[KyLu II]

Originally Posted by nmswenson

I fugred out what the problem was with mine. I unbolted the track bar and sway bar links and tested the steering that way to see if I could isolate the rack as the problem. I didn't make any difference in the sound. I then went to remove the steering rack and found the two mounting bolts loose! About 30K miles ago I installed aftermarket downpipes and had to unbolt the steering rack to install them. They must of just worked themselves loose. I put some blue locktite on them and retightened. Everything is great now. Steering is much smoother, no noise, and the ride is much quieter. Sure glad it was an easy fix!

thanks for your input!
same here! the noise is completely gone now

[phubar]

This thread should be made a sticky. I was ready to buy a new steering rack and kept reading and reading the forums because I had never heard a steering rack make that kinda noise when bad. I finally found this thread, tried to the bolts as a last resort and what do you know it freaking WORKED!!

Thank you all.

[AYF80]

Yup, just wanted to report that as of 15 min ago i was also suffering from the exact same issue…

My driver side rack mounting bolt was very loose… tightened it back down and now its perfect!!!

Im going to order a new set of bolts and nuts and replace the current set to be safe that it does not happen again and ensure that i use lock tight.

Eric.

[Gen_E92]

I wish someone made a thread before I had this issue so I might not have to replace my rack lol...oh well, at least it helped you guys out :d

[prepster]

I am currently having the same issue, thanks for the posts, I will recheck all the bolts and engine mounts this coming up weekend, hope its a simple fix and not the actual steering rack going out. I occasionally get the steering wheel yellow light with the double sided arrows popping up when i remove the key so i hope there isn't any other issues…

[SRTe90]

So after hitting a very large pot hole my car also started making this clicking noise when turning the steering wheel while parking. The noise was very upsetting/embarrassing and I could not figure out what was causing it. I took it to two different mechanics and they could not quite figure it out but thought maybe I damaged the steering rack and were happy to charge me thousands of dollars to fix it!

This clicking noise did not affect the steering feel at all and I was considering just living with the noise until it got worse and affected the actual steering of the car. Well I continued researching and came across this forum and thread and thought I would try tightening my steering mounting bolts too. They didn't even seem very loose but to my surprise tightening the steering mounting bolts even just slightly caused the clicking noise to go away!!!

I was so excited that this worked that I decided to join the e90post forum to thank Gen_E92 for starting this thread and nmswenson for correctly diagnosing the clicking noise problem and saving me thousands of dollars... I can only imagine how many people end up getting their steering rack replaced over this awful noise when it most likely is just a loose bolt?!

Cheers!

[ykolin]

to all participants:
guys, thanks a lot for all your input, especially Gen_E92.
I recently replaced the oil pan gasket and had to drop the sub frame. It seems that the bolt got loose for that reason, and the clicking nose appeared.
I have tightened the bolt that holding the rack to the sub frame, and the clicking is gone.

[Tim603]

I love threads like this lol, cheap easy fixes are the best e90post ftw

[ringet421]

Same problem have ar dps so hopefully this is my issue as well. Almost ordered a new rack today until I came across this thread. Thanks for the idea. I had the car up the other day doing brakes and I thought pull the bottom cover off and have a look to see if I can see any interference or something rubbing and checked by hand the rack bolts everything looked good but I did tighten them so that's the plan for the morning.

[acj75]

I've been dealing with this dreadful noise for months now. '07 E92 335i with 113k miles and active steering. A mechanic told me it was a bad steering rack, and I had been avoiding it since then due to the $$.

Recently had some work done by a great local mechanic, and while he didn't get a chance to diagnose my steering issues in his shop (I had to leave before he could), he did mention the possibility of loose steering rack bolts which thankfully led me to this thread. The OPs video is EXACTLY what I'd been hearing with every turn of the wheel.

First bolt was nice and snug. The second bolt....lets just say it didn't appear to be tightened to spec. Check it out

Tightened it down, no more noises turning the wheel lock to lock. Thanks so much to those who've suffered through this and bothered to write about it!

[TypeDre]

Originally Posted by acj75

I've been dealing with this dreadful noise for months now. '07 E92 335i with 113k miles and active steering. A mechanic told me it was a bad steering rack, and I had been avoiding it since then due to the $$.

Recently had some work done by a great local mechanic, and while he didn't get a chance to diagnose my steering issues in his shop (I had to leave before he could), he did mention the possibility of loose steering rack bolts which thankfully led me to this thread. The OPs video is EXACTLY what I'd been hearing with every turn of the wheel.

First bolt was nice and snug. The second bolt....lets just say it didn't appear to be tightened to spec. Check it out

Tightened it down, no more noises turning the wheel lock to lock. Thanks so much to those who've suffered through this and bothered to write about it!

Sorry to bump an old thread but what size is the socket on the steering rack bolt?

I have a loose steering feel and I think this might be my issue.

Thanks!

[acj75]

Originally Posted by TypeDre

Sorry to bump an old thread but what size is the socket on the steering rack bolt?

I have a loose steering feel and I think this might be my issue.

Thanks!

I'm 99% sure it was an e12 I was using in the vid, 16mm on the top

[Julian2485]

Is this only for i because my steering wheel clicks on turns as well but I'm xi.

[Julian2485]

Anyone?

[bhoang]

can someone post a zoomed out picture of where this steering rack bolt is? thanks

[san40k]

Bentley manual says steering rack fasteners (2 bolts and 2 nuts) are one time use only, they apparently stretch on first use.

Replace them every time - pretty cheep these days on fcp euro