Problem with Steering Wheel Please Help!

[maskedweasel]

I'm a new MX-3 owner. I just bought it from a guy who was selling it for 1500 dollars. It's in good running condition for the most part with quite a few problems.

I'm not a mechanic but I've owned chilton manuals for all of my older cars (celica, prelude) and have done minor work on them.

It's a 1993 model, and the steering wheel is jammed right against my knees while I drive. I looked up some info on it and it says it has tilt steering, but I couldn't find the switch, nor could I figure out a way to adjust it otherwise.

The car seems to have been modified a bit. Under the steering wheel it looks like he's added an alarm switch or a cutoff of some sort. Either way theres a little red light that flashes down there.

Any help you guys could give me would be awesome. Thanks!

[Tunes67]

The lever for the tilt steering for the 93 model year is located in the middle of the bottom side of the steering column. 94+ years are different.

While sitting in the drivers seat.. slide your thumb down the middle of the bottom of the column.. about 2 inches back from the front most edge of the column.. you will hit the top edge of the lever.. push it down from there to unlock the column position.. lift the column to the desired height and then move the lever back to the locked position. Cheers

Tunes67

[umcamara]

My car's a '96, and it's in the same spot. Mind you, mine is Canadian, and has no airbags. Maybe that's why.

[Tunes67]

My 94 RS (has airbags though) has the lever more on the left side of the column. Dunno what the airbags would have to do with it though..

Tunes67

[umcamara]

Well, as you know, the airbag steering wheels are completely different than the non-airbag wheels. (4-spoke as opposed to 3-spoke, among other things). Whether this affects the tilt lever as well, I don't know.

[maskedweasel]

I've looked under the steering wheel for about a half an hour now, and I can't find it. I even had a buddy of mine take a look at it. He thinks that there isn't a tilt in the steering. I don't see how there couldn't be, the steering wheel is so low that you can barely sit comfortably. It looks like theres been a modification or two to the steering column. There seems to be a cutoff alarm directly under the wheel about mid way. On the top part of the steering column there is also a little red light that flashes. I don't know if thats something standard or if thats something the previous owner put in, but that could cause a small problem for it tilting.

The car does not have airbags either.

Is there a way in the older MX-3s that I could actually adjust the wheel without knowing where the switch is?

I'm thinking I'm going to post a few pictures of the wheel in a little while so that everyone can see what it looks like.

Thanks for the replies!

[94mx3precidia]

ok so the red flashing light would be the knock sensor for your alarm in the car. check to see if you have one installed. And the switch under the steering coloum is most likely the vallet switch for your alarm as well. the switch is there so if the alarm goes off and the vallet driver doesnt have the remote he can turn the alarm off. Really the switch should be hidden somewhere better than just under the steering coloum because thats the first place to look when your going to steal a car. i recommend relocating it to the inside of the fuse box.

Get some pictures of under your steering coloum so we can get a better idea of what your talking about.

[2fazed]

You probably don't have the tilt option on your Mx. My 93 GS has it right in the middle, under the sterring wheel. But my 93 RS doesn't.

[maskedweasel]

You probably don't have the tilt option on your Mx. My 93 GS has it right in the middle, under the sterring wheel. But my 93 RS doesn't.

Thats kind of what I was afraid of. I'm going to take pictures and post them anyway. I thought the tilt came standard on all models. Not a big deal, perhaps I could just change out the steering wheel for a smaller one?