Hey everyone. I have been having problems with my steering column covers coming apart. It has been doing it since I got the truck. Last week I found and ordered the part off Ebay. It arrived this morning. I went to pull the old one apart and I found ALL of the plastic where the screws were supposed to attach to was completely destroyed and the Torx screw next to the ignition switch was there, but the plastic that it was attached to on the upper half of the cover was stuck to it and broken off the top shell. One of the screws was also missing, but that would not have made a difference. The blank plug under the key switch was also gone. Apparently, in the truck's previous life as a city truck (NY City that is), someone forcibly ripped the steering column covers off for some reason. Probably to try to hotwire (?) it and steal it. I replaced it today and it looks so much better now that I can't see the components inside the steering column. I also noticed that the rear right window is a different brand of window than the other windows. Apparently it was replaced. I find all of this scary because I don't know if anything else was damaged. I do know that the previous owner had an aftermarket alarm installed that works off the factory key remotes and it also has a starter kill switch. It has a red LED mounted on the headlight switch and a siren under the hood. It also has a "service" (?) mode pushbutton under the fuse box that disables the alarm if it is pressed with the ignition on. It seems that the Passlock does not work at all (probably bypassed somehow). The SECURITY light does come on, but only during the bulb check upon startup. It doesn't come on at all if the key isn't on. Is there any advice anyone has in terms of checking what other "surprises" I should look for if there is any other damage? Carfax was clean at the time I bought it, so it was obviously not reported if it was stolen. Also, how does this alarm complicate things if I decide later to rip it out and install a better alarm with a remote starter? Thanks.

 

Wow! Thats hair raising! But before you get too worked up it is possible that since the truck has an aftermarket alarm installed by the previous owner, this may all be related to the install of said alarm system. Just my .02. I mean, who has a vehicle stolen and doesn't report it?

 

from what you explained i dont think the car was stolen, they prob tried but didnt succeed

 

I actually thought of that also, but I didn't notice any issues with the wiring. It all seemed intact with no cuts or modifications in the steering column. I know the Car Fox doesn't report everything about a car. It certainly didn't stop me from buying a car that had a hidden 4" crack in the radiator that went undetected until the truck overheated and started blowing smoke out from under the hood 25 miles from the dealership.

 

Yea probably. But it did look suspicious though when I saw all this. I found out after I bought it that it was a city truck and I put it all together and figured that it was stolen or someone attempted to steal it. Maybe the Passlock actually foiled a thief?

 

lol i had some alarm on my truck i noticed when i was replacing the ignition switch, it was wired into the old one so me an my father hooked up the new ignition switch and everything was fine so i took out the alarm & i didnt have the remote for it anyways.