Steering query!

[Carlsson900]

Greetings... I have recently had some serious underneath work done on my 1991 900 turbo, as the panels beneath the wishbones and suspension had rotted badly. A good solid job was done, and with a much lighter wallet, I drove home. I noticed however, that the steering wheel was out od alignment, and brought the car for tracking, but although it was done to perfection, the wheel is still of centre. I also noticed that when I got the car back, the indicators no longer self cancel, so in a effort to check this out today, I removed the steering wheel, and am surprised to see that it doesn't seem to slide all the way back onto the spindle, and the nib that should cancel the indicators, doesn't go down far enough. There doesn't seem to be a way to get the wheel on any further, but it does feel 'wrong'. as it's sitting a tad more proud then it should. The steering also feels odd, and it seems to take more turns than usual to turn hard... What am I missing here? Any advice much appreciated!

[euromobile900]

That's very strange. The amount of turns from one "lock" to the other should never change. However, the people who did the rust (rot) repair or those who aligned your car (did tracking) could have done something to damage either the splines that hold the steering wheel on the shaft or perhaps they partially collapsed the steering column itself. That is, the problem might be the column sitting too low, not the steering wheel sitting too proud. It is designed to collapse in the event of a crash, but it is possible (however not probable) to do this by accident, if pushing the car via the steering wheel or violently spinning the steering wheel to the limit of its travel while the car is raised by turning the road wheels by hand. If you want a glimpse of the structure of the collapsible steering column, it can be viewed by removing the lower steering column cover, a plastic piece held on by one plastic trim button (underneath) and two screws (torx head, accessed by turning the steering wheel until their heads come into view). You might be able to examine it for deformation.

If you can pinpoint the damage, and it was indeed caused by the shop that aligned your car, they should be obliged to put it right. In addition, the shop that did the rust repair should have aligned your car as a matter of course, and the shop that did the alignment should have taken the time to get the steering wheel straight. Anything less is not "perfection" or a "good, solid job".

A proper alignment (tracking) job goes something like this:
1) Mechanic gets into car, turns steering wheel by hand all the way to the stop on the left, then all the way to the stop on the right. He notes whether the steering wheel is installed such that it is centered when precisely in the middle of these two stops, and removes and changes the steering wheel's position if necessary
2) Mechanic then sets car wheels up to be aligned. He attaches them to a machine with optical sights or mirrors and lasers, and adjusts the nuts on the tie rods to make the angle of the front wheels right, WHILE THE STEERING WHEEL IS HELD STEADY from inside the car. This ensures that the car goes straight when the steering wheel is level.
3) He tests the camber (angle from vertical) of the front wheels and adjusts if necessary, via shims on the upper control arms. Some shops will just test the camber and then ask whether you want it adjusted, since it is rarely off and requires more work. There may be an extra fee for camber shim work.
4) He takes it for a test drive to note if anything is off.