Step 18 - Remove 3 "Torx Plus Security" Bolts
Note that these are 5 pointed! Individual bits are sold on eBay, as well as sets online, but I decided to dremel these out as I wasn't about to order an expensive bit set and wait for it to ship in. Below are photos of how I dremeled them out. If you go this route--few pointers: Use glasses so you don't get sparks in your eyes. Be careful not to dremel too deep so you don't break the head of the screw. There is very limited space, so use the column adjustment lever to slide it around the locking mechanism "box" to provide the most space. Attack each bolt with the best angle to dremel out a nice groove for a flathead. The one screw is simple, for the 2 adjacent ones, I had to dremel as close to the plastic cover as possible without touching it for best effect. On the second of the 2, I made a small foil cover to protect the plastic from sparks. The screws aren't on very tight--they can probably be unscrewed with the ideal pliers or ideal flathead size screwdriver to fit between the ridges in the original screws.
Step 19 - Remove plastic cover and mechanism
Entire mechanism will simply slide out once cover is removed
Step 20 - Unclip mechanism housing and dissassemble
All parts are clipped in, pretty easy to take apart and reassemble, below is photo of all parts
Step 21 - Clean, lubricate and assemble
I used rubbing alcohol to clean everything out, then used grey poly-lithium grease on the motor gear (as well as big plastic gear it locks into), then white spray CRC lithium grease on everything else.
Results
Upon assembly, I can't say anything changed. After playing with the mechanism for about 10 minutes, however, it moved to completion about 90% of the time. 2 days after completing this, mechanism works almost flawlessly and has worked this way since.
Additional photos of physical lock in steering column (electronic mechanism moves this). This can't be easily removed, if I can have my car coded to ignore the steering lock, I'll remove my column and drill this out to remove it permanently.
Locked
Unlocked
