Thought I'd ask here about a mild problem with my wife's '04 MC.

I don't believe it's related to the power steering problems folks have been having. There's no fan noise and she's never mentioned a loss of power steering. (Not sure I want to bring it up as a possibility or she will be saying it's time for a new car for sure. )

Some days, when you turn the wheel, it's ratchety or stuttery. Like it's catching. Like the steering column is rubbing on a dry bushing. When you let go of the wheel during a turn, you can see it stutter back. The sensation is like when you rub a slightly moist finger on dry glass. slip-stop-slip-stop.

Problem is, it's a mechanic-shy problem and won't manifest when we take it in for anything. There was a leak in a power steering hose but a replacement of the hose and a flush/fill of the fluid didn't have any effect. No observed pattern to it either -- wet, dry, hot, cold, after sitting, after running, etc.

Shop says suspension and steering is fine.

 

Take a quick look at the steering column u joint....might be binding a bit. Not sure if it can be lubed, cleaned or just replaced. A few folks had non steering pump stiffness that was intermitant from this joint bindind a bit.

 

Does it only happen on certain surfaces? Reason I ask is a lot of people are complaining about the 09 and up Audi A4's for the steering wheel skipping at parking lot speeds while maneuvering. There's a TSB where we replace the power steering lines with ones of larger inner diameter to increase the return flow. I doubt this is similar at all as this would've been caught by now but the reason I bring it up is that we could almost always duplicate this problem on sticky surfaces like the tile shop floor, however on pavement in the parking lot it was almost impossible for us to duplicate.

Try to keep track of when it happens, i.e. shortly after start up or even after driving for a while and everything is warmed up. After rains when the roads are wet. On garage floor or cement but not asphalt or vice versa. Only under certain speeds or at any speed, etc etc etc.

The more info you can present to a tech, the better he will be at tracking down a gremlin like this. I sure hope its not your pump crapping out as that is pretty common for us Gen 1's

 

+1
This sounds exactly like what I had and MINI replaced the steering u-joint.
May be able to spray some lube if it is your dime to repair.

 

It is mostly at low speed, but that's where most of the turning is done. Surface doesn't seem to matter. It will go away from time to time but no pattern is observed. Yet.

I'll check the U-joint this weekend, the car's in a airport parking lot until then.

Was thinking about it again and if it were the steering column bushing I'd expect some noise, which we're not getting.

 

Correct, I would expect a noise from a bushing as well.

The u-joint on the other hand may not emit any abnormal sounds during binding..


I get an occasional clunk at low speed parking maneuvers without coming close to hitting the full extent of wheel turn or 'lock'. I suspect my u-joint to have play, however I'm not exhibiting any racheting like symptoms that you are. Let us know what you find, or don't find..

 

Late, I know but I haven't been able to repo and my wife has had no complaints. No apparent play. If you want it to happen it doesn't.