Well some back story, my steering wheel has been able to shift slightly left and right for about a month now. I looked around a bit but I couldn't find anything wrong and it was somewhat hard to reproduce when looking at the column from underneath. Well fast forward to this last weekend. I had an autox and it felt a little looser but nothing really odd.

Well on my last run at the very end it felt really loose. After getting through the end gate I found I could basically move the steering wheel up/down/left/right. Scary...

I took a look from underneath and it looked like something had broken, when I took off all the plastic I found it looked like somehow the column had slipped off some mounts. After reading the FSM I found that those mounts are part of a energy absorbtion system designed to give way during a crash. (Mind you this car has never been in an accident). I was able to unbolt the mounts and remount it all but it still feels quite loose. Functional enough for me to drive the car home and then to Mitsubishi tomorrow. From the looks of it the bracket that is attached to the steering column that allows you to raise and lower the steering wheel. It seems to me that its about a half inch or so too far back which is why it shifts left and right, and why it was able to fall off. The bracket is a sort of V shape, and the piece that fits in also is v shaped.

I guess I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this before and is it a possible simple fix or is it a replace the whole column assembly like the FSM says?

The first pic shows what I saw when I took off the plastic, the piece that fits into the bracket I am describing is still firmly attached to the frame of the car. The second pic is what its supposed to look like.

Any help appreciated, I am planning on hitting Mitsubishi tomorrow and this stealership isn't very good...

 

The rear bolts were backed out as well?

 

Nope, the rear bolts seem fine all of the play seems to come from the mounts closest to the driver.

 

Got word back from Mitsu, time to replace the steering column shaft assembly + the two sorta metal gromit mount things =/. Anyone else ever had this issue? It seems very odd for this to have happened.

 

A guy posted in the tires, brakes and suspension forum about a month ago with the same problem.

 

That sounds scary.

Would hate for that to happen to me while driving.

 

Does anyone have a tutorial on how to reattach this back up. The slider mounts came out, no accident or anything.

 

Anyone? I need help

 

Has happened to me , what it is is a slider so incase of an accident when you hit the steering wheel the column collapses . All you have to do is unbolt those 2 squares and slide them back into the steering column and bolt the 12mm bolts back into place .

 

Anyone have that part for the streerinh wheel? I have the same issue now and need the part.