any vehicle technicians .........astra 1.7 D.T.i

Wig

Craigus85 wrote: »

Took it to a garage.. tracking's absolutely fine.. steering wheel needs realigning but it's not essential so I'll skip it (apparently it's pricey due to the airbag system and such being installed there).

I don't for sure know if you can just undo the steering wheel and stuff it back on in the correct position on all cars, but it is not a guaranteed way of re aligning the steering wheel, because the steering wheel slots onto a splined "rod end" and it is very unlikely that you will be able to slot it on in the correct upright position. In reality it will be a few degrees out either way. Which would then require re alignment of the tracking.

That is one way of doing it, the other way is as I suggested doing it all via the tracking adjustment method. Yes your tracking is "fine" at the moment, that is to say when you drive in a straight line your car does not veer to the right or left. With the big disadvantage that your steering wheel is not straight. - The reason the steering wheel is not straight is either someone took it off and replaced it wrong (unlikely), or when they tracked the vehicle they did not make sure the steering wheel was straight.

Look at it this way, when your steering wheel is straight (as it should be) your tracking is WAAAAAAAY out and needs adjusting. He checked your tracking with the steering wheel off centre exactly where you don't want it to be.

goldspanners

make sure all steering bushes are ok,i had this years ago,it turned out that the tracking was fine but i had a bush badly worn,changed the bush done tracking again all was well.

Wig

How does a worn bush, cause the steering wheel to be in the wrong position?

btw, the airbag in the steering wheel is not a problem, you just disconnect the battery while you take it off, and don't reconnect the battery for any reason until you have reconnected the Airbag plug. If for some weird reason you get an abs fault light it can be reset for about £20

goldspanners

Wig wrote: »

How does a worn bush, cause the steering wheel to be in the wrong position?

thats what i didnt understand aswell,but it cured the fault.it was on a capri.