Clunking noise in steering column

[NashvilleGXP243]

My 2005 GXP has a 'clunking' sound in what seems to be the top of the steering column. I just spent $2,200.00 on new front struts, 2 front top strut mounts, 2 front wheel hub bearings, 4 new Firestone Indy 500 tires and a 4 wheel alignment. This past spring I put a water pump in it (pretty easy, took about 1 1/2 hours. I also put the back 4 coil packs on it, since the #5 coil pack was bad. Little did I know the 'first design' is no longer available. That's the reason I got all 4. Left off the secondary air valve bracket that's a pain to deal with. Also, since my #5 coil went bad, it fried my catalytic converter. Spent $200 for a new one, plus installation. Pretty good deal in that end. All told, I've spent almost $3,000 on this POS car, and it's getting old throwing money into this poorly designed car. And I still have to get a new instrument panel that has the good stepper motors installed (there was a guy on here that sold these, new stepper motors installed, for $150.00). The fog lights don't work, I'm leaning towards HID lights for those. Pontiac was stupid in installing the cheap fog lights in the GXP's!!! I don't see why they didn't use the ones from a GTP or GT Grand Prix! To save money, I guess.

[CMNTMXR57]

You need to search these things. It's common on GM FWD vehicles and all of us have addressed it.

This answers it;
http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... el%20clunk

As to the fogs, yes it is a stupid a$$ design (there is an entire thread designated to this sh*t design), but the reason why it was chosen over the other styles is because 55w H3 bulbs have more lumen output (meaning more light output), than the other styles that use 880 or 893 bulbs.

880 = 565 lumens
893 = 940 lumens
H3 = 1,500 lumens

[ddalder]

Understanding that you're frustrated, the more costly of the items you've listed are considered normal wear items for virtually any vehicle. You have a ten year old car and depending on how the previous owner(s) cared for it, it's going to need some love. It's just a case of how much. Even the intermediate steering shaft is far from unique to the Bonneville. The fog lamps, well that's a different story. You can find all kinds of help here but you'll need to be patient and yes, spend some money. I know you've already spent a lot, but again, the vast majority was for normal wear items. I've always told people they have two choices... a new car with warranty coverage, low maintenance costs and a car payment OR an older car with no car payment and higher maintenance costs. Usually there's a period in there somewhere that you're free from both a car payment and large repair bills. This usually doesn't last more than a few years (at best). How a car is taken care of and driven usually has a huge impact on the extent of necessary repairs. It's really about picking your poison. I'm sure you're more than aware of many things I've said. Some of this is intended as general comments for all readers.

[CMNTMXR57]

I was gonna lay into it and say that you bought a ~10 year old car with mileage, and a N* and you're calling out normal routine maintenance issues as POS GM.

[jradke61]

My 10 year old car with 138,000+ on it has obviously been well taken care of by the previous owner. I've had to replace the fog lights once and repair one of the ground wires. That's it.
I did have an intermittent high speed miss as well. Spark plugs and Coil Packs and all is good. Can hardly complain there tho with 138,000 miles on the Coil Packs. That's normal maintenance.
Left the splash guards off the fog lights to keep the heat issue to a minimum. So far so good.
Could be worse. You could own a Ford.