Few small setbacks

Hello again, weather has continued to be great so I've taken every opportunity to be out driving. The Scania Road trip was last Thursday so had the car ready and cleaned Wednesday evening. Thursday morning got in and tried to start and ignition was dead again. No problem just lightly thump the steering wheel as usual. That's when the steering column fell out of the retaining bracket! 

Impossible to drive anywhere!

Back to square 372, spaghetti everywhere!

It's always worth attaching the scuttle to the bulkhead with Cleco fasteners and run the car for a week or so to see that everything is functioning correctly before riveting it in place.

There is nothing to stop the bolts from slipping out of the "U" shaped bracket. While the column was hanging down I replaced the ignition switch.

Just two retaining grub screws and out it popped.

Plug out the old cable and plug in the new.

New from BMW cost around £65

once the new switch was in place I tightened both bolts holding the column in place as well as replaced the plastic/metal washers with normal metal ones. Hopefully it won't slip out again. 

I took the opportunity to also change the crank shaft sensor and throttle position sensor as I still get a slight lag occasionally when accelerating. At least with all the sensors changed I can discount them as the problem! 

Crank shaft sensor

So far, touch wood with the new ignition switch I've had no problems with a dead dashboard. Next thing is get under the car and have a good check, nuts, bolts, cables etc. Brakes need a check too, bleeding and replacing if necessary. Weather doesn't look so good over the long weekend so I'll have time to have a good check.

Talk soon, have a nice day!