alot easier.
LoL.

 

I did that and its not as bad. Thanks. The guy did a shitty job tho. Right away i noticed that my car sounded different. I thought i was imagining it and a couple days later i started to notice that it sounds like air was getting in from by my feet.
I finally checked on it today and i noticed the rubber boot that plugs the hole in the firewall is loose. I tried to push it back in but its not so easy to get in there. Il just bring it to the dealer and let them fix wat they messed up.

 

i tried swapping just the motor with a hhr it was a little more smoother but still had that loose rattiling sound. Worth checking before you do the whole column but im thinking you just got good luck haha

 

I am doing this now, and no matter how hard I pull I cannot get the column out of the steering shaft. The end of the shaft where the column inserts has a curled end and stops the column from sliding out. Help!

 

You are removing the upper column part from the lower part?

 

I am trying to remove the column out of that steering shaft.

OP's picture by the way

 

I am the OP :-)

The circled red area does not need to be detached. It detaches above that. The bolt with the yellow marking needs to be loosened to loosen the tension the end of the shaft and then it should slide out.

 

DONE! Thanks for the how-to. Saved a shitload of money when I really couldn't afford to spend any.


$108 steering unit swap FTW

 

Glad to hear it worked for you. :-)

 

what exactly does the motor look like ?? Is it in the pictures ? I like the idea of replacing just the motor it self and not the whole unit.. But im not sure what the motor looks like?? Any pics of the electric motor ?

 

Replacing the whole thing really isnt that bad, but if you just want to replace the motor itself it is the black cylinder looking thing. The reason I just changed the whole thing is because I dont really know what causes the failure so I would just rather change the whole thing.

 

i need to do this in the near future...thank u for writing this out

 

Your welcome, I hope it saves people some money!

 

fortunately mine failed inside warranty and I was working at a dealer at the time. This is a known issue though, even worse in the malibu since they both use the exact same motor.

You may have the same problem with one found in a salvage. GM had to redesign the component so that the issue would not return. So going used might save you in the short run but could easily occur again in the used part too.

the motor they came with was junk.

i was happy with the new one too since it actually has better fitting gears so it takes the little bit of excess slack out of the wheel as well so im pleased. thankfully it happened before 36,000

 

I could use a picture of the electric motor !!! Please ! Sense im not too sure which or what black cylinder you are talking about ?? Thanks in advance guys !!

 

Here is a pic of the whole unit, the motor itself is the black part at the bottom.

 

Thats perfect !! Thanks for the pic man. It just helps me know which part to look for. I'm kinda surprized gm put that electric motoer inside the car under the dash !!

 

my power steering went out at the track this past saturday...but i figured it out right away...i had a burnt fuse on the passenger side fuse panel. it was a small 3 amp fuse. so i replaced it and hasnt happened again. it was kinda random that it just broke. it wasnt burned or anything...it just looked like a broke. kinda weird