Smoke from ignition area

[guss300]

Hi all drove the car today for about 50 miles. Parked up put on the hardtop and went to start the car. Made a funny screeching noise on starting and then smoke started coming from under the plastic cover where you out key in the ignition. All help and suggestions much appreciated

[Brianmoooore]

Only one way to find out, and that's to remove the shrouds and have a look. Hopefully the problem is with the actual plastic ignition switch that clips onto the back of the key barrel. It is operated by a steel blade coming from the barrel engaging in a slot in the switch. The slot wears, and eventually doesn't get turned far enough by the key.
Steering wheel has to come off first - slacken the 22mm centre nut, leaving it a couple of turns on, release steering lock, then pull until the wheel comes loose. Purpose of leaving the nut on a couple of turns is to protect you from expensive dentistry.
The lower shroud comes off by undoing the screws underneath, but the top half can't be fully removed without dropping the steering column. Steering column can't be dropped without removing the sheared security bolts.

[guss300]

Thanks Brian will give that a go