I am new to this forum and have an issue my car has always had. When it is in drive and idling the steering wheel vibrates making an audible noise. The car is carburated and has 79K original mies on it. Drives perfectly otherwise. No obvious vacuum leakes under the hood. Any ideas?

Stevo:

FIRST thought that occurs to me is that you make sure the column tilt adjuster is firmly set. As you recall, it's the lever on the left side of the column, just under the dash. Otherwise, you may have something loose in and/or around the steering column. You may care to pop off the (center) steering wheel ornament to check the tightness of the nut that secures it. Rather hard to say without my actually hearing the noise and exactly where it originates.

Thanks Bob for the quick reply, I believe the column adjuster is tight having set it several times. The wheel is not at all loose on the spline. Since the car has done it for the 4 years (and 30K miles) I have owned it and never gotten worse, a loose nut seems improbable...

Stevo:

The steering columns on the Gen Three cars don't have a history of problems that I can recollect. (As in, defects involving vehicle recalls.) About the only things are ignition switch and combination (stalk) switch replacement...from normal wear and tear. (Amazingly, my ignition switch, lighting switch, and wiper switch are original.)

Speculation as to whether you might have something loose inside/under the dash...vibrating/rattling against the column? :dunno:

Other ideas: Remove the lower trim panel below the column and check the tightness of all the nuts/bolts which secure it to the body brace/bracketry. You may also care to remove the plastic cover at the base of the column (at the firewall) to examine the "U-joints" where the steering shaft attaches to the (splined) rack shaft.

Aside from the above, you may have to pull the entire column and disassemble it to check for internal issues...involving loose/worn/broken parts. The rack shaft and bearings are the first items I would inspect.

I'll give it a try thanks Bob, son is taking it back to college this year and I want to be sure he has no issues. This is mostly annoying.

Stevo:

You are most Welcome! And if unable to resolve your problem, perhaps I have sparked your imagination with useful ideas. :)