340 stalks

Post by **classicswede** » 18 Aug 2005 09:05 pm

How many of you have had a stalk fall off on you?
I bet it has happened to most of us here and we all know the problem, the plastic bracket on the steering coloum breaks and then the stalk flops about!
This has happened to me twice now and this is how I fixed it on both cars.

All that is needed is to cut a bit of thin flat bar and drill two holes in it and fit in on to both the stalks.(I used a bracket that comes with some lpg parts)
You could do this before the plastic gets broken to save the inconveinience.

Dai

Post by **RandomHero** » 18 Aug 2005 09:19 pm

Can you explain what the stalk is? In my car that part hangs a little bit lower then it should be i guess

Post by **classicswede** » 18 Aug 2005 09:33 pm

The stalks are the switches by the steering wheel you use for the wipers/indicators and main beam/dip lights.
If you take the plastic cover off from under the steering wheel (4 big round pins hold it on) you will see where the stalks fix on to the steering coloum, this is where the problems are (also ckeck the screws are tight).

Dai

Post by **V6 Man** » 18 Aug 2005 09:41 pm

Been there, done that, but interestingly only on a Mk3 that my Mum had.
Both my Mk2's (one with the later Mk1 dash) did not suffer from this problem despite being older and highger mileage.

Post by **340GLT** » 18 Aug 2005 11:29 pm

Had to do it to my 1.4 and the blueline already had it done!! Cut up Radio cages are good, as you can usually find two holes the right distance apart!!!!
Cheers Adam

Post by **petefarrell360** » 19 Aug 2005 12:05 am

It is indeed s PITA, had it happen the day before the MOT the year before last! So at 11 pm at night I'm making a metal brace, pretty much like you show! Even the donor plastic part I used was cracked, so I braced it to make it stronger. The holes are just far too close to the edge of the plastic IMO.
Pete

Post by **Kakemnstr** » 19 Aug 2005 12:38 am

this happend to me aswell, solved it the same way as you did in the pictures. never got the blinker to stay in place so the blinker turns of after the turn though.

Post by **jtbo** » 19 Aug 2005 03:37 pm

Someone had already build quick and dirty fix to my car, but it was coming loose so I tighten screws at January and it still is ok.

Post by **Tom** » 19 Aug 2005 05:35 pm

Good God, this happened to me just the other day. It fell off on my way home from work and for some reason the indicator was stuck on the left setting. So I drove home all day with people flashing to let me into queues etc..