excess play in steering column???

[budd]

I've noticed a fair amount of play (I can move it up and down abit) in the steering column, (X300 Sov), is this normal or a sign of excess wear? the play is only evident when the steering wheel is extended eg whilst driving or the ignition is on, when the steering wheel retracts there's no play at all. Will this be a problem come MOT time? or can I set the steering wheel position to fully retracted and raised and lock it to that position for the test?

[Jaguar steve]

Steering wheels are checked for lateral and vertical play as part of the test. It's subjective - one tester may fail a borderline case another may pass it.

Why not take the fuse out when it goes for the MOT? If there's no apparent play in the fully retracted position then it won't fail. But, if you're going to do this you need to be absolutely sure it's just a bit of general wear and slack in the coloumn - which they do get - and not a serious problem lurking.

[budd]

Thanks for the quick reply, when I say there’s play it’s not a massive amount but it seemed strange that while some vertical and lateral play is apparent in the extended / operational position absolutely no play is evident when it is retracted to it’s ‘parked’ position
I’ll take the cowl off and have a look at the mechanism to see if it’s a design trait or a symptom of wear in the column. But removing the fuse would immobilise the column for test purposes, where is the relevant fuse and will it just stop the column adjustment or will it affect anything else i.e. seats etc.?

[Jaguar steve]

There's a fixed outer column and a sliding inner. When the column is fully extended you have less support for the inner - which the wheel is attached to and be able to apply more leverage too.

It may not be anything to get concerned over. What happens if you turn the adjustment switch on the column to off? IIRC this disables the auto positioning and memory function so you should be able to park the column in the fully retracted position.