Smoke coming from steering wheel

whaturmuva · #1 09-10-2008, 11:55 AM

My girlfriend called me at work today to tell me there was smoke coming from her steering wheel while she was driving. Once she made it to work I told her to get out of the car and open the hood to see if there was smoke in there also (which there was not).

Does anyone have any ideas what could be wrong? And will she be able to drive it home today?

Christ · #2 09-10-2008, 12:00 PM

Something in the column is shorting out... she may be able to make it, she may not... I had this happen to my Escort years ago, melted the igniton switch... had to hotwire it until it eventually totalled itself b/c it wanted to kiss my neighbor's big truck.

whaturmuva · #3 09-10-2008, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr0pZ0n3

Something in the column is shorting out... she may be able to make it, she may not... I had this happen to my Escort years ago, melted the igniton switch... had to hotwire it until it eventually totalled itself b/c it wanted to kiss my neighbor's big truck.

Thank you for your reply, I guess I will drive her around for the next few days and get a friend of mine who is a mechanic to take a look at her car when he gets a chance.

FrodoGT · #4 09-10-2008, 02:42 PM

Check the headlight switch.. mine began to lose contact and heat up. Started smoking, then after awhile it got to the point where my lights would go out or get very dim and then start to smoke unless I fiddled with it ALOT to get them to work and not burn my car down. I took the switch apart and cleaned the contacts, works like new.. Just remember how everything goes together because there's about 8 little parts in there but its pretty simple if you lose track..just look at the contact pattern and where its been wearing and you'll figure it out. Also it was quite easy to see which one had been getting hot and why.

RedRacerCivic · #5 09-12-2008, 01:14 AM

It is defidently the ignition switch. This happened to me once and smoke was coming from under the steering wheel.

FrodoGT · #6 09-12-2008, 02:18 AM

Take the column apart and pull ALL of the plug out, check for melting plugs/wires, once you figure out which one it is move on from there. I service manual with wiring diagram will tell you which wire it is ans what circuit is heating up.

wizbang121 · #7 09-16-2008, 01:21 AM

key switch is going out, or your headlight switch do they still work like all lights ?

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