7 replies to this topic

[Chris wood]

Hi,

My steering wheel has become a little slack recently, there is a small amount of play before it actually turns the wheels (the play has no resistance). After shining a torch at the bottom of the coloum I can see it's not turning the part coming through the floor.

I have bought the two plastic (upper and lower - GSV1095 and NAM8563 ) repair sections from mini spares. Should this rectify the problem / are they easy to fit?

Cheers

Chris

[[email protected]]

This will have a lot to do with the subframe movement on your other thread from earlier, they that solved with some solid subframe tower mounts, and check the steering from there (unless you are physically talking about play in the column)

As a matter of course make sure the steering column pinch bolt is tight, and that the rack U-bolts are tight enough

[JustSteve]

Nope, although theres a good chance these are worn anyway.

What you should have is a bolt on the bottom of the steering column to tighten it to the rack (the bit you're describing shining the torch on). Tighten this up ASAP, it is not safe to drive the car before you do this.

Good luck

[Chris wood]

I can see that bolt and will attempt to tighten it tonight, but it looks pretty tight alreay to be honest (crimped right up). Can I change upper and lower mounts separatly or should they all be done at once?

thankyou for you advice

Edited by Chris wood, 24 January 2012 - 01:24 PM.

[[email protected]]

I can see that bolt and will attempt to tighten it tonight, but it looks pretty tight alreay to be honest (crimped right up). Can I change upper and lower mounts separatly or should they all be done at once?

thankyou for you advice

If you mean the column bushes, do both at the same time.

[Dan]

You absolutely must not drive this car until this is fixed.

You must pull the steering column out and inspect the inside of the bottom of it. The spline which connects it to the steering pinion may have worn. It should be sharp and cleanly cut with no gaps or smoothed off areas. The pinch bolt does not and cannot handle the steering load and over tightening it will only increase the damage if the spline is gone and could snap the bolt. The spline takes the steering load. If it is worn it will continue to wear and soon (frighteningly soon, there's about 500 miles from an undamaged new steering column to no control) you will loose all control quite suddenly while driving. You will probably have trouble removing the column because of the damage that will have been done to the pinch bolt. If you find this damage to the spline inside the column you need a new inner column and pinch bolt. USE THE PROPER GENUINE PINCH BOLT. There is no alternative. This is usually caused by the column being out of alignment with the rack due to the column having been lowered without adjusting the rack position.

[tiger99]

I totally agree with Dan. In the early days of Minis, before garages got used to maintaining them, spline failure was a common cause of accidents, some fatal. Again we are in an era where few garages know much about Minis, so the old problems will return, unless we, either owners or enthusiasts, or both, keep our eye on the ball. This is one thing that really needs to be checked at every service.

As Dan says, the trouble often begins by someone adjusting the column angle without loosening the U bolts, so the splines are immediately ruined. Someone even broke the shaft of the pinion many years ago by doing that.

The splines are also damaged by using steering column mounts which are not sufficiently rigid, a parcel shelf which is flexing, or the steering column being out of line sideways, which can't be compensated for by rotating the rack in its U bolts. All of these things force the splined joint to flex every time you turn the wheel, which results in rapid failure.

Again, this is probably the most vital thing to check on a Mini, regularly. The danger of not doing so can never be overstated. If it is looked after properly, it will never become a problem, but people have died for want of 30 seconds with a torque wrench. It is a very poor tradeoff.

[Bishop IRL]

I agree with the above two posts. Dont drive the car until you sort the problem out.

My son bought a mini and had the very same problem. After sourcing the inner part of the column on Flee-bay the problem was no more