Advisory on mot for top steering column play,

Any ideas on what to do to resolve play in steering column behind the wheel?

Julian,
I recommend that you provide information on the year and model Jaguar you are having issues with and perhaps what country you live in. This is an international list so it may help others to help you if they knew what kind of Jaguar you have and where in the world you live.

Paul

Are you talking fore and aft movement or axial, up and down and roundabout? If the former, it should be a case of tightening the knurled ring adjuster behind the steering wheel. If axial, the column is a sealed unit, unlike Mk2 E type, etc that use nylon bushes. It runs in an upper and lower tapered bearing, like a wheel bearing, but tiny, and AFIK, not available separately.On my car (S1) the lower bearing was stuffed because of a leaking windscreen, but I managed to dismantle it and free it up using fine wet and dry. When assembled, it moved freely enough, but there was enough slack in the column to cause the horn ring to contact earth and blow the horn at certain wheel positions. I was able to reduce the play by shimming the lower bush with gasket paper. That particular area does not rotate or rub and is not subject to fore and aft loads, so seems to be a satisfactory repair so far. Obviously, all this involves removing the entire steering column and a bit of trial and error. You will become adept at removing the instrument panel, I assure you.

That’s for the prompt!
It’s a Daimler Sovereign Series 2 built Feb 1976.
The issue is an MOT advisory that there is play in the
Up and down movement of the steering wheel.
The wheel is secure but I suspect that the bearing at the top of the steering column is worn or the in /out adjustment of the steering wheel has failed and may be the cause, the adjuster bezel behind the wheel is hard to move some times( I have it set for me so it’s not really a problem). Clearly I would like to resolve with out removal of the steering column!
Any thoughts or ideas most welcome.

I had exactly the same issue on my '73 S1 and it had the side effect of causing a curious ‘flop’ in the steering on some corners. Not dangerous but a bit disconcerting and allied with a bit of wander at high speeds - particularly frustrating after shelling out a lot of dosh on a new steering rack and other steering components.

I had a quick look at the column but it was beyond my abilities and access was not great. I had no shame in asking a specialist to fix (was in for diff/rear axle rebuild anyway). Car is much more stable at high speed with no flop or wander. Feels much better. That element of repair wasn’t particularly expensive, a few hours for somebody who knows what they’re doing.

It’s unlikely the fore\aft adjustment has failed as it just consists of an inner and outer spline, and not subject to wear. As mentioned, the upper and lower bearings are taper bearings, so you can remove some of the endfloat by shimming,or, perhaps easier, just find a replacement column. I found it easiest to remove the instrument panel to gain access to the bolts and nuts securing the upper part of the column, but if you have a replacement column, you should be able to do the whole job in a couple of hours; no special tools required. Disconnect battery prior to working.

If you take the column cover off you would be able to see more what is wrong.
I would look first at the bushings at the upper part of the column, the rubber might have deteriorated.
Otherwise, you have to take the column out to assess.
At least at the SIII the bearings are inside a rubber bushing, to absorb vibrations, that can also deteriorate and give play, I had that problem on the lower bearing. If it’s the case you could fassion a bushing from pieces of hose, o-rings, shrink tube or whatever you have lying around.
I doubt that the bearings themselves have a problem as the see very little use and the forces are minimal.

If the problem is that the column moves in and out and doesn’t lock on the locking collar, this is likely due to wear of the tapered collet that the collar locks down onto to grip the column. These can round off with usage, and are nla, unless you get lucky. Column does not need to be removed to fix.
I have this issue on my XJC currently, but it hasn’t been a warrant of fitness issue (yet :crossed_fingers:)
There is an episode of Wheeler Dealers which fixed this exact issue on an XJC (same as any S2)

Maybe available via Discovery or Amazon Prime. Has been on free to air Rush channel (NZ) recently.

That’s very interesting, the S3 column is quite different to the S1 as it appears to use ball bearings, not tapered rollers. I had assumed they were the same and only the lower column differed to allow for the different size rack housing. My mistake.