Without breaking something is there a button or a latch or anything on the steering column that I can press to release this wheel lock. If I take off the steering column cover, or the plastic backing on the back side of the wheel what am I looking at?
it’s a sealed up metal box attached to the steering column with a beefy clamp. The box itself is just past where the winshield wiper stalk is on the column… if you think of where a key might go in a keyed ignition on the column, it would be between that and the windshield wiper stalk. The only thing on it externally is the black electrical connector. No manual release.
the service manual has a blurb in there about using a drill or a reverse tap to remove the set bolt…. because the installation is to use a new bolt, and tighten it until the head of the bolt twists off…. you can’t easily get in there with a wrench to remove the column lock.
IT also has you do this on a bench with the steering column in a vise, and gives you the option of leaving the steering wheel and everything on the column to do it.
here is what it looks like on a steering column. Looking from the right side (passenger seat) and slightly downwards… gray metal box clamped to the column.
Looking from the left side of the car, and from above the column… you see the black adjuster arm for the column height/telescope…. and the box is band clamped onto the column right there near the adjuster.
