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I have noticed a lot more lately that when I turn left, or from slight bumps/cracks in the road I can feel a pop in my steering wheel and sometimes (usually on the turns) you can hear it with all the music and vents turned off. When I turn the wheel to the right, nothing happens like it does to the left. On left turns it makes like a pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop until I stop turning the wheel, and it will continue to pop again until the wheel is back straight or to the right. Does this mean I have early signs of a bad ball joint, or is it something will the steering column/rack and pinion? If you have any possible ideas, please let me know ASAP, I don't want to let this get worse.

From where does the noise seem to originate? Most things would cause a noise regardless of the way that you turned the wheel. Normally, the first suspect would be the intermediate steering shaft, but that too will make the noise regardless of the direction that the wheel is turned.

Archon wrote:From where does the noise seem to originate? Most things would cause a noise regardless of the way that you turned the wheel. Normally, the first suspect would be the intermediate steering shaft, but that too will make the noise regardless of the direction that the wheel is turned.

I'm not really sure on the noise. I think I can just hear it coming out of the steering wheel. I am going to lift up my front left and check the ball joint and control arm for now. If they move, I think that will determine the problem. If it aint that, it might be a bushing somewhere up there.

Archon wrote:From where does the noise seem to originate? Most things would cause a noise regardless of the way that you turned the wheel. Normally, the first suspect would be the intermediate steering shaft, but that too will make the noise regardless of the direction that the wheel is turned.

This morning, I found out if I grab my steering wheel and try to shake it, the steering wheel will move back and forth left and right, up or down, but not in and out. Do you think that could potentially be the problem?

I would expect that it would still make noise regardless of the direction that you turn the wheel. You could try this and see if it helps.
http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... 41833.html

almost sounds like a badly worn CV axle

Well, now recently I have found that if I am going really slow (like at running speed) if I tap the brakes I can feel that pop in my steering wheel. So far I haven't really noticed any pops on right turns, other than if I go over a bump or crack. This is really starting to bother me on what it is, and I hope its not really expensive to fix.

Check your rack mounting bolts. Heard those can come loose.

01bonneSC wrote:Check your rack mounting bolts. Heard those can come loose.

How and where do I do that?

Under the car. The power steering rack, your tie rods are connected to it. See if they snug up with a wrench.

Alright, I will put the car in the garage and take a detailed look at it tomorrow. Its gonna be a rainy day all day, so it will be fine.

01bonneSC wrote:Under the car. The power steering rack, your tie rods are connected to it. See if they snug up with a wrench.

Well, today I put the car in the garage and it tried to find out what was wrong. Tested to see if the strut, tie-rod ends, ball joints, sway bar links or anything else in that area was loose or bad. Nothing wiggled much, other than what was neccesary. I had one of my friends drive my car and see if he could feel/hear the same thing. He said he could definitely feel it too, so I wasn't crazy. So we pulled back in to the garage and he had me swing the wheel from full left to right and back again, while he held the steering column boot by the rack and pinion. I tried to stop the wheel in mid pop, and he tried to wiggle the steering column but it wasn't loose or anything. Our best bet was a possible knuckle in the shaft that is binding, but isn't too severe yet that you can replicate the symptoms other than by turning the wheel. How much am I looking at here if I had a shop replace the whole steering column from the wheel to the r&p?

I would try lubing the ISS first, if it gets better then replace it with the updated part.

Had a similar problem, but only noticed when turning right.
Was told by a mechanic friend that failing motor mounts may cause a misalignment of the CV joint/shaft.
I changed all mounts out, and both CV/axle assys.
NO more problems.

The motor mounts were deteriorated and/or compressed. Hockey pucks for me if the front one fails again.

mrwildroot

mrwildroot wrote:Had a similar problem, but only noticed when turning right.
Was told by a mechanic friend that failing motor mounts may cause a misalignment of the CV joint/shaft.
I changed all mounts out, and both CV/axle assys.
NO more problems.

The motor mounts were deteriorated and/or compressed. Hockey pucks for me if the front one fails again.

mrwildroot

I actually just had the front mount replaced, how many more mounts and what kinds did you get? If if's just simple like this, I can do it easily myself.

Well, I put the car up on some ramps today. My friend and I both grabbed on every possible steering thing under the car and nothing seemed loose on either side. We checked the bolts on the R&P, those were tight as heck. None of the CV boots were tore or even stressed for that matter. All the ball joints were fairly firm, not too bad for being 12 years old. Tie rods were solid, and the rear trans mount looked just fine. Struts were still firm, and shocks didn't move at all. The only thing I can come up with is either it's the start of a bad steering shaft, or something internal of the R&P is going on. I wish I could just figure this out now, cause all the pop's are starting to irritate me.

"I actually just had the front mount replaced, how many more mounts and what kinds did you get? If if's just simple like this, I can do it easily myself."

There are four mounts total, two motor mounts and two tranny mounts. I changed out the front mount myself, but the other three are real bears. You really need a lift. Well worth my paying someone else to do it . My mounts were all deteriorated. The rear tranny mount replacement (NAPA) was much better quality than OEM mount.
I will make/install a hard front mount if/when that one fails again.

mrwildroot

Have you tried having the car on grass or gravel where the wheels turn a little easier and having someone rotate the steering wheel back and forth, engine running, stop-to-stop while you hold your hand on the spring to see if you're hearing the strut mount bearing making noise?

imidazol97 wrote:Have you tried having the car on grass or gravel where the wheels turn a little easier and having someone rotate the steering wheel back and forth, engine running, stop-to-stop while you hold your hand on the spring to see if you're hearing the strut mount bearing making noise?

Actually, I just did that but on concrete. Would doing it on grass make a real difference? Cause while I was turning the wheel stop to stop, my friend was holding on the steering column just above the R&P. And he told me he didn't feel anything while I was doing that. And when we took the caps off the top of the struts, the bolts seemed tight and when we tried to wiggle the strust it didn't move.