Remove & Refit steering column stalks

Remove and refit steering column stalks

I had to carry out this job as the headlamp flash wasnt working on my headlight stalk, as I do a lot of motorway miles its important to me, the car has recently had an mot, I told them about it but they said that they dont test the flash function just the high beam, and its warning light, which was ok on my car, the flash function has steadily got worse over the last couple of months and then stopped working altogether.

Its quite an easy job

Tools required
flat and philips screwdrivers
24mm socket and torque wrench for s/wheel nut [50Nm]
8mm spanner
hammer
1 hour of time


You perhaps should disconnect the battery for this, but I didnt, I just disconnected the horn at its connector in the engine bay, otherwise it will be going off all the time when trying to remove and refit the horn push


This is what we are removing and refitting:




Ok, set your steering straight and be happy that the steering wheel position is ok.



Lever off the steering wheel centre/horn push with a flat blade screwdriver, theres 3 clips that hold it in place



Remove the two springs, and undo the nut holding the steering wheel, I used a torque wrench for leverage but it came off really easy, unscrew the nut to the end of the thread, then tap the nut/centre column with a hammer and this will shock the steering wheel free, remove the nut and washer and pull off the steering wheel, a little wiggle and pull up, not too much force or it might hit you in the face.



Make a note of the position of the "hole" in the indicator cancel ring for refitting



Undo the column covers, 3 screws underneath, then seperate the two halves to reveal the wiring etc



Pull out the wiring plugs from the dash



And undo them, you dont need to make a note how they go, each one is unique so you cant get them the wrong way putting them back



Now to undo the stalks, undo the 8mm bolt which clamps the stalks to the column, then pull them up over and off the top of the column







At this point, I thought I would check the tightness of the main column bolts, seeing as they are accessible, I just nipped them up slightly tighter.



Now to refit

Slide the new[er] stalks over the column, slide them down all the way, theres no locating fittings that keep the stalks from turning left to right so I put the top cowling in place to get a good position then tightened the 8mm bolt





Now set the indicator cancel ring



Reconnect the wiring



Push wiring back into the dash



At this point I thought I would have a test, flick the ignition on, pull the flash stalk, YES, it worky!



Refit the bottom cowling around the column



Carefully refit the steering wheel making sure that the nipple behind it fits into the cancel ring



Refit the washer and nut, tighten to 50NM - or TIGHT if you dont have a torque wrench, I held the steering wheel with one had and tightened to 50NM with the other with ease



Refit the horn push springs



Locate the 3 tabs on the back of the horn push, and snap it back into place on the steering wheel





JOB DONE

[of course I then reconnected the horn wire, then fully tested all stalk functions, and horn]


Thanks for reading, any questions? fire away..

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