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Car Forum / Saab Cars / March 2005ominous steering noise (c900)
I noticed a rather ominous noise that occurs when turning the steering wheel. It began today as I was parking, following my usual series of tight turns as I spiral up the parking garage at work. I would descriibe the noise as a "moan." I haven't investigated it at all yet, so I can't rule out belt slippage. But the belts are fairly new, and it's not especially cold today, and anyway it's not a squeal. Also, I've had the steering column squeak when it's very cold out, and this is decidedly not the same thing. The noise definitely eminates from the engine compartment. But what could it be? Tie rod ends? Steering rack? PS pump? After work I'll try turning the wheel with the hood open, assuming the problem is persistent. In the mean time, suggestions are welcome. Thanks, John > I noticed a rather ominous noise that occurs when turning the steering > wheel. It began today as I was parking, following my usual series of [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > all yet, so I can't rule out belt slippage. But the belts are fairly > new, and it's not especially cold today, and anyway it's not a squeal. CV joints. Check the boots for rips/tears/wear. >> I noticed a rather ominous noise that occurs when turning the steering >> wheel. It began today as I was parking, following my usual series of [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > CV joints. Check the boots for rips/tears/wear. Naah, that'd be "thock-thock-thock-thock-thock" when turning and rolling, not a moan while turning the wheel but not moving the car. You seem to have your thocks confused with your moans. I just -hate- it when that happens. >> I noticed a rather ominous noise that occurs when turning the steering >> wheel. It began today as I was parking, following my usual series of [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >> all yet, so I can't rule out belt slippage. But the belts are fairly >> new, and it's not especially cold today, and anyway it's not a squeal. >CV joints. Check the boots for rips/tears/wear. Good advice Laura - give my recent experience with one of the outer CV's on my 1983 900S (details at "http://lios.apana.org.au/~c900/cv.html"), that would probably be the first place to check if the noise is more obvious when turning. If there is any sort of metallic scraping or rasping, and/or clunking sounds, which are much more audible when turning, a problem with the outer CV's could be occuring. Regards, Craig.  SignatureCraig's Saab C900 Page --> http://lios.apana.org.au/~c900 Sydney, NSW Australia Craig's Saab C900 Workshop -- For all Saab C900 Enthusiasts world-wide! http://www.saab900classic.net http://www.saab900.org c900@lios.apana.org.au Come and explore our site, and check out our web-forums, mailing list, etc. > Good advice Laura - give my recent experience with one of the outer CV's on > my 1983 900S (details at "http://lios.apana.org.au/~c900/cv.html"), that > would probably be the first place to check if the noise is more obvious when > turning. Thanks for the idea, but this noise was present when the car wasn't moving (just turning the steering wheel). In any event, the noise was not evident when I returned to my car. I checked the PS fluid level, and it was rather low (it's been leaking for a long time), so I filled it up (it took about 300ml, which is nearly half the total volume of the system I think). Anyway, I predict it will keep working until I get around to fixing it. John > I noticed a rather ominous noise that occurs when turning the steering wheel. > It began today as I was parking, following my usual series of tight turns as I > spiral up the parking garage at work. > > I would descriibe the noise as a "moan." Congrats, you've got "Morning sickness". GM racks are known for this. > I haven't investigated it at all yet, > so I can't rule out belt slippage. But the belts are fairly new, and it's not > especially cold today, and anyway it's not a squeal. Nope, it's in the spindle valve (yes?) on the rack. It'll eventually get stiff and hard to use on cold mornings. When it's bad enough to deal with deal with it. > Also, I've had the steering column squeak when it's very cold out, and this is > decidedly not the same thing. The noise definitely eminates from the engine > compartment. Yes, this isn't that squeak. Spring is coming. I don't know of any catastrophic or dangerous failure mode for this. A rack on a c900 is a pain in the a.s to get to, but maybe someone here has some tricks on a DIY solution. I understand that the rebuilt racks have fixed the design flaw that GM built into the original design. (yes, your pre-GM Saab has a GM part in it, and it's a known problem.) Dave Hinz > Congrats, you've got "Morning sickness". GM racks are known for this. Hmm, interesting. Last winter, I had the hard-to-turn symptom on cold mornings, but it's been totally asymptomatic all winter this year, until the noise this morning. The wheel isn't hard to turn. Ah well, I'm planning on doing some work this summer (radiator, clutch slave, maybe mid-muffler if it doesn't totally pack up before then), so maybe I'll add steering rack to the list. I've been down there before poking around at things, so I can appreciate why it's no fun to work on. John >> Congrats, you've got "Morning sickness". GM racks are known for this. > > Hmm, interesting. Last winter, I had the hard-to-turn symptom on cold mornings, > but it's been totally asymptomatic all winter this year, until the noise this > morning. The wheel isn't hard to turn. It will be ;) > Ah well, I'm planning on doing some work this summer (radiator, clutch slave, > maybe mid-muffler if it doesn't totally pack up before then), so maybe I'll add > steering rack to the list. I've been down there before poking around at things, > so I can appreciate why it's no fun to work on. Comes out the side as I recall. That's one thing I hired out on my c900. My mechanic knew that if I was there, it was for something unpleasant. Dave |
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