Ok, I'm going to need a real good SSEi analyst on this one. I CAN NOT figure this one out.

Decided to remove and grease the shaft. Sounded simple after ready several good descriptions on this site. I've been experiencing steering wheel feel resembling turning a wooded peg in a wooden hole (creaking feeling). It lessens in warm weather. Gets worse in cold weather. I found out that the shaft was replaced under warrant at about 26,000 miles. I bought the car at 30,000 miles, drove it until the warranty expired, THEN started feeling the new shaft going South. When removeing the shaft it slipped right out, and I know I disturbed no wiring. I would call it a very easy job. Based on very good instructions I received on this site I did have to move the steering wheel a little to reach the inside nut, but no more than 20 degrees. I was VERY careful about that. The shaft did not appear to need grease but I did it anyway. Everything went back together very smoothly. About 45 minutes repair time in all,, but that'* not important now.

Just a soon as I put her in reverse to check the steering she chimed and set a Stability Control System warning message. Must be a soft code because I can clear it immediately with the dash RESET button. Once reset, the code did not set again until during a trip until I shut down the ignition and started her back up and drove forward making a turn. I cleared the code again and then drove it for 1 full day without setting the code.

This afternoon, I started her up (hot) and backed up. Voila! The code appeared again. I cleared it and had no more trouble until I reached my driveway. Just for grins I backed her up 5 times, doing a restart each time. The warning light set twice out of the 5 times. I've done a little experimenting since this started. It seems the code sets about 10% of the time when I back up over 10 ft and then turn the steering wheel either left or right. It rarely sets a code when I drive forward or turn left or right while moving forward. Keep in mind that I drove it for a full day the day after the first code set, and not once did the code set that day!

Until I changed the shaft I never saw this code nor any code for that matter. Any ideas. Similar experiences. BTW, greasing the shaft did not lessen the creaking steering wheel one bit. I seemed to have screwed myself without even fixing the initial problem..

You have a bad steering wheel position sensor/ I just had mine replaced along with the intermediate shaft,about $225.00 parts and labor/

Radrick,

Thanks for the quick reply. What would you suspect if I told you that I drove the thing all over creation today and no Stability warnings? It surprised the heck out of me. It almost seems like some system is "relearning" or something. Very strange.

Have driven the last 2 days symptom free. Don't know what caused the code problem. Don't know where it went, but happy now.