I'm about to pull the 145's steering wheel as part of my Ahab like quest to get the horns working consistently. What size is the steering wheel nut? No puller needed, I take it.

The spring-loaded nub on the steering wheel that contacts the white plastic column piece with the circular ground ring is eroded. I figure I'll try to stretch the spring. Is there anything I can use to bulk up the nub? Is this part on any early 240s or otherwise available?

Beep beep.

Steve M.

I'm always messing with my steering wheel it seems-- It's easy enough to pull off, though. I used a tire iron the first time--- you know the cross type? One of those fit nicely on the nut. The steering wheel, once the nut is removed will pull right off with a quick jerk. It might take a couple tries. DON'T hit yourself in the lip when it comes loose like I did the first time (but if you do, check to see if anyone saw you, THEN check for blood).

*** WARNING ***

My steering column caught on fire after trying to repair the horn by stretching the spring and honking. I figure the sketchy connection caused a bunch of resistance and poof! First smoke, then a cute little flame sitting on top of the column. "Hi, little flame!" So I'd advise against it. First, I bypassed the horn button on the steering wheel and installed a little momentary button switch which worked great and solved the problem of a weak-sounding horn (a symptom of that poor connection that went poof!) but I didn't like having to search for this little horn switch. I thought about making a foot switch (stomp stomp, beep beep!) but finally settled on interfacing it with the brights toggle on the blinker. Now, The highly respectable and much, MUCH, smarter-than-I, Ron Kwas will NOT recommend you do this and for good reason. You may cause a different fire because the mechanism and wiring cannot necessarily support the added current introduced my the horns. I, however, am conducting an experiment on the 145 and so far, so good. Plus, I really like the horn and lights flashing at the same time. It's so... autobahn. The only drawback so far is that I can't switch on my brights without honking, but I live in the city so I rarely turn them on other than *flash flash*. If I do turn them on, I can do it really quick and the horn's beep is so fast, it's nearly imperceptable.

If you do choose to fix the horn so it works the way it's supposed to, make sure the copper ring is really clean and the spring is not overstretched. You don't want the contact point on the end of the spring to flop over sideways onto the ring. Clean that thing, too. If your horn still sounds weak (test it with the engine running for full power), you might get your very own fire. Don't forget marshmallows!!

-Ben
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Okay, the contact can't really flop over because it's controlled within a sleeve, so scratch that.

Fire!

I'm not sure what the size of the nut is. I usually use a 15" Crescent
wrench.

You may have some trouble getting the wheel off after the nut is loose.
What I did was to rat-tail file some round-bottomed grooves in opposite
points of the nut's hex to line up with tapped holes in the wheel, then
put some 5/16"-18 bolts with washers in the holes, using the nut and bolts
as a puller. I had a flat-topped nut, so if yours is self-locking, you may
have to find another nut.
--
George Downs, The "original" Walrus3, Bartlesville, Oklahoma

Whatever you do, don't take the retaining nut out, undo it a few turns. I learnt this the hard way....... :=)
--
'86 740 GLT 2.3 injection estate, '89 740 SE 2.0 injection saloon, '87 BMW 316 Coupe

I guess I don't understand. How do you get the wheel off if you don't
remove the nut? Were you working on a 140/164?
--
George Downs, The "original" Walrus3, Bartlesville, Oklahoma

And I don't understand how you fit a crescent wrench down in there. On a 145 isn't it buried an inch or two down into the place where you can easily hide a film canister behind the horn emblem? (ahem)
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It has been a long time but I think I used the end of the Crescent and
put a screwdriver through the hole in the handle. I note someone posted that
he used a lug wrench, so that might be worth trying.
--
George Downs, The "original" Walrus3, Bartlesville, Oklahoma