Audi A3 97 mysterious steering wheel clunck

[Mihkel]

Hello all,

Lately I’ve struggeled to get rid of mysterious clunck which 2h after changing power steerng pump. This pump has been replaced already once again because it started to make noise again. Now it is running nice and quiet. No oil leaks or bubbles or what so ever.

This clunck has been there 1.5 years already and it doesn’t get any worse or so. It is just annoying. I’ve been to several inspections, they say it is normal and every car has clunck like this. Everybody is telling me that everything is fine without any play. I’ve changed already strut mounts and bearings as they showed me already signs of wear. No difference.

Here is the video about this clunck:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mq-NhLySXQ

If the video iframe is broken…, follow the link below.
http://www.you tube.com/watch?v=1mq-NhLySXQ
Clunck is there with or without hydraulic pressure. Happens when shaking steering wheel. Sometimes when driving over bumps.

Car: Audi A3 1997
Engine 1.6l petrol, manual transmission
Front wheel drive, 217000km

Thanks for any suggestions.

Topic

[619DioFan]

It appears that the ” u-joint ” at the end of the steering shaft has excessive play. is the noise coming from the area near the floor or does it sound closer to the steering wheel ? if near the wheel possible the steering shaft top bearing is worn.

[Stian Wexal]

I had a A4 99 whit the same issue. I ended whit changing upper and lower control bridges and links, and use lubrication on all parts that can be lubricated. It can be that there is some weary bolts or cross bolts that made the sound, but i never hear the sound again and changed car. I will not say tha Audi is a bad car, but the suspension on Audi can be a pain to work on by my experience.

[Konrad]

You would need to isolate some components to narrow your diagnosis. You can disconnect the u-joint at the bulkhead, hold it down with a large vise grip and then hold the vise grip with your foot so it doesn’t move, then move the steering wheel back and forth to see if the noise is still there. If you can’t hear it than it’s time to look further down. Attach a vise grip to the steering shaft going to the rack and move it around. Sometimes you can feel things better when there is no column to dampen the play. Try it like this with the wheels off the ground, and then with the tie rods disconnected. See what changes and it will help you isolate the noise. Get a friend to turn the wheel for you as you observe for movement and feel around for play.

It may be worth doing a quick bolt check. Go over the steering rack and subframe and make sure all the bolts are tight.

It could be many things. Noises can be tough to diagnose and especially on those cars since they had so many steering issues. There were clunking noise issues with steering columns, clamping screw for switch pack on column, strut mounts, strut bearings, spring perches, ball joints, steering rack mountings, steering racks, control arm bushings and loose subframes.

[Mihkel]

Hi again and thanks for all the feedback. If I have some time on next weekend I’ll try the FourRings given steps. Right now I have some hesitation problems – going to do swap the basics, half way already there 🙂 and some improvements also.

About the noise location…It is weird, inside it feels the steering wheel, outside it feels near the steering rack.

[Bill]

It’s hard to tell from the video but it looks like a little loosness in the u joint at the bottom. I think the noise is in the column. Maybe the collapsible shaft is worn. Don’t know too much about Audi but i have seen other cars with the same problem.

FourRings has the best idea for diagnosis.

[Mihkel]

Hi again,

A little update on this topic. Is it correct that I have to remove or lower the rack in order to disconnect column from rack? If, so I’m unable to do this myself. So, this weekend I took plastics off inside and inspected the column. I blocked the steering column near the connection with rack. The results are shown in videos below. Might happen, that the column was not blocked entierly on first video, but I was sure, that on the second video, it was completly blocked. Weird thing is that when the steering lock is engaged, there is no clunk at all. Or does it lock the steering from some other place?

youtube.com/watch?v=T9qpJFaQm_I
youtube.com/watch?v=HfklYogR12s

[Mihkel]

Bringing my post up. Specially, I’m interested in how to remove column from rack.

[college man]

I can’t find a good procedure to disconnect the column
from the rack.

[Mihkel]

Finally managed to remove column from rack. It is fairly easy job. Just remove the bolt near the rack and column connection inside the car. Thanks to this I know that the clunck is inside the car. After I removed the column, the clunck was gone when I shaked the front wheels.

[college man]

Great job finding the source. is the u joint the issue?

[Mihkel]

I’m not so sure about the u-joint failure. I had the same noise with another steering column. I think there is some another problem but I’ll make another post when the noise is gone!

[Author]

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