tarintino
New member
Hi all,
So over the last 4 days or so I have noticed a strange sound emanating from the driver’s side of my 325i e46, it sounds like the clucking sound that a busted CV joint would make however it’s not constant.
It normally occurs when I’m turning right and or sometimes when I drive on an uneven road surface, I took it to my local speedy and they told me that it’s the steering rack so I took it to my local BMW mechanic and he told me speedy is smoking teabags (nothing wrong with steering rack)
The sound is becoming more and more audible and I can feel the cluck through the body of the car ever so slightly – I can’t see anything obvious and I recently (last 6 months) replaced the following:
Lower control arms + bushes – both left and right
Brake discs and pads
I’m currently on 152K on the clock and I think I still have the original shocks, shock mountings etc
Has anyone experienced the same issue?
Update - 6th Dec
So, I have seen a few folks now to try and track down where the hell the noise is coming from but everyone seems stumped - I was checking things out this evening trying to track it down myself and I "think" I may stumbled across where the strange noise is coming from - so, with the engine off (no power steering) I turned the wheel to full right lock and what do you know, there is that terrible noise - not coming from swaybar links, rubbers or shocks - then sound is coming from the steering rack itself, sounds like dry joints or something but only occurs on the right side under right full lock - anyone experienced this before, is there a quick fix or are we talking whole steering rack replacement - cant boots be removed and lubed or something?
Update 7th Dec
So I have been reading up on all the BMW steering issues and it appears that the clicking, clucking sound I'm hearing is the rack and pinion - any idea if parts can be replaced or do I need to replace entire rack? also, do you know what I'm looking at cost wise approx and can you recomend any non stealer here in Cape Town that I can go to?
So over the last 4 days or so I have noticed a strange sound emanating from the driver’s side of my 325i e46, it sounds like the clucking sound that a busted CV joint would make however it’s not constant.
It normally occurs when I’m turning right and or sometimes when I drive on an uneven road surface, I took it to my local speedy and they told me that it’s the steering rack so I took it to my local BMW mechanic and he told me speedy is smoking teabags (nothing wrong with steering rack)
The sound is becoming more and more audible and I can feel the cluck through the body of the car ever so slightly – I can’t see anything obvious and I recently (last 6 months) replaced the following:
Lower control arms + bushes – both left and right
Brake discs and pads
I’m currently on 152K on the clock and I think I still have the original shocks, shock mountings etc
Has anyone experienced the same issue?
Update - 6th Dec
So, I have seen a few folks now to try and track down where the hell the noise is coming from but everyone seems stumped - I was checking things out this evening trying to track it down myself and I "think" I may stumbled across where the strange noise is coming from - so, with the engine off (no power steering) I turned the wheel to full right lock and what do you know, there is that terrible noise - not coming from swaybar links, rubbers or shocks - then sound is coming from the steering rack itself, sounds like dry joints or something but only occurs on the right side under right full lock - anyone experienced this before, is there a quick fix or are we talking whole steering rack replacement - cant boots be removed and lubed or something?
Update 7th Dec
So I have been reading up on all the BMW steering issues and it appears that the clicking, clucking sound I'm hearing is the rack and pinion - any idea if parts can be replaced or do I need to replace entire rack? also, do you know what I'm looking at cost wise approx and can you recomend any non stealer here in Cape Town that I can go to?
