Steering column rattle

[adam03031980]

Well changed my crankshaft pulley belt and tensioner like you captain and the "BA BA BA BA BA" noise has gone but still a whine but not the wife lol so am thinking alternator bearings have been quoted £100 for exchange unit may fork out but gonna go see and alternator repair specialist see if he will replace bearings and pulley for me.

[Captain Jack]

A second hand alternator cost me £22 from eBay. There are a few cheap working ones removed from cars. Just make sure you ask that the pulley isn't seized.

[adam03031980]

Really. think i will have to take a look the car was diagnosed 3 years ago with bearings on the alternator but the previous owner never got it sorted so defo gonna look at the alternator

[adam03031980]

I know this is a different car but mine sounds just like this hence me thinking its an alternator bearing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPkxAm_hf9k will have to pull my finger our and have a look, sadly after changing the belt and tensioner i didnt get chance to check with the belt off as i was in a real rush as father in laws car broke down and had to go and sort that price of crap out

[Captain Jack]

Adam, have you sorted your alternator noise out?

A little update on mine. Despite replacing the alternator and getting rid of the belt wobble, I still have the steering vibrations but not tooooo bad. Thought I'd try and tackle it again. Crawled underneath and touched the steering shaft - it was solid with no wobble. So, the vibrations must be coming from the chassis/car body rather than the steering rack/joints/shaft. The steering wheel is connected to the car near the dash by two huge bolts so the source of vibrations must be there somewhere.

Engine top links?! I took the dog ear link off and on inspection, it looked OK with no obvious tears in the rubber. However, I stuffed some rubber hose in the holes on the mount and it's a lot better now. Still vibrations but much reduced and certainly no rattle. We'll see how it holds up....

[adam03031980]

Hi Captain

Sadly not yet im thinking i will either buy a second hand one or buy some bearings i have the bosch part no and see if replacing them unfortunatley havent had much time

[adam03031980]

Well managed to get time and took off the aux belt and im 99% sure the alternator bearings are whats whining ive just gotta buy a pair and get my arse into gear and change them sorry about the delay been bogged down with work past few weeks.

[adam03031980]

Well decided to buy a 2nd hand alternator for £20 but still have a wine though i did take of the pulley beneath the alternator and that seemed a bit rough so am thinking it may now be that but cannot believe how expensive they are, at least thats pretty easy to change

[Captain Jack]

OK... so today I decided to rotate my tyres around as the fronts are getting a bit worn and saw the sorry looking bottom mount of evil. To test the theory of the rattle being caused by the mount installed incorrectly, I stuck a jack under the engine to support it and removed the bolt holding the mount. The steering rattle pretty much disappeared! And reappeared when I put the bolt back in.

Annoyingly, I have to get the garage to do it as I simply don't have the tools to remove the drive-shaft, like a huge socket required to undo the hub, and I am not attempting to change the - pardon the language - bitch in situ. Oh well, let's hope it bloody fixes it

[Doggy]

OK... so today I decided to rotate my tyres around as the fronts are getting a bit worn and saw the sorry looking bottom mount of evil. To test the theory of the rattle being caused by the mount installed incorrectly, I stuck a jack under the engine to support it and removed the bolt holding the mount. The steering rattle pretty much disappeared! And reappeared when I put the bolt back in.

Annoyingly, I have to get the garage to do it as I simply don't have the tools to remove the drive-shaft, like a huge socket required to undo the hub, and I am not attempting to change the - pardon the language - bitch in situ. Oh well, let's hope it bloody fixes it

Hope that cures it Alex.

One thought, the rubber bush has to be pressed in in the correct orientation - it's almost solid in one plane and has some 'give' in the other. Just possibly yours is wrong. It might be worth making sure they know the right way, so as to avoid potentially perpetuating the problem.

(I stress I don't know this is the issue but it may be worth checking).

[Captain Jack]

Hey Eric - check this post. It's why I think this is the issue.

[Captain Jack]

Booked it for Tuesday, so we'll see what happens.

[Captain Jack]

Meh... Basically, they didn't do it - mainly because I told them not to for £150. They said that the bottom mount is a possible cause but no guarantees. With it being worse cold also possibly suggests that as the engine gets warmer, the rubber mounting also warms up, thus making itself more flexible therefore reducing the vibrations.

Anyway, going to do it myself but have a few questions... in a new thread.