Noisy Steering Column...

[Skibum346]

SWMBO has a 300tdi of 1995 vintage... Since picking it up it has developed a nasty scraping sound whenever the steering wheel is turned.

It seems to be worse when it's wet out.

I don't have the mnanual for this age of Disco so have not yet discovered how to take the steering column cover and lower dash off, or what to expect to see when I do.

So I thought I'd ask you lot a few questions...

Is there a bearing of some kind on the column that could be dry/dead?
If there is no bearing... any ideas?!
How do I remove the column cover and lower dash?

Thanks in advance guys

Skibum

[auf_wiedersehen_pet]

Sounds just like mine - same age.

I'm interested in the answers too..............

[gtomo2]

try squrting a little wd40 between the back of the  steering wheel and the front of the cover. As had a problem like that on a car a while back and that cured it

[driftwood]

are you sure its not uj's or compression joint?

[ChrisW]

In your best estimation, where do you think the noise is coming from? One possible cause could be the cancel ring for the indicators - a small ring on the back of the steering wheel with little lugs on to cancel the indicator after a turn - the lugs invariably break off.

Is the power steering pump belt tight and the reservoir filled up to within it's limits?

[Skibum346]

Thanks for the advice guys... it turned out to be a two part problem.

1. UJ in engine bay transmitting sound all the way up into the cab!
2. sprung contact for horn button in steering wheel scraping on the boss.

In both cases copious amounts of spray grease seems to have been the cure. Moral of the story... even if the noise is in the cab... look elswhere as well! Took me an hour of sticking my head in amongst ingnition wiring to figure that out!

There is still a piece of the indicator cancelling ring inthe mechanism but to my eyes it looked like I needed to take the steering wheel off to access the indicator mechanism  :shock:  so that was left in situ.

Skibum