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Author Topic: Steering rack replaced for groaning noise - it's not the steering rack -gearbox?  (Read 960 times)

Offline jettamike

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Hey all,

Had my steering rack replaced for the following symptoms :

groaning whiney noise when turning left or right at slow speed whether left or right ( I stated to the dealership that it does NOT make this noise if you have the clutch in or out of gear). They diagnosed it as the steering rack and replaced it but as I suspected, the noise is still there.

I've also stated the following symptoms to them which I think along with the groaning noise on turns point to a gearbox problem but I'd appreciate your opinion :

  • The drivetrain has some slack somewhere, noticeable if you are off the power at for example 40mph and then put your foot down - the revs will jump up slightly with no increase in road speed until something catches up (It's not clutch slip it doesn't go up enough)
  • If you come off the power with any amount of turn applied in either direction for example a roundabout you get a metallic clunk noise like there's backlash somewhere. It also does this when you reapply power. The service manager told me this is normal and they all do it, which frankly I don't believe as I've never had a car do it before.

Can anyone point me in the right direction so that I can give them some ideas before the warranty runs out? I took it to a friends garage and he said something is amiss with the drivetrain, possibly something inside the box or a cv joint or similar, but that first thing they'd do if it was them is to drop the gearbox oil and see what state its in.

Thanks for reading :)