Steering column gets HOT

[Charlie]

Drove down to Galveston this weekend to hang out with family.  After a while, the steel in my steering column gets pretty damn hot.  After an hour of driving, if I put the palm of my hand on top of the column just forward of the wheel, I have to remove it within one or two seconds.  Remove the key from the ignition and even the key is pretty damn hot.  This concerns me since the wiring and switch are in there.

I only really notice it after a long drive.  I noticed it first when I drove from Colorado to Texas back in January.  It wasn't quite as concerning since it was cold enough that I had to run the heat.  But since it was about 96 degrees today, it was very noticeable and concerning.

Is this common?  I'm assuming it's heat transfer from the exhaust manifold to the steering box and up the column... unless anyone has any other ideas.  I had a 72 Duster for 27 years... never noticed the steering column get so hot that you could just barely touch it.

[goldrush]

I owned my first '74 SE for several years and made many long trips in it. Never experienced what you are describing Charlie. It is possible that you have a very high resistance short on one of the larger ignition switch wires and would not suffer enough ill effect to notice the issue. Pulling the wires that go through the column is NOT fun (I pull the seat so I can lay on the floor) but also not difficult. It just takes time and patience.

Good luck solving that mystery. I'm sure you will sort it out.

[71se3834v]

To prove or disprove your theory that the heat is coming from the manifold I'd rig up some insulation between the two. I can't imagine enough heat transferring to the inside nor can I imagine enough amperage flowing through the wires to heat up the column. Possible I guess.
How bout the key light staying on? Just a guess.

[wp29p4a]

I don't believe engine compartment heat will travel up the column and jump past the two joints. There is a universal type joint as well as the rag joint that would act as insulators to interrupt the path up the column. First place I would look is lack of proper grounding. Is the ground jumper from the column mount to the dash in place?

[Nacho-RT74]

nothing on column needs really the ground aside related lights ( shifter, courtesy ) and horn. And still if ground was a problem for those, load is not quite enough to heat anything but just get a function failure, which BTW is specific when trying to work, so not constant

[Charlie]

I wish I would have had my infrared so I could have been able to give an actual temperature of the steering column. I think I will go do some driving around this afternoon and make some observations.

Consider this: the column eventually gets too hot to touch for more that a second... both top and bottom area forward of the steering wheel. If the outer casing of the column is getting THAT hot, then the heat source inside has to be VERY freaking hot. Currently, I am not leaning towards the electrical possibility. Reason being- if any wiring in there was grounding out that wasn't supposed to be, there would already be an electrical failure of some sort. I'd likely smell burning insulation and likely burning out a fusible link. Or, something wouldn't be operating. Probably some excessive current draw would be obvious. There would definitely be some other indicator about the operation of the car and/or accessories to show something was electrically wrong.

I'm not going to completely toss the electrical idea out the window... because anything is possible. It's just that I feel it's not very likely to have that much heat emanating from a malfunctioning electrical source without having an obvious failure of some sort.

Something else to note: While driving, at one point I reached down under the dash to attempt feeling the column. Couldn't really grab it all, but was able to get my hands on it a little bit under there and could feel just as much heat. I will make more observations of the section under the dash while I drive around today.

As far as lighting, I did check the ignition key light... it's operating as it should. Even if it were to stay illuminated for a long time, the little 1445 bulb in there would never produce that much heat. It draws less than 1/4 amp. My car is a floor shift, so no indicator light in the top of the column. And that one would not produce that much heat, either.

I didn't realize there was a rag joint along the steering path, but okay, I'll go along with the idea that heat travel would not go past that. Good point... make sense!

What about the tube where the steering shaft enters the column? How is that sealed in the engine compartment? Could hot air from under the hood enter the tube in any manner?

[71se3834v]

What year? '71?? There is no rag joint.
But having said that I don't think much heat would transfer through the '71 joint since it is somewhat loose and should have grease in it.

[DynoDave]

I'll never say never...but I find it hard to believe that an electrical short is heating a tube steel that size, out in the open air, with 12v power, but not burning out whatever item it is that would be shorted.

I've smoked a few wires over the years...thin little things, but they get red hot and catch fire. And that was tiny little 14 or 16 gage wire...now imaging the current draw to heat the whole column. Just hard to imagine.

[DynoDave]

It's been some years since I've worked on one of these columns...so refresh my memory.

The key cylinder is just that...a lock cylinder. It turns a rod that goes through the column to an external connector and switch at the base of the column, right? Have you ever checked to see if it's getting hot? As it is external, I would NOT expect it to be heating the column as described.

So on an old car like this, what's left? The turn signals? That's small wire, low current stuff. A short there would burn the wire and pop the fuse before it would heat the column, I would think.

Same for the horn. A little more substantial wire perhaps (I can't recall if these have a relay). If no relay, that could be some pretty good current. Should be on it's own fuse...pull it, and see if the issue goes away.

What else is there? Little tiny light for the ignition switch? Cruise control wires?


Just thinking out loud here....

[goldrush]

YUP, Dave. Just pulling at straws like we all are when noting makes sense. Keep in mind the OP said it happened on a long drive so over time it is feasible for a high resistant short (very low curent) to heat up a larger chunk of metal.

I think 71 thru 74 are all basically the same ignition switch set up. The lock cylinder is coupled to the actual switch right there in the upper column. All of the wiring exits the column just as it goes under the dash. Will be interesting to see what the final discovery is.