I have an advisory that there is play in the steering column. There is very slight up and down movement when the steering wheel is pushed up and down. I cannot find any guide on MOT sites that details if there is any amount of play/movement permitted! I have searched through previous threads and the only one that comes near is a reply from rubjonny to a similar thread in that the inner steering shaft can be removed with the column in place. My question is can the upper bush/bearing be replaced with the inner steering shaft removed?
My jetta has some play up and down. And i already have the part. As far as i know you have to remove steering wheel then an adapter bush very hard ro remove, then there is the steering lock with bearing included. I saw on another steering lock suport, bearing has play in the aluminum where is cold rolled or stamped in.
the bearing is part of the ignition lock housing so cannot be changed on its own,. but usually play is either down to the bolt holding lock housing to the column tube working itself loose or the plastic bush which sits between the column and bearing is worn
Hi John. Thank you for replying to my problem. The exploded diagram in the Haynes manual is not very clear to my limited knowledge but no doubt OK to others. I read a previous thread where you described removing the steering shaft from the housing and wondered if that is what is required to get to the plastic bush? I wanted some advice as I didn't want to get everything off and then find the bush cannot be replaced in situ. So from your experiences can the plastic bush be replaced with the steering shaft and steering lock removed or has the whole steering column got to be removed?
The top bush can be changed on site after removing steering lock housing. The lower one needs removing steering column.
yep you need to remove the lock housing from the column before you can change the bush, but its worth trying to nip up the bolt I mentioned they always work loose
Many thanks John and David for your replies, it appears to be a lot easier now as I didn't fancy taking the instrument cluster out to remove the column! I will however check first to make sure the lock housing is firmly fixed to save any unnecessary work.
oh no its me again!!! Sorry to be a pain but the column switches removal has me beaten. I have unplugged all the connectors and removed the 3 screws but I cannot get the switches off. The loose black plastic shroud above them stops them and the switches stop the plastic shroud coming off. I have found the red hazard button comes off but hasn't made any difference. Is there a knack for getting the switches off the column? I could only find one cheese headed allen bolt holding the lock to the column and that is really tight. Is there another bolt that I cannot see for all the wiring etc? Any advice will be very much appreciated.
if you're removing the ignition lock assembly just leave the switches and trim in place, once you pull the lock housing off it'll all come off with it at the same time. since the CE2 top plastic is hooked over the ignition lock and the hazard switch in the stalk goes through it its a little fiddly to get the stalks out with lock in place, as above you can hold the hazard button down while wiggling, or if you pull up on the button it will unclip which helps. just dont catch the little bulb on the trim when removing
Thanks guys for the advice but I am still stuck and no further forward. I did take out the allen screw that I assumed is holding the lock housing to the column and even with slight persuasion nothing moved. It feels as though there is another fixing holding it to the column but try as I may I cannot find any other fixing? I did see the two sheared off bolts holding the column to the dash and with my flexible drive, 3 foot long from motor drive, I will drill out the bolts and with a bolt extractor remove them and remove the whole column. All being well I will find what is preventing the switches etc from being removed. I would just say in my defence that having had my GTi for 15 years this October I have carried out many repairs without any problems. My greatest achievement has been the replacement of all the gear change bushes etc, (a great big thank you to "rubjonny" for his excellent guide), that according to those in the know is the most complicated gear change mechanism ever!!! So with that in mind this defect that I thought would be relatively straight forward is in fact, (in my case), more involved than I imagined.
you have to pull the spline adaptor off first, lots of threads about this. you can pull the column, lock housing and stalks in one unit if you undo and remove the bolt at the bottom of the column holding on the universal joint, you dont have to touch the shear head bolts. theres a spring between the column and UJ, dont loose this. taking the column out complete wont help if you need to replace the bush I mention between the lock housing and column however, to get that out you need to pull off the spline adaptor then the lock housing will slide off the column
Thank you for the info regarding the spline adaptor - I can see how that must be the reason the lock housing will not budge. I will have to get an extractor as the one I have is only 3 legged. Thankfully I haven't touched the sheer bolts so they will not require replacing.
one way around it is clamp some mole grips loosely round the adaptor butted up to the lip, then put your 3 legged pullers on. another tip is put a big jubilee clamp round the legs to stop them spreading upen. even then it can be a total nightmare to remove. a proper gear puller is much nicer
I used a two legged puller and the mole grips to stop the legs pulling apart, the spline adapter came off very easily. I think the puller is made by Sealy (can't say for definite as I have had it years) you could check out machine mart for a puller (in store or online they have a lot more online as well) hope this helps. Mine was as davidut5 stated a lot of play between the bearing outer race and lock housing body mine failed the mot for play in it.
Much appreciated valvemiester I will have a look and see what's available, Sealy tools are very good from my experience. My steering column play sounds slight compared to your failure but I think the MOT examiner gave an advisory to impress the VOSA inspectors - or am I being paranoid!
I used a 27mm spanner witch fits just fine over the spline adapter and pulled from the wrench. I tried a mk3 one by hammering on the shaft, but didnt work. With the puller came out easy. I changed mine because i wanted, not in a milion years would fail mot (ITP) for that, they wouldnt even notice.
basically it depends how stuck it is on there, my driver and gti ones came off relatively easy with a 3 legged puller but I was asked to help a guy a couple years back to remove his. over 20 minutes of harsh language that took to remove it was properly welded on there
At long last I am almost finished replacing the steering lock/ignition switch unit. It has been one of the worst jobs I have carried out on this great car in the 15 years I have owned it. I have attached a photo showing the top plastic cover that I failed to remove without removing the whole column. I have highlighted with Tippex the culprits for it not sliding out as it has for others on Club GTi. Will it be OK to remove these plastic pieces so that if at any time I need to replace one of the stalk switches it will be straight forward removal process? To make it easier to get the column out I removed the drivers seat so I could easily lay on my back and drill out the shear bolts. The next problem was the boss just wouldn't budge so I gave up on that for the time being. I put a ring of silicon mastic around the perimeter of the boss, (see other photo), and when it was set I then filled the crater with proper penitrating fluid and left it for 48 hours. Even though most of the penitrating fluid had gone it still wouldn't budge. Unbelievable! I then re-applied the 2 legged pulley puller and wound it up under tension and then gave the boss a dose of heat from a blow torch and watched as the spring above the bearing gradually opened and with a bit more pressure on the puller it at long last came off. Yureeka!!! To anyone who is going to remove the steering column I would strongly advise removing the drivers seat, (very easy job), that makes it a whole lot easier to do. So many thanks to everyone who posted advice and tips in my hour of need.
