Hi,

I recently purchased an 03 tahoe lt. Today I took apart the steering shaft in order to pack in some grease to resolve that annoying steering wheel rattle that seems inherent in all the chev's based on this body style and year range. Anyways, the good news is, the steering wheel rattle is now gone. The bad news is, I seem to have lost all my steering wheel controls as well as now I have an air bag sensor warning on the dash and in the information center.

When I purchased the truck the airbag sensor was on but the steering wheel controls worked fine up until this afternoon. The owner said the air bag sensor was replaced (for the safety) and we have not had a problem with it in the three weeks since owning the vehicle.

It just seems extremely odd that today, after having taken the steering shaft apart that I would now have this sensor on AND have no steering wheel control's functional. I seen no electronics or grounds connected to the steering shaft at all so Im confused why this would have occured.

So I guess this is really a two part question. First of all, is there anything at all or any reason why disassembling the steering shaft would cause the air bag sensor to come on? Or is this purely coincidence? Is there any reason why this sensor would come back on after having been replaced a couple weeks ago? Are they inherently temperamental?

Secondly, is there any reason why I would lose the steering wheel controls after taking apart the steering shaft? Again as stated I see no connection to that and the electronics of the controls. Is it a possible fluke that a fuse may have blown? Are the steering wheel controls even run off a fuse or grounded elsewhere? Do the steering wheel controls have a connector up inside the steering column where they connect together? I did move the steering column up and down a few times when trying to isolate the source of the clunking and had the rubber boot off the firewall to grease inside it. But as stated I saw no electronics so I am a real lost here as to what may be the issue.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys.

 

Think I may have it figured out, or at least have a very good idea of the issue. The problems I believe are attributed to the clock spring. My fault, as I think I turned the wheel after disassembling the steering shaft and it was not lined up properly after putting it back together. I see now they have very low tolerance outside of being lined up perfectly. When I posted initially I did not have a good understanding of the clock spring so did not find much useful information. Now I got on the right path I have discovered a lot of others have made the same mistake.

Chalk that one up to experience...

 

Welcome to the forum.

Glad you got it fixed although I have no clue what the "clock spring" is.

BTW there is a new design intermediate shaft available now. Dealer replaced on my wife's 2004 for free under "customer appreciation".

 

How hard was it to fix ? I just replaced my steering box and now have no steering wheel functions. Do i need to buy a new clock spring ? My steering wheel is off a bit so i will need to pull it apart to fix that issue

 

The clockspring is a special spiraled wire coil that connects to the airbag, horn and any additional switches on the steering wheel. If the clockspring fails the airbag light is illuminated to indicate there is an issue with the airbag or its circuit - usually because the clockspring has failed. Typical symptoms include airbag light on, horn non functional and any controls (Cruise, radio controls, etc) are non functional.

If you are careful and know what you are doing you can replace the clockspring. I recommend having a dealer or independent shop do the work. There is a slight chance the airbag could be activated.

 

I too have a 2003 Chevy Tahoe LT. When my husband installed a stereo upgrade a few years ago, I lost all of the button controls in the steering wheel but one. I have asked him to fix it, but he is always busy with more important things. Is there a way to "reprogram or reset" these buttons? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks, Tina