Hey folks,

I have a 05 MCS and its headed in for its 25K service pretty soon, and I just noticed a 'detent' or 'click' in the steering today.. It occurs at about 80 degres to the left of D.C. and only to the left...

Anyone have any similar experiences? Fixes?

THANKS!

RM2k5

 

go to motoringfile.com and search for "the dreaded steering wheel click" and join a rather long line of complaints about this very thing, although yours is the newest I've heard of with this problem.Basically in early cars it was a failure of the upper bearing in the steering column requiring complete replacement. Hope that helps. Jock

http://www.motoringfile.com/index.ph...ng+wheel+click

 

Thanks for the pointer, and the descriptions do sound just about right. I hope this isn't the case since it does sound pretty involved to fix... I'll post a reply after I get it serviced...

RM2k5

 

hint: I printed out the motoringfile thread in its entirety and brought it to the dealer.There IS a service bulliten on this problem stating replacement of the entire column as the fix. Anyone know how to access this info for this guy?(I had it , but can't find it now,sorry)

try this http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/

 

I had the same clicking and was sure it was the steering column. Turned out the rack was hitting the power steering pump bracket. Not sure if it was the rack that had to be centered then re-torqued or if the cradle was off center. My guess it was the rack.

 

So here I am, writing from M.O.P.'s owners lounge, and it turns out that the clicking I was picking up in the steering was a tie-rod that had self-destructed... which I suppose makes sense now that I think about it: the right front wheel did seem a bit 'crashy' over various bumps. According to Chris at MOP he could wiggle the right front wheel some 10 degrees freely due the wear on the tie rod. The work is covered under warranty, but I made sure to have them check the other side as well!

Anyway, I am now waiting for my MINI's alignment to be done (it has to be realigned after this sort of suspension work).

That's all for now, I'll update after a test drive...

RM2k5

 

Glad you found the problem and didn't have any problems getting it fixed!!

 

Happy to hear your problem solved.

 

Just so everyone knows how things worked out:

The clicking in the steering wheel was indicative of a tie-rod failure that allowed the right front wheel to wobble up to 10 degrees. The replacement of this part was covered under warranty, although it took a long time to complete (due to the required alignment).

I find it very interesting that the other guy waiting with me ALSO had a tie-rod failure on his 05 MCS, and was ALSO waiting for the repair to be complete. The THIRD guy in the room said the symptoms we were describing sounded familiar... I think everyone should just be aware of this (though I am pretty sure it has more to do with Boston roads than anything).

On another note, the dashboard 'squeek' they were also suppose to fix is diminished but not yet gone. They did reduce it (as well as eliminating several other rattles and squeeks) but I think it may require 1 more service call to complete it...

M.O.P. rocks, they did a great job and were very accomodating! I still recommend them highly as always!

RM2k5