GTV-6 Coupler

[dlou@ece.ucsd.edu (Dennis Lou)]

My apologies for the latest round of GM posts; it seems that the
dilution of Italian car content in the scuderia has affected my
brain.  Hopefully, I can get a domicile with a real garage so
I can get back to working on and enjoying my Alfa again.  As it is,
I've had to whip out the plastic-magnetic wrench a few times.

One thing I did manage to recently do while visiting my
mom (more specifically, her garage) was to replace the steering
coupler on my GTV-6.  I know that this topic was covered in
an Alfa Owner article sometime last year, but I forgot to bring
it with me when I paid the visit and subsequently have my own little
twist on performing the procedure.  Would anyone like a write-up or
would it be redundant?

One thing I should mention is that my car has 104k miles on it and has
always worn the stock 200-60R365 TRX tires on it so the coupler should
not have seen undo stress.  I guess this part is a normal maintenance
item.  Anyway, the symptoms are:

1> The turn signals don't self-cancel 
2> The horn stops working
3> When at rest you turn to full lock, at some point the wheels stop
changing their angle but the steering wheel doesn't

I think usually the symptoms are progressive.  In my case, the horn
stopped working 2 months after the turn signals quit self-cancelling,
and the loose steering wheel happened 2 months after the horn failed.

-Dennis
San Diego, CA
'85 Alfa Romeo  GTV-6, white
'85 Nissan pickup 4x4, white
'70 Volkswagen Beetle, repainted green by PO but was originally white