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Clicking noise from steering


Kilbrogan
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Clicking noise from the steering when turning the steering wheel. No noise when going in a straight line.

Is this dangerous ?

 

any suggestions ?..??

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According to Toyota, it's not a security issue.

Plenty of people have it, including me,  it's caused by dried up grease between 2 splines, in the footwell. 

 

Can be fixed by unscrewing, cleaning up the grease, reapplying lithium grease, tighten back up.

Some people reported fixing it by re tightening the nut.

You can also try spraying some oil (not grease) in the slot close to the nut, not a permanent fix.

 

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Confirming what Furtula says, its common on the Prius as well. There are two joints, one just where the steering wheel shaft disappears through the floor (shrouded) and the other about 6 inches up towards the steering wheel. Some have removed the 2 bolts and replaced them with high tensile bolts and tightened a bit tighter. 

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Mine has been doing this for 4 years+ and my local Toyota dealer suggested just ignoring it.

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  • 4 months later...

Hi to all.

I have also the similar issue with my Auris 2011 1.6, on low mileage, 20,000 miles. And this is a little bit disappointing for me regarding quality of Toyota....

I tried to remove plastic covers and expose these two joints, I can feel the play (click) when I create mm move from left to right, but I cant see where it is. I tried to check two bolts on shaft, but seems like they are tighten. During faster ride, there is no click, click is present on slow speed.

Is there any news regarding this topic, any new solution, that I should try in DIY?

Best regards.

 

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34 minutes ago, bax76 said:

And this is a little bit disappointing for me regarding quality of Toyota....

If this is your only fault on a seven year old car, it isn't doing too badly.

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3 hours ago, bax76 said:

Hi to all.

I have also the similar issue with my Auris 2011 1.6, on low mileage, 20,000 miles. And this is a little bit disappointing for me regarding quality of Toyota....

I tried to remove plastic covers and expose these two joints, I can feel the play (click) when I create mm move from left to right, but I cant see where it is. I tried to check two bolts on shaft, but seems like they are tighten. During faster ride, there is no click, click is present on slow speed.

Is there any news regarding this topic, any new solution, that I should try in DIY?

Best regards.

 

Solution is to unscrew the bolt, and apply lithium grease on the shafts, screw back on, tighten

Clicking is usually due to dried up grease, and only occurs when driving slowly, for example parking lot driving where you turn left-right a lot.

Not a security issue according to Toyota.

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Thank You for reply :)

where to apply grease, because I think that joints haves some closed bearings system inside?

I am not sure if this grace will penetrate joints, its not clear to me what part is actually clicking.

There are two joints with pack bearings inside, and also expanding rod between, somewhere I red that You have to put grease in that telescopic part.

 

Riding feel is very bad on rough road, I constantly fell a play.

On motor  road everything is fine. 

Local Toyota service inspected car and they didn't  find anything bad related to clicking.

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Hello Baki, not sure at all where these closed bearings are nor what relevance to the clicking problem. Maybe you not looking in correct place.

This is what I posted earlier "Confirming what Furtula says, its common on the Prius as well. There are two joints, one just where the steering wheel shaft disappears through the floor (shrouded) and the other about 6 inches up towards the steering wheel. Some have removed the 2 bolts and replaced them with high tensile bolts and tightened a bit tighter."

The joint mentioned first (where the steering shaft disappears through the floor) can be see when you remove the shroud (cover) and the joint, about 6 inch further up towards the steering wheel, can just be seen when you are lying on your back in the driver foot well on your back. Difficult position to be in.

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Dear Catlover, thank You too :)

I studied this topic on internet(forums), and I completely understand Your points.

But look at picture below. On separate joint (Rav4), You can see something like cross and there are 4 closed bearings, that are on every side  of that  inner "cross"  (connecting to arms) and that  formed this joint. There are two of these in Auris, upper and lower. 

So if that bearing is faulty, than outer greacing wont help?

 

IMG_0834.jpg

 

 

 

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Thank you for very clear photo Baki. From what I understand, it is the splines on the shaft sticking up through the floor that need greasing, and the bolt on part that fastens onto that shaft that needs fastening tight - so tight others have fitted a high tensile bolt to enable it fastening tighter.  There is a similar joint further up, about 150mm,  which is the same. I do not think it is the universal joint (your 4 closed bearings) that need attention. 

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You should grease the splines from the picture, and that should be it.

Just dab some grease on it, reattach and tighten.

 

Do mark it beforehand, and secure the wheel so it's not moving around. 

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Hi, again. I did it this evening.

In my case I discover that this click was sourced by upper bolt (11). I feel smaaaal play in that upper splines connection. I marked bolt position, unscreew it put some lithium greace on contact and bolt, and tighten bolt little bit more than initialy, and thats it, no more click. I also apply procedur on lower bolt, just to be on safe side. Thanks once again :)

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My Auris has been having this clicking sound for over 50 000km and i intend on fixing it at some point.
When i approached the dealer to have a loot, all they said is that the Steering rack needs to be replaced at a cost of R14 000 which i did not understand and failed to accept.

The clicking can be annoying especially when driving at slow speed over speed humps.

So once funds allow, i will take it to my local steering rack specialist to fix it and explain thoroughly what is going on and what i have found out with this info.

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Basically in my case there was just one bolt below wheel that need to be tighten just a little bit. 

 

I have to add one more INFO, there is also another joint with similar system, below the car the third one, so it can make a problem too....

You can see a bar sticking from carpet, on picture above I posted , at the bottom of that shaft, there is another bolt, the third one....

But that one is protected with some sealant, so its not accessible without removing that sealant...

In small red circle.

81d5ea341a20b3a3d134054947543148.jpg

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  • 3 years later...
On 7/11/2018 at 6:19 AM, furtula said:

According to Toyota, it's not a security issue.

Plenty of people have it, including me,  it's caused by dried up grease between 2 splines, in the footwell. 

 

Can be fixed by unscrewing, cleaning up the grease, reapplying lithium grease, tighten back up.

Some people reported fixing it by re tightening the nut.

You can also try spraying some oil (not grease) in the slot close to the nut, not a permanent fix.

 

Is this the same as the Yaris as mine has started doing this too.?

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I don't visit Yaris forums that much, but considering this problem mostly happens on 1st gen Auris, and your Yaris is the same age, so could be same issue.

Go down to the foot well, and remove the plastic which covers the U-joint and the splines. Try spraying some liquid lubricant, oil, or even WD-40.

Also check if the nut holding them together is tight enough.

If your car makes such noises on road, bumps, etc, then this is not the fix for you.

If your car makes such clicking noises when moving wheel a lot, like maneuvering on the parking, so you sometimes go from lock to lock, and it clicks, then this should help.

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  • 4 months later...

I assume the Yaris uses the same shaft as the Auris so rather than start another thread i thought i would add to this as there is some good advice in it.

I am getting the dreaded knock when parking if i turn the steering to the right i hear one knock  as soon as i turn the wheel if i take the wheel back to the starting position then turn it left it doesn't knock i read there is a quick test which involves unlocking the column and pulling it as far forward and down as it'll go lock it  and try again  i did this and it stops the knock so i assume its the same dry grease problem everyone else is having.

Could i ask how long the re-grease fix works?

 

 

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15 minutes ago, Max_Headroom said:

I assume the Yaris uses the same shaft as the Auris so rather than start another thread i thought i would add to this as there is some good advice in it.

I am getting the dreaded knock when parking if i turn the steering to the right i hear one knock  as soon as i turn the wheel if i take the wheel back to the starting position then turn it left it doesn't knock i read there is a quick test which involves unlocking the column and pulling it as far forward and down as it'll go lock it  and try again  i did this and it stops the knock so i assume its the same dry grease problem everyone else is having.

Could i ask how long the re-grease fix works?

 

 

My one knocks since day one I have bought it , never bothered to get it fixed. Will keep driving until fail mot or become really bad, if ever happens. Not a safety issue and not a big deal, just annoying. Best to learn to live with it. It might be motor gears or bearings and not exactly the dried grease. If grease is properly reapplied it may last lifetime, I simply can’t stop the car to try to fix if not broken.  👍 

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1 hour ago, TonyHSD said:

My one knocks since day one I have bought it , never bothered to get it fixed. Will keep driving until fail mot or become really bad, if ever happens. Not a safety issue and not a big deal, just annoying. Best to learn to live with it. It might be motor gears or bearings and not exactly the dried grease. If grease is properly reapplied it may last lifetime, I simply can’t stop the car to try to fix if not broken.

Thanks Tony, i have 3 months warranty so i have booked it in at the dealership where i bought it (not Toyota) just to be on the safe side they are lending me a courtesy car so no hardship and with luck they may get it to stop clicking, if the click returns after the warrant period i will do as you suggest and ignore it  😉

While searching for the click noise i discovered the Yaris shares a lot of parts with the Mazda 2 do you know if this is the case as there are hundreds of posts about Mazda 2 steering shafts knocking but few about the Toyota.

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8 minutes ago, Max_Headroom said:

Thanks Tony, i have 3 months warranty so i have booked it in at the dealership where i bought it (not Toyota) just to be on the safe side they are lending me a courtesy car so no hardship and with luck they may get it to stop clicking, if the click returns after the warrant period i will do as you suggest and ignore it  😉

While searching for the click noise i discovered the Yaris shares a lot of parts with the Mazda 2 do you know if this is the case as there are hundreds of posts about Mazda 2 steering shafts knocking but few about the Toyota.

Yeah, warranty is best and if they go that way they may change the steering column. 👌 I have no idea about Mazda, sorry can’t help there. 👍

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I'm assuming it is this issue that is being discussed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A--qkKscZA

If so, I can confirm that Toyota has a revised steering joint that they install. I've had it done twice under warranty. 

 

 

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You can spray some lube down there, works as a temporary fix, 6 months or so.

I did it on mine maybe 2-3 yrs ago, clicks here and there, but steering always feels firm.

 

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I may look at mine and see if they can be tightened up a bit, did tried before on the lower one I believe and it was rock solid, no movement at all , therefore decided not to try further. 👍

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I managed to fix it by lubricating one of the mechanisms on the steering column. Doesn't involve taking anything apart. ill get a photo as soon as i get a chance to be precise and to asisst...

Plenty of silicone spray grease, and put some tissues behind so it doesn't get into places you don't want it 

At one point it was doing it all the time, now I only get a slight knock when starting a journey then it's silent after that and has been for months now.

Images attached, lubricate that mechanism all the way around with some silicone spray. Then move the steering wheel up and down, in and out a few times to help distribute it. Worked for me.

 

1.jpg

2.jpg

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