Steering Noise / Slight rubbing or groaning noise

[Jlaa]

I am wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this noise. I recently noticed this noise seem to occur on left hand turns (recent meaning in the past 45 days).
Now that I have all four wheels off the car and the car sitting on jackstands, it is easy to turn the steering wheel.
Have a listen. You will notice that the noise only happen when turning LEFT, and not right.

What do you think this might be? I almost feel like the noise is coming from the front left shock body as it rotates with the wheel? Or I think maybe it is the joint at the outer tie-rod end? You can hear not only the squeak, but the "faint friction noise" each time I turn the steering wheel.

Anyways my front shocks are 9K miles new, as are my front control arms (And the balljoints inside). The Tierod ends were replaced 20K miles and 11 years ago (according to the service records that I have).

TURNING LEFT NOISE IN THE COCKPIT

TURNING LEFT NOISE IN THE WHEEL WELL

TURNING RIGHT - NO NOISE

This is what service invoice 7787 From "European Auto Soltuions" in New Milford CT says on July 12, 2010:



Looking at the outer tie rod end on the driver’s side, it doesn’t look any newer to me than the rest of the tie rod?

 

[Kyiv]

Is it okay to say I'm glad there is this noise? At least there's a culprit!

 

[TerryA]

I am wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this noise. I recently noticed this noise seem to occur on left hand turns (recent meaning in the past 45 days).
Now that I have all four wheels off the car and the car sitting on jackstands, it is easy to turn the steering wheel.
Have a listen. You will notice that the noise only happen when turning LEFT, and not right.

What do you think this might be? I almost feel like the noise is coming from the front left shock body as it rotates with the wheel? Or I think maybe it is the joint at the outer tie-rod end? You can hear not only the squeak, but the "faint friction noise" each time I turn the steering wheel.

Anyways my front shocks are 9K miles new, as are my front control arms (And the balljoints inside). The Tierod ends were replaced 20K miles and 11 years ago (according to the service records that I have).

TURNING LEFT NOISE IN THE COCKPIT

TURNING LEFT NOISE IN THE WHEEL WELL

TURNING RIGHT - NO NOISE

This is what service invoice 7787 From "European Auto Soltuions" in New Milford CT says on July 12, 2010:

View attachment 140883

Looking at the outer tie rod end on the driver’s side, it doesn’t look any newer to me than the rest of the tie rod?

View attachment 140884 View attachment 140885 View attachment 140886

Jlaa, I would take another look at the steering damper. Take it off and cycle the damper and also cycle the steering w/o the damper in place.

Also is the noise louder inside or outside of the car? Can you get someone to cycle the steering while you listen under the car. It might just be a slight rub.

Just thinking out loud.

 

[Jlaa]

Jlaa, I would take another look at the steering damper. Take it off and cycle the damper and also cycle the steering w/o the damper in place.

Also is the noise louder inside or outside of the car? Can you get someone to cycle the steering while you listen under the car. It might just be a slight rub.

Just thinking out loud.

Thanks. That noise is definitely louder outside the car and is coming from either the wheel well or under the car. I had my wife tuen the steering wheel 2 dozen times and I was prodding around in the wheel well … not really sure where it is coming from yet.

I’ll have to crawl underneath the car and remove the bellypan and fiddle with the steering damper tomorrow.

I’d be flabbergasted if it is the steering damper! The one on there is a Mercedes (not Stabilus aftermarket) and is 4 years / 9K miles old.

I just unbolted one end of it 2 months ago and it seemed fine —- plenty of resistance either way.

 

[gsxr]

Turn up the radio.

Seriously, I'm not sure what is causing that. You'll need to put your ear around various locations, and possibly use a audio probe listening tool thingy (aka, mechanic's stethoscope) to place against suspect components while a second person rotates the steering wheel.

 

[Jlaa]

Well!

I figured out the source of the noise. The steering damper was just fine. The problem was that the person who installed this steering damper installed the passenger's side nut/bolt combo upside down, thus causing the bolt to touch the backside of the draglink balljoint exactly so every time the steering wheel was rotated 180* to the left. You can see the wear on the backside of the balljoint below.

I flipped the nut/bolt combo around and everything seems to be find now. Unfortunately this has nothing to do with any microvibes in the steering wheel when driving 70-80mph, but, this was an easy small win ..... and I needed a small win to keep up the motivation!

 

[195910]

How did they manage to do that?!

 

[Jlaa]

Well!

I figured out the source of the noise. The steering damper was just fine. The problem was that the person who installed this steering damper installed the passenger's side nut/bolt combo upside down, thus causing the bolt to touch the backside of the draglink balljoint exactly so every time the steering wheel was rotated 180* to the left. You can see the wear on the backside of the balljoint below.

I flipped the nut/bolt combo around and everything seems to be find now. Unfortunately this has nothing to do with any microvibes in the steering wheel when driving 70-80mph, but, this was an easy small win ..... and I needed a small win to keep up the motivation!

View attachment 140916 View attachment 140917 View attachment 140918 View attachment 140919

I can see why - the driver’s side bolt is installed with the head of the bolt facing towards the ground, so if someone used the same bolt orientation for both sides, this would happen.

 

[TerryA]

Jlaa, Glad the damper is OK. You may not have found this rub w/o removing the damper completely. At least maybe hnot so easily.Way to go! That’s good news. Problem Solved.

How long has that bolt been upside down? Since you say the rubbing has been noticed in the last 45 days. What changed to make it start rubbing.

Now, back to the hereby-jeebys

 

[maw1124]

Great detective work... a pox on the house of whoever installed that bolt assembly bass ackwards...

maw

 

[Jlaa]

What do you guys make of this play in the R side drag link end? This is where the upside down bolt has been wearing on the back side of the ball joint. This draglink only has 9K miles on it.

Is this an acceptable amount of play, or does it require replacement?

 

[Kyiv]

@Jlaa, what does the other side feel like?

 

[Jlaa]

Unfortunately I can't get channel locks on the other end because of some metal shield in the way..

 

[gsxr]

Since it's a drag link, if there is no lateral play, it may be ok (as explained in the other thread). I'd ignore it for now but check at each oil change.

Again, you are just using a light squeeze on the pliers, right? Not GorillaGrip™?

 

[Jlaa]

Since it's a drag link, if there is no lateral play, it may be ok (as explained in the other thread). I'd ignore it for now but check at each oil change.

Again, you are just using a light squeeze on the pliers, right? Not GorillaGrip™?

Yeah, one hand is holding the phone and the other hand is squeezing the channel locks. It's not a super light squeeze with barely any force though, more like a moderate squeeze. Perhaps you are right - these drag link ends are supposed to have some slight spring loaded play at the ends.

 

[Jlaa]

As well, to ensure thread completeness and for @kiev sake, I note that I found a bit in vertical play on the R side inner tie rod end, along with @gsxr's comments below :

Well!!!! After I investigated the slight rubbing noises in my steering assembly this past weekend (due to upside down drag link bolt on the R side) I decided to buy THE BIGGEST set of Channel Locks that Ace Hardware Offers. 16.5" of open jaw!

Guess what I found ---- This is the inner tie rod end on the R side of a w124.

@jhodg5ck @gsxr --- this movement is LESS than the movement that @gsxr shows in the video in post 1. However, it is still movement. Do you think this is bad? (Maaaaaaayyyyyyybbbbeee causing a *slight* oscilliation in the steering wheel at 73mph?)

IMO, since that is a tie rod end, it's not bad yet if there is no lateral movement, but it is on the way out. Could last thousands more miles though. On all the joints I've tested, I never found any visible play (as seen in your video) on a tie rod end... only on the drag link, which might be by design as @liviu165 explained above. On the bright side, you could replace only the inner tie rod end, as this is still available separately (link).

BTW, you are not applying a ton of pressure to the pliers, correct? Just a light one-hand squeeze?

That said, I believe it's very unlikely the vertical play will cause the microvibscillations you are experiencing. Possible, but unlikely.

Hmmmm … it is a one hand squeeze (other hand is holding the phone) …. Moderate pressure.

I will note @gsxr in my receipts that the OUTER tie rod ends were replaced by a previous owner 9K miles / 12 years ago, but the INNER tie rod ends I have no record of them every being replaced...... hmmmmmm .....