Last week we had a customer bring in their 2006 BMW 750i because the tilt steering completely stopped working however the telescoping portion was working. This is a very low mileage vehicle with only 25,000 miles on it. We don’t really think a vehicle with such low mileage would have a steering column go bad. After some diagnosing our technician decided he needed to diagnose further which meant looking at the actual steering column.
On the 2006 BMW 750i to look at the steering column you need to remove all the vents and trim on the dashboard. We found that on the 750i particularly; you have to start from the right side of vehicle removing panels and vents to be able to get to the left side. Once Mike got the dash taken out he was able to investigate the problem.
At first, we thought the best course of action would be replacing the steering column. Upon further diagnosis, Mike discovered that the tilt was jammed.
He was able to unjam the mechanism and re-grease it. He was able to power up the vehicle and test the mechanism prior to reinstalling all the trim and dashboard and with the minor repair to the BMW steering column, it is preforming normally at this time. The technician reinstall all the trim and dash and the 2006 BMW 750i is now back on the road.
Luckily the customer understood that it's better for us to diagnose an issue instead of just throwing new parts at a problem. To replace the steering column could've cost upwards of $2500 but because the customer chose to have us dive further into the issue were able to save them considerable amount of money and time.
Happy Driving!