ehsix-4point2

heya, quite a while back, i mentioned how i heard/felt kind of a shaking noise at certain speeds that seemd like it was behind the firewall, and also if i was sitting still and turned the wheel quickly to the left or right, i would hear a kind of a knocking sound.

It was suggested by other people that had similar prob that the steering rack was loose. I have the bentley online subscription now, so is what they call the "power steering gear" the same thing as the afformentioned "steering rack"? seems like the bolts are in the similar place as mentioned many moons ago.

anyone else who has had this issue and fixed it, any words of wisdom are always welcome I understand i have to remove the battery to get to one of the bolts?

mpw

The two bolts up top are easy - you already know you have to move the battery to get to the bolt toward the passenger side. The one on the bottom is very well hidden. You need to get under the car and stare up into the darkness for a while. It's pretty much underneath the bolt on the driver's side but it's difficult to get a fix on it (at least for me). Once you find it, you'll need a couple feet of extensions and a universal joint for the 10 mm 12 pt bolt.

Good luck!

ehsix-4point2

awesome, thanks for the heads up on the extentions!! i happen to have to hit the welding supply store 2morrow and they always have these multi-packs of long extentions (12in, 18in, 24in) in one of those $9.99 misc tool bin

if the top bolts are real loose, i guess it cant hurt to use some loctite on em so it doesnt happen again

slickn

The bolts on my 2001 were 16pt 10mm

ehsix-4point2

was just finger tight. the others were tight to spec. would that finger tight bolt be enough to cause the noise i heard? i guess i can answer that as soon as i drive

u think they could make the battery any bigger and harder to remove tho? geez! i shoulda bought a replacement before i took it out, cause i need one before next winter anyway.

mpw

The clunking went away after I tightened it up. It's back now, so I'll wrestle with the battery again this weekend. Did you put some loktite on the bolt?

ehsix-4point2

yeah, but i used loctite blue (med stregth )not red cause i didnt know what material the rack was made of, in case it was aluminum. (cause using red on aluminum can cause a fine mess if you ever have to remove the bolt for some reason)