Steering Noise

S3Steve

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My car has developed a strange groaning noise from the power steering. It appears to be coming from the power steering rack. Has anyone had a similar fault? What fixed it? It almost sounds like trapped air in the system but I have topped it up and bled the system and the noise remains. Any ideas what the fault could be?





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Had a similar situation with my previous car, A4. Garage suspected steering rack or pump.

Never got around to do it so cannot advise the outcome.

Have you been at any garage yet to ask about it?
 
No mate, do all my own work on my cars. The power steering fluid was a little low so I topped it up, this didn't reduce the noise but I began to suspect I may have had air trapped in the system so I carried out a full bleed of the system which got rid of the noise at first. After driving the car for an afternoon the noise did come back although a lot quieter so I checked the fluid level and it had dropped but no sign of a leak. So I topped it up again and again bled the system and the noise has gone again. I have not driven the car much this week as I am on leave so not sure if this is a permanent fix as of yet. I am gonna monitor it and keep an eye on the level. The noise was definitely coming from the rack area but am hoping I don't have to go to the expense of changing the rack as it looks like a pain of a job. If it returns again I may try flushing the system completely before going down the rack change route.


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I think that you may want to check the steering seals, you need someone to move the steering with engine on, whilst you look underneath. I had same sort of problem on a previous Audi, no leaks when stationary but apparently it only leaked when I was moving/driving and the leaking fluid was splashed/blown out of the undertray whilst on the go, thus made it hard to find the leak when stationary.

Not sure if this helps but something to check is better than nothing. Good luck.
 
The creaking has returned just when I thought I had cured it. After another inspection I noticed the lower front control arm ball joint does not look right. The rubber boot appears very flat as if there is no grease left inside it. Although there is no obvious sign of a split in the boot.



I have ordered new lower arms (lemforder) and will replace them later this week. I had replaced all the arms when I changed a wheel bearing that side less than two years ago with another "quality brand" from the motor factors so had not expected these to have failed already. So will be disappointed if this proves to be the source of the creak, but will be happy to get to the bottom of the issue.


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I realise this is bringing up a year old thread but don’t suppose there’s any chance you found the cause in the end Steve?
 
It was the lower control arm, I replaced it and have not had any noises since.


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