Stopped at a store late this afternoon and when I came out the lights were on. At first I thought I had left them on, but when I got in there car there was a horrible electrical burning smell and smoke coming from the steering column. At the time the high beam indicator was on, even though the lights were off. When I arrived at my next stop I realize the lights were staying on. The smoke slowed down and eventually stopped, I think although it was dark when I got home so it was difficult to tell, and the lights stayed off when I turned off the car.

So, what will I need to fix now? Any links to helpful videos or walk through guides?

 

Holy Moly, I'm thinking this may be a problem I've never seen on this forum...my SW2 is a '99 also, so I'll be real attentive if anybody can come up with a scenario where this could possibly happen...

 

Golly gosh, that's a new one on me too. Frankly, I would have been afraid to try and move (drive) the car home without figuring out that had happened ....

 

If you think about it there is a lot of wiring going through the steering column. All your lights for brakes and turn signals, horn, cruise control, and probably something else I can not think of. The big question at the moment is exactly what is it that does not work any longer.

 

Based on my posts on another forum it is likely the ignition switch. I will have to pull the column apart to see. The other option is the multifunction switch. I won't know until I see where the burning was. At this point everything seems to be working (at least it did when I got home an unhooked the battery to stop any further damage) with the lights, so I am guessing the ignition switch will be the problem. Hopefully things will warm up a bit so I can get to it and find out.

 

usually when my steering column smolders, I strop driving it and fix it.
That way I know it won't start smoking again and catch fire when I am driving, or when it's in my garage and I am sound asleep.

But that's just me.

 

I've never had a car do that, but I sure as hell wouldn't be driving it if it did. Pull the cover off that steering column and check your plugs and wires in there ASAP. Might be a loose connection on the multi-function switch, but I'm going to guess you've got a wire that's either burned or rubbed through and going to ground.

 

It has not been driven since, however, even with the cover off I can't see any burned wires, or smell them right now. I may hook up the battery again to see if I can get it happening again with the cover off.

 

Make sure you don't have anyone sitting in the drivers seat when you reconnect the battery and turn the key. I'd hate to hear that the air bag blew out in your face. If you're doing it alone, then after you hook the battery back up, sit in the passenger seat and turn the key on. Better safe than sorry.

 

Rileysowner,
Unlike others I have had problems like this to try to solve in one way or another.
I spent my working career in electronics and electrical thingys and my hobby was spent working on cars. Many of which had electrical problems of one kind or another that involved smoke.
And I can assure you that in a car, if there is smoke, something is burning or melting. And I can not think of a worse place to try to find things like this than the steering column.
Serviceability sucks. The only other place that I can think of is the engine compartment because it is full of things and grease, grime and dirt and in the technical advance of front wheel drive, computer controls and multiple forms of electronics, many cars have poor serviceability just short of sucking.
You need to determine what is NOT working before you start changing parts and throwing things out.
From you description of the symptom, if the ignition switch worked, than it is not the problem.
If the problem is with the lights, than the ignition switch ( directly) has nothing to do with the lights.
Yes it is a good idea to hook the battery back up to see what is going to happen. Yes Ruby's suggestion to be aware of the air bag going off is at least something to be concerned about.
And Yes it is removable. And no I have no idea how to remove it but I can assume that one of the first steps is to remove the cover for it. I do not know how to do that but I am reasonably sure that if you do, you have to purchase something to replace the removed cover part of it and I have no clue where you would find one or even if you could find one.
My cover needs to be replaced in that it is old, hard and the horn part of it has not worked for years and I have not addressed it simply because I do not think anything is replaceable in that it is available some where. And since the dealers are gone, I don't even know if you can get one through GM anywhere . The POINT? I am sure you are going to have to disassemble the steering column to address what ever is going on.
I re-wired my first car as a teenager who was also clueless about how to do things like that. But it was a model A Ford, vintage 1930 and it had a generator, head lights, parking lights attached to the body just under the windshield, no turn signals, one tail light which included the brake light, an ammeter and a dashboard light, just one, and it was external not internal and it was there to light up the gauges so you could see them at night.
The gas gauge was a sight gauge, installed in the gas tank, which was the dashboard. And a horn.
A small spool of wire was all that was needed and I just remember doing it not what I had to do to get it done.
Today that amount of wire would not complete a dash board.
The last fire damage I dealt with was an engine compartment problem that toasted a number of wires under the dash and that one took a lot of work, and a parts car purchased for the wiring.
I can see the need to pull the steering column apart. I might want to contemplate an aftermarket steering wheel for the car also but the first thing is still to find out what is NOT working so you know what to look for and not just randomly change something because you think it might be something.
If the ignition switch does what it is supposed to do than it is not the problem.
If you have to get into the steering column I hope you have a manual to tell you how to do it and not only get it apart, but back together again. Ive done that including removing the wiring in it and replacing it again with new, it is tricky but that was what the parts car was for. Good luck.