After replacing my rack and pinion for a third time due to faulty racks. I accidentally forgot to seatbelt my steering wheel before disconnecting my rack and now the AIRBAG light is on, no cruise control, and there is play and clicking in the steering wheel. Wondering if the whole steering column needs to be replaced or if there is an easier fix? Also, can you replace the whole steering column without taking apart the actual steering wheel itself? Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

Possibly you damaged the clock spring under the steering wheel.....not too hard to replace and def cheaper than entire column. That happened to me when I swapped steering wheel and the puller actually was wrong type and damaged the clock spring. Pretty easy to replace! Good luck....

 

Would the clock spring also cause the "play" in the wheel? There wasn't any play until this last time. Also forgot to add that the steering wheel DOES NOT lock anymore when taking the key out. is this all connected to the clock spring by chance?

 

I drove mine for a day after the clock spring was damaged, I don't remember any play in the wheel, just air bag light on all the time and steering wheel controls were inop. When I first bought the car it did, bad tie rod ends was the cause there. Also not sure of the lock issue....