I have a friend with a 2005 M6 and he has been talking about his steering column locking up on him. I thought I had heard something on the topic some time ago but forget what the fix was. Can someone help out with some information on how to take care of this issue? Thanks in advance.
Steering column lock issue
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Aloha Gary,
The 2005 Manual transmission cars have a very similar system in them to the C5 steering column lock. It is part of the anti-theft system. There is a pin attached to a solenoid that engages at the base of the steering wheel and these can fail. The only remedy is to have the unit replaced. They can also present symptoms of failure if the cars battery is weak or if the owner is prone to parking the car with the wheels turned. The friction created by the pin trying to withdraw from the lock with a weak battery or turned wheels can be enough that the pin can't withdraw and a service column lock message will display on the DIC. One way in the short term to avoid the message is to not let the pin engage and you can do this by simply leaving the wheels straight on parking and not moving the wheel once the car is shut off. You can hear the solenoid engage when the car is powered off but if it can't get in to the hole at the base of the wheel, it can't lock the column.
The 2005 Manual transmission cars have a very similar system in them to the C5 steering column lock. It is part of the anti-theft system. There is a pin attached to a solenoid that engages at the base of the steering wheel and these can fail. The only remedy is to have the unit replaced. They can also present symptoms of failure if the cars battery is weak or if the owner is prone to parking the car with the wheels turned. The friction created by the pin trying to withdraw from the lock with a weak battery or turned wheels can be enough that the pin can't withdraw and a service column lock message will display on the DIC. One way in the short term to avoid the message is to not let the pin engage and you can do this by simply leaving the wheels straight on parking and not moving the wheel once the car is shut off. You can hear the solenoid engage when the car is powered off but if it can't get in to the hole at the base of the wheel, it can't lock the column.
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