ignition switch screw

[awigman 0]

iv just spent the last 3 hours trying to remove the tiny f*****g screw to take out the ignition switch to fit a new one. :mad2: Iv given up now! i just cant get to it, iv tried bending the screwdriver a little bit but nothing i do seems to work. Does any one know where i take my car to pay someone to waste their time unless someone on here fancys wasting their time. Im based in coventry

 

Please somebody help me!

[Critical_Mass 10]

:lol: had the same problem as you at the time i did mine. Even ruined 2 watch screwdrivers trying to get the bugger out. In the end i took a larger screwdriver and a hammer to it and broke the plastic housing to get it out. I then fitted the new ignition switch and once plugged, it stayed in place on its own. But to make sure i cable tied it, which i beleive is what alot of people from here do to save the hassle of having to get the screw out again next time the switch breaks.

 

HTHs

[Valerian 0]

Best thing to do is unbolt the steering lock housing from the steering column.

Once the housing is loose you will have enough room to get a screwdriver in there.

[awigman 0]

i managed to break two screwdrivers aswell! :lol: It just really pissed me off to spend 3 hours to undo 1 little screw, and in the end i wasnt even able to do it. is it easy to unbolt the steering lock housing from the steering column. sorry im not very mechanically minded. Im tempted to take it to a garage and admit defeat :help:

[12 DEG BEN 0]

I got mine out with a bent screwdriver with the column out of the car. The new switch is held in with cable ties only which work very well and is more solid. The screw has to be awkward to stop thieving monkeys getting to the switch too easily but with an aftermarket alarm and imob im not too bothered

[yellowdfp 0]

I have just remove the ignition switch on my car. This is the first time I have tried this. It took about 5 minutes. Contrary to other advice I have found, I did not need to remove the drivers seat (better if left in actually), the steering column, steering lock or anything else and I didn't break my back either!

 

1. Remove the lower plastic steering column cowel (3 screws under).

2. Sit on the drivers side sill plate.

3. Lean over the drivers seat so your left side is supported on it.

4. Stick your head under the steering wheel and prop yourself up on your left elbow against the floor.

5. If you look back under the steering wheel, past various wires and bits of metal you will be able to see the offending screw and lock washer side-on.

6. You can now negociate an approriately small and bendy sized scredriver with your left hand, from behind the switch, going between the switch and column adjustment 'elbow' until you see it engage in the screw head from your side-on position. Moving the steering wheel up or down may help at this point.

7. From here you can see if the scredriver is located properly and whether by gentle turning, the screw head is moving or not (last thing you want to do at this stage is round off the screwhead).

 

The secret to all this is having the correct screwdriver. A 'normal' jewelers one is too short and its' handle too thick to pass by the column 'elbow' and just not bendy enough to reach the screwhead. I found a 'prescision' crosshead, size PH0X50 did the job. This has a longer thinner shalf so the handle does not foul where the other did and it is also quite flexible. A set costs £13 from Screwfix.com (Cat. 27580). I hope this helps ... DSCF2672.JPG[/attachment:ocbwo80y]

[Valerian 0]

i've changed seven ignition switches in seven different Corrados over the past 4 years and none of them have ever taken the same amount of time to change.

Some ignition switches seem to be mounted closer to the column than others.

I will add that i've never felt the need to remove the drivers seat but on one particular late model VR did find myself laying/sitting upside down on the seat to try and see where that little bugger of a screw was.

Two cars i managed to change the switch in around ten minutes. The others took between 20 minutes and a whole hour.

 

Anyone else here noticed how some seem to be easy to change while others are a pain in the proverbial?

[boost monkey 0]

It's the biggest m

[Lufbramatt 0]

couldnt get to mine either - only way i could do it was take the whole ignition housing off as said previously. I needed a 3 leg puller to get the large spline steering wheel adaptor off, once thats out the way its just a case of undoing the clamp screws on the housing and tapping it off, make sure youve got the ignition on though to stop the steering lock coming on and holding it all together.

 

once the ignition housing is off you can easy get a normal screwdriver in there and undo the screw :)

[chubbybrown 0]

The secret is not to over tighten it for the next owner :D

[dirtytorque 0]

this was the first diy job i did my my corrado.

I don't remember the details but I do remember the pain.

:censored: of a job.

[boost monkey 0]

dirtytorque, we often repress traumatic memories! :lol:

[Taggart 0]

The secret is not to over tighten it for the next owner :D

 

Really... I used threadlock just to hack them off :clap:

[ZippyVR6 0]

I am in exactly the same situation. The 2 bent screwdrivers just dont fit home on the screw head,

 

This precision screwdriver? is it actually flexible?

[ZippyVR6 0]

Not to worry,

 

Couldn't bend a screwdriver round there, so i fed a thin long driver from the left of the steering wheel and bashed it with a hammer till the lill c**t snapped around the brass screw and the whole switch just fell off.

 

That is a job I would not like to do again.

 

and getting the brass screw back in was well fiddly.

 

However 2 cups of tea later all is back to normal. :clap:

[nibblesvr6 0]

Just another idea would be rather than smashing the ignition switch housing, i heated the end of a flathead screwdriver with a blowtorch and melted the plastic in between the switch and the brass screw, the switch then simply dropped out. this was hours after blood, sweat and tears lost, good luck to anyone in the future :|

[Riley 0]

Guys...Ive noticed on my G60 that if i have ignition on and move the key/push it in/out...the volt gauge goes up and down. Does this mean new switch time?

 

And how good is it to find yet another relatively simple job, ruined by the vw designers?

 

How the feck do those bolts come out? Im presuming that if they are removed that you could spin the switch housing to get a driver on the screw? Rather than having to pull the spline off?

 

 

 

And the stupid damn screw...

[Briskdub 0]

I did mine last weekend the classic way - taking all the drivers seat out, removing the parcel shelf and all that.

OK so I'm laying under the ignition switch for maybe an hour, I've broken two watchmakers 'philips' type screwdrivers and I'm pretty racked off. Final throw of the dice and I use one of the 'normal' watchmakers screwdrivers and it comes undone easily. :D I recon that it's all about the angle of the screw and a 'philips' driver just skids off whereas the 'normal' screwdriver just grips the edge of the cross. Might be worth a try for someone else.

[davidwort 0]

for the sake of drilling out a couple of shear bolts and a pinch bolt to the rack UJ why not just remove the whole column, I had to do this anyway when I changed to a fixed column and it makes it a darn sight easier to work on it when you can turn it around in a vice :)

 

doing it this way I had no need to remove the drivers seat and the column came out from start in 15 mins.

[bruny 0]

Had to change one on a T4 transporter this afternoon, still a pig of a job, but armed with my bent screwdriver from last time and having more room under the steering column, it only took 30mins. VW are still using the same system :cuckoo:

[awigman 0]

Iv done it! :clap:

 

A rather unconventional way tho. The switch its kinda made of two half so it will split in the middle. I pretty much ripped the half off facing you which left half still attached by the screw. With half ripped off you have a full view of the screw with no gap to squeeze past to un-tighten. Job done!

[Riley 0]

I ended up grinding down one of those little phillips bits that you pop in the end of a cheap screw driver.

 

And then using a spanner on it. 8)

 

[RaddoMan 0]

its a hard one , but feels so good when you hear that screw crack out