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Hey all - I was wondering if any of you could point me in the right direction with this.
My 2016 Polo BlueGT has a knock in the steering, mainly noticeable when dry steering and also when I'm street parking. It's a clunk and is much louder from the outside on the front left hand side of the car than the right. I can also feel it in the footwell and it's loud from the inside of the car too
Could this be a tie rod end?
Or my steering column
Or a sign of a steering rack issue
A video of the sound:
This sort of issue seems to becoming a bit of a common complaint from Polo/Ibiza/Fabia of this age, ie all with electric assisted racks!
In the past with the hydraulic-electric steering assist systems on older versions of these cars, I used to just unlock the steering lock but left the ignition off, then gently rocked the steering wheel from side to side but only through roughly 10 > 15 degrees of arc or 0.5" > 1.0" steering wheel movement, by doing that I could feel more than hear the tapping/knocking of either the TREs or inner rod swivel joint.
With you having the engine running, the electric steering assistance will be active.
Sorry I can't offer any more help, but I'll be interested in hearing what had failed and what was needed to sort this out completely.
Edit:- in this very cold weather, I think that all the rubber bushes are hardening up and so at least initially from a cold start, the ARB and other parts do seem to be causing noises that were not there in warmer weather.
Sounds like a broken coil spring. Not uncommon for them to shear during the winter. Jack up car and take a proper look. If it's a tie rod then you'd have felt this driving, pulling to side, etc.
RUM4MO wrote: Sat Jan 09, 2021 9:48 am
This sort of issue seems to becoming a bit of a common complaint from Polo/Ibiza/Fabia of this age, ie all with electric assisted racks!
In the past with the hydraulic-electric steering assist systems on older versions of these cars, I used to just unlock the steering lock but left the ignition off, then gently rocked the steering wheel from side to side but only through roughly 10 > 15 degrees of arc or 0.5" > 1.0" steering wheel movement, by doing that I could feel more than hear the tapping/knocking of either the TREs or inner rod swivel joint.
With you having the engine running, the electric steering assistance will be active.
Sorry I can't offer any more help, but I'll be interested in hearing what had failed and what was needed to sort this out completely.
Edit:- in this very cold weather, I think that all the rubber bushes are hardening up and so at least initially from a cold start, the ARB and other parts do seem to be causing noises that were not there in warmer weather.
Thanks for this- yeah it seems something might be failing - its on 55,000 miles now but that does still seem quite early to me for a TRE It knocks when the wheel is turned with the steering lock off and no engine on as you suggested - I got the car up on a jack this evening and tried moving the wheel by hand and couldn't get it to clunk.
I haven't got the car up to full operating temp in a little while but as soon as I can I'll see if the noise still happens when warm.
Cheers
Last edited by archiemorley on Sun Jan 10, 2021 6:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
spartacus68 wrote: Sat Jan 09, 2021 10:52 pm
Sounds like a broken coil spring. Not uncommon for them to shear during the winter. Jack up car and take a proper look. If it's a tie rod then you'd have felt this driving, pulling to side, etc.
Thanks- I jacked the car up on the left hand side which is where the noise is coming from and the coil spring all looks good. I will have a better look in the daylight soon but I wouldn't be suprised if it was a broken coil spring with the harsh potholes about..
I have the same problem on mu 6C, when the car is cold I hear the sound when i drive 30km i didn't hear it anymore only when its cold. I adjust the steering rack preload, I will check if this solve the problem.
(Not my video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn76vbGmFTY
It knocks when the wheel is turned with the steering lock off and no engine on as you suggested - I got the car up on a jack this evening and tried moving the wheel by hand and couldn't get it to clunk.