1989 chevy c2500, smoke coming from steering wheel column...what's wrong?

REMOVE THE BATTERY!!!! take the negative lead off the battery, smoke coming from there is a bad sign you have an electrical fault. best to have it checked out by a electrical engineer, would say you need a new loom fitting there is a part on the wiring loom that over time can force the rubber grommet out and the wiring is moving on the metal hole and cuts into the wire. this can cause the car wiring to ignite, then you have a fire on your hand so remove the battery.

yes - the column will come out separate to the steering box but remember that the column has to come all the way up to get it of the steering shaft which is part of the box. That means if you do not have the room in the cab for the length of the column to come past the steering wheel then you will have to remove the box . Really it is quicker to pull the pitman arm of the box --undo the column brackets --remove the steering wheel ---undo the box off the chassis and pull the lot out past the springs.

Yes the steering wheel comes off.
If you check YouTube you should find a video for a Ford product close to your model.

you on right path but you the shroud comes off but you must remove the steering wheel first as it slides over the colum and will take a stering wheel puller to do this. you can e-mail me at
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Remove lower dash panel, under steering wheel, there will be a bracket that holds steering wheel, remove both 15mm nut's that point up, not the 13mm bolt's the screw into the colum , steering wheel will come down enough where you will see the ignition switch on the top side of the colum, the switch will be screw to the colum with the head light dimer switch.

the bezel

You have to replace the switch inside the steering column. Last one I got I had to get from the dealer but you could try a parts store.

The steering wheel lock is a metal prong that protrudes into the steering shaft from within the ignition lock assembly, that is held on by two security screws pointing upward underneath the plastic steering column covers. You can remove the 2 screws and check out the working of the mechanism. It's probably stuck. Most likely, when you put on the new steering wheel, you simply twisted the ignition assembly and it is now causing the steering lock to be wedged on in the lock channel. Try twisting it back the other direction with your hands and I'm pretty sure it will allow the spring loaded locking mechanism to release. This same problem happened to me and took me a while to troubleshoot what was going on in the mechanism and figure it out. If twisting it both directions and checking to see if it releases with the key turned doesn't fix it, just remove the ignition assembly and lubricate the locking mechanism bolt and that will fix it for sure.

Hi there yep the switches are basically in the same location.Try the next time this happens to bump on the steering wheel while cranking or pushing in on the steering wheel towards the windshield if it starts right up you'll know for sure that its the switch or its out of ajustment.

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