2009 328xi coupe, squeaking noise from steering wheel

Drock28 · 03-08-2014, 12:14 PM

hi,

I posted this in Maintance/warranty section..
but reposting here.. for further feedback..
all feedback is greatly appreciated

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=955699

G-Man2011 · 03-08-2014, 09:48 PM

Ho crap!!! I thought i was nuts but the same thing is happening to my car!! And i feel like breaking the wheel its annoying. It comes right from behind the airbag housing. Its like a squeaky dog toy sound. Lol!! Not sure where to try and lube and how?

Drock28 · 03-09-2014, 09:45 AM

hi.. well.. apparently this seems to be a very common issue on all models of bm's..?
when I get a chance, im going to try spaying lubricant on the steering shaft seal, from under in the footwell.

as you mentioned it seems to be coming from directly behind the sterring wheel..
but I also stood outside, and moved the wheel and could hear it from under the car.
so it may need lubricant, on that connecting nut under the car..

I almost certain its not bushing/suspension related.. cause it takes up to 30mins of driving for the squeak to start happening..

I have another car, where the right bushing went bad.. and there was no delay before it started, and it was much louder, and would produce same noise going over bumps..

so its defenitely something that is lacking lubrication in the steering column..

it is interesting, that this is common accurance on BM's.. I have never had such an issue on any other car ive had.. it is quite frustrating to say the least..!

ajsalida · 03-09-2014, 09:58 AM

One thing it could be, not sure about newer models. Older models have a copper slip ring between the steering wheel and hub. There is a spring loaded connector with electrical grease on it that lets the various wheel buttons (horn etc) make contact with hub wiring when turning.

If the grease gets dried out or worn away, the contact element starts to squeak like that when the wheel is turned. You can hear it, sound would be coming right from the back of the wheel where the part that turns meets the part that doesn't.

I had this exact problem on an older car and re-lubing the slip ring fixed it. Easy to do once wheel is off, newer wheels though not sure about. If the sound is not coming from there obviously not this.

Drock28 · 03-09-2014, 10:11 AM

thanks for the feedback.. I beleive I saw some videos of what you mentioned while looking it up my issue on youtube..

I will start by adding some lubrication as this is supposed to be the "easy fix", but with my luck who knows, in my book, easy fixes are hard to come by lol..

ajsalida · 03-09-2014, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drock28

thanks for the feedback.. I beleive I saw some videos of what you mentioned while looking it up my issue on youtube..

I will start by adding some lubrication as this is supposed to be the "easy fix", but with my luck who knows, in my book, easy fixes are hard to come by lol..

You have to remove the steering wheel & airbag (carefully!) to do what I was talking about. Would not recommend just spraying lube into the crack, it needs to be electrical grease and then just on the ring (assuming one exists). You really don't want to get ordinary spray lube stuff all over the place elsewhere inside there. No telling what you could short out or mess up.

Drock28 · 03-09-2014, 04:06 PM

indeed.. I read more posts about the slip ring..
but I dont think ( at least i hope) its that..
Ive been reading on other forums.. and 99% of the time, the squeak is caused by either the lower or upper steering shaft bearing.. and putting lubricant fixes the problem..
so I will try this first.. which does not require removal of the steering wheel..

oddly enough during errands today.. it barely occured.. it did abit.. and that was it.
sometimes when it starts, its sticks around, other times it can happen abit and then its gone.. thats why I know for sure, its related to this.. and not suspension related.

Drock28 · 03-15-2014, 01:44 PM

Alright.. so we'll see if spraying the lubricant on steering shaft seal has worked..

im in no way a DIY guy lol.. I always have someone else do work on my cars..
but according to video in link above.. I thought how hard could this be.

in the drivers side footwell.. there is a panel with 3 screws.. so I unscrewed those.
like all plastic pieces, there is some playing around to get it down enough, cause there are other wires and stuff attached to it..

to be honest I was not sure what I was looking for when I got it open.. but I could see the steering shaft coming down.. and there was a socket it went into, for what I assume is the seal where the bearing is in..

so basically I sprayed the lub stuff that i bought into that.. and rotated the wheel abit a time, and sprayed more each time until I did full wheel lock to each side..

screwed it back up and thats it..

for the time being.. its seems fine.. went around the block.. and did not hear any squeaks. but again the squeak comes and goes.. so that may just be a perioed when there wasnt any squeaking..

so in conclusion.. I did what I could for the moment.. so only time will tell, if this was the solution/fix for this.. hopefully it is..!

Drock28 · 03-24-2014, 11:34 AM

update:
so I can confidently confirm, spraying the lubricant in the seal of the steering wheel shaft bearing, has fixed the squeaking..!!

it has been over a week now, that I did this DIY.. and have not heard the squeaking sound at all. whereas previously I would hear it, almost every time I was driving the car.

we'll see how long it lasts, but I have plenty of lubricant left in the can i bought, so if it comes back at some point.. I will just apply it again..

BrokenMyWallet12 · 03-27-2014, 04:39 AM

Had a similar squeak on my 09 e92 with a little but more of a deeper tone. Drove me crazy since i also have the damn mystery brake squeak. I had taken it in to the dealership and it turned out to be a deteriorating portion in the steering column. My SA told this was a common occurence and was completely cover since the car is CPO'd. Hope that helped!

rogerdiaz · 04-08-2014, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drock28

update:
so I can confidently confirm, spraying the lubricant in the seal of the steering wheel shaft bearing, has fixed the squeaking..!!

it has been over a week now, that I did this DIY.. and have not heard the squeaking sound at all. whereas previously I would hear it, almost every time I was driving the car.

we'll see how long it lasts, but I have plenty of lubricant left in the can i bought, so if it comes back at some point.. I will just apply it again..

Show me how to do this please. I need steps. I am slow.

only1harry · 04-08-2014, 08:58 AM

What kind of lubricant did you use and where is this seal you lubed?

I have the squeaking noise when I turn the steering wheel too. It started right after I took my car to the dealer for other issues. Mine is an '11 e92 335 with 26k mi. It squeaks at low speeds when turning the steering wheel. The reason I took it in was because I have a noise in the steering wheel at low speeds that goes "clunk, clunk" when the car is stopped or when I am moving at slow speeds. I can feel it in the steering wheel. It's a metal clicking sound which they told me is normal(!). I am not buying it. So I got my car back with this extra squeaking now. More issues than when I went in with.. Fricking dealer. Now I have to take it back again. I am going to speak to the service manager.

Drock28 · 04-08-2014, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rogerdiaz

Show me how to do this please. I need steps. I am slow.

well I hope its not a deterioration things.. other then spraying the lubricant i have not looked further into this.. and my car does not have any warranty left.. I assume a whole new steeting column would cost alot..

regarding the sqeak i had.. there was no clunking or things like that.. it was purely a squeaking sound.. that seemed to be coming from right out of the steering wheel..

it would come and go.. but usually at lower speeds in parking lots etc.. as I would turn the wheel mostly when turning left.. I woudl get the squeak..

check the videos in the link at top of this post..for the sound.. these videos are the closest I could find that was similar to what I was getting..

now my latest update to report.. the squeak has come back.. after about 1month of applying the lubricant.. but less noticeable and less often.. I did not know how much lub to spray the first time.. i did what I thought would be best and stopped.. but it definitely corrected the problem during this period of time.. when I get a chance I will add more..

now for a step by step..

1. unscrew the 3 bolts on the panel in the footwell..
2. gently bring the panel downwards.. may require some playing around to make space.
3. look for the steering column coming down into the firewall.
4. if I recall correctly, at the firewall there is like a rubber boot thing. above that, there is a round plastic seal piece. to my understanding there is a bearing in that, so I sprayed the lub into the gap of the plastic seal.. under the assumption it would make its way to the bearing inside and lub it back up.

for me personally this is what was causing the squeaking.. because as mentioned above, for ~1month.. there was absolutely Zero squeaking..after putting the lub in there..

but it lasted only a month and now its back.. but much less then it was the first time.. so im just going to do it again.. and see what happens from there.

rogerdiaz · 04-08-2014, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drock28

well I hope its not a deterioration things.. other then spraying the lubricant i have not looked further into this.. and my car does not have any warranty left.. I assume a whole new steeting column would cost alot..

regarding the sqeak i had.. there was no clunking or things like that.. it was purely a squeaking sound.. that seemed to be coming from right out of the steering wheel..

it would come and go.. but usually at lower speeds in parking lots etc.. as I would turn the wheel mostly when turning left.. I woudl get the squeak..

check the videos in the link at top of this post..for the sound.. these videos are the closest I could find that was similar to what I was getting..

now my latest update to report.. the squeak has come back.. after about 1month of applying the lubricant.. but less noticeable and less often.. I did not know how much lub to spray the first time.. i did what I thought would be best and stopped.. but it definitely corrected the problem during this period of time.. when I get a chance I will add more..

now for a step by step..

1. unscrew the 3 bolts on the panel in the footwell..
2. gently bring the panel downwards.. may require some playing around to make space.
3. look for the steering column coming down into the firewall.
4. if I recall correctly, at the firewall there is like a rubber boot thing. above that, there is a round plastic seal piece. to my understanding there is a bearing in that, so I sprayed the lub into the gap of the plastic seal.. under the assumption it would make its way to the bearing inside and lub it back up.

for me personally this is what was causing the squeaking.. because as mentioned above, for ~1month.. there was absolutely Zero squeaking..after putting the lub in there..

but it lasted only a month and now its back.. but much less then it was the first time.. so im just going to do it again.. and see what happens from there.

Awesome. Can i do this while the car is on with someone moving steering to confirm / pinpoint the squeak? Nice write up.

Drock28 · 04-08-2014, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rogerdiaz

Awesome. Can i do this while the car is on with someone moving steering to confirm / pinpoint the squeak? Nice write up.

I was alone when doing it..

when I got the panel down.. and determined where I was going to spray the lub.. i pushed the clutch in with my hand and started the car..

I would spray, and then turned the wheel abit and then sprayed again..
I repeated this process until I did a full lock left and right..

keep in mind.. it can be either the upper bearing which is inside the footwell.. or could be the lowering bearding which is past the firewall inside the engine bay.. I only did the upper bearing..

I have to assume this was the culprit for me, cause the squeak was gone after i did it..but only lasted a few weeks.. so I will try again and see how long it will last this time. although Im getting a squeak again.. it is alot less.
when I was first getting it, it was driving me insane. but at least now it doesnt bather me as much..cause hopefully spraying again, will fix it, hopefully for longer this time

apparently from my reserch this is a VERY common issue.. its a pretty big pisser, cause I have a 2003 Hyundai Sonata, as a secondary car, it still runs great, but its pretty beat up.. and never had a similar issue with it.

hope it works for you.

03-08-2014, 12:14 PM	#1
Drock28 Private First Class 13 Rep 129 Posts Drives: 2009 328XI coupe 6MT Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Montreal iTrader: (0)	2009 328xi coupe, squeaking noise from steering wheel hi, I posted this in Maintance/warranty section.. but reposting here.. for further feedback.. all feedback is greatly appreciated http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=955699
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03-08-2014, 09:48 PM	#2
G-Man2011 New Member 0 Rep 28 Posts Drives: 328xi Coupe Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: New Jersey iTrader: (1)	Ho crap!!! I thought i was nuts but the same thing is happening to my car!! And i feel like breaking the wheel its annoying. It comes right from behind the airbag housing. Its like a squeaky dog toy sound. Lol!! Not sure where to try and lube and how?
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03-09-2014, 09:45 AM	#3
Drock28 Private First Class 13 Rep 129 Posts Drives: 2009 328XI coupe 6MT Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Montreal iTrader: (0)	hi.. well.. apparently this seems to be a very common issue on all models of bm's..? when I get a chance, im going to try spaying lubricant on the steering shaft seal, from under in the footwell. as you mentioned it seems to be coming from directly behind the sterring wheel.. but I also stood outside, and moved the wheel and could hear it from under the car. so it may need lubricant, on that connecting nut under the car.. I almost certain its not bushing/suspension related.. cause it takes up to 30mins of driving for the squeak to start happening.. I have another car, where the right bushing went bad.. and there was no delay before it started, and it was much louder, and would produce same noise going over bumps.. so its defenitely something that is lacking lubrication in the steering column.. it is interesting, that this is common accurance on BM's.. I have never had such an issue on any other car ive had.. it is quite frustrating to say the least..!
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03-09-2014, 09:58 AM	#4
ajsalida Colonel 226 Rep 2,387 Posts Drives: 95 M3, 02 R1150GSA, 09 335xi Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: SW USA iTrader: (2)	One thing it could be, not sure about newer models. Older models have a copper slip ring between the steering wheel and hub. There is a spring loaded connector with electrical grease on it that lets the various wheel buttons (horn etc) make contact with hub wiring when turning. If the grease gets dried out or worn away, the contact element starts to squeak like that when the wheel is turned. You can hear it, sound would be coming right from the back of the wheel where the part that turns meets the part that doesn't. I had this exact problem on an older car and re-lubing the slip ring fixed it. Easy to do once wheel is off, newer wheels though not sure about. If the sound is not coming from there obviously not this.
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03-09-2014, 10:11 AM	#5
Drock28 Private First Class 13 Rep 129 Posts Drives: 2009 328XI coupe 6MT Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Montreal iTrader: (0)	thanks for the feedback.. I beleive I saw some videos of what you mentioned while looking it up my issue on youtube.. I will start by adding some lubrication as this is supposed to be the "easy fix", but with my luck who knows, in my book, easy fixes are hard to come by lol..
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03-09-2014, 04:06 PM	#7
Drock28 Private First Class 13 Rep 129 Posts Drives: 2009 328XI coupe 6MT Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Montreal iTrader: (0)	indeed.. I read more posts about the slip ring.. but I dont think ( at least i hope) its that.. Ive been reading on other forums.. and 99% of the time, the squeak is caused by either the lower or upper steering shaft bearing.. and putting lubricant fixes the problem.. so I will try this first.. which does not require removal of the steering wheel.. oddly enough during errands today.. it barely occured.. it did abit.. and that was it. sometimes when it starts, its sticks around, other times it can happen abit and then its gone.. thats why I know for sure, its related to this.. and not suspension related.
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03-15-2014, 01:44 PM	#8
Drock28 Private First Class 13 Rep 129 Posts Drives: 2009 328XI coupe 6MT Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Montreal iTrader: (0)	Alright.. so we'll see if spraying the lubricant on steering shaft seal has worked.. im in no way a DIY guy lol.. I always have someone else do work on my cars.. but according to video in link above.. I thought how hard could this be. in the drivers side footwell.. there is a panel with 3 screws.. so I unscrewed those. like all plastic pieces, there is some playing around to get it down enough, cause there are other wires and stuff attached to it.. to be honest I was not sure what I was looking for when I got it open.. but I could see the steering shaft coming down.. and there was a socket it went into, for what I assume is the seal where the bearing is in.. so basically I sprayed the lub stuff that i bought into that.. and rotated the wheel abit a time, and sprayed more each time until I did full wheel lock to each side.. screwed it back up and thats it.. for the time being.. its seems fine.. went around the block.. and did not hear any squeaks. but again the squeak comes and goes.. so that may just be a perioed when there wasnt any squeaking.. so in conclusion.. I did what I could for the moment.. so only time will tell, if this was the solution/fix for this.. hopefully it is..!
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03-24-2014, 11:34 AM	#9
Drock28 Private First Class 13 Rep 129 Posts Drives: 2009 328XI coupe 6MT Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Montreal iTrader: (0)	update: so I can confidently confirm, spraying the lubricant in the seal of the steering wheel shaft bearing, has fixed the squeaking..!! it has been over a week now, that I did this DIY.. and have not heard the squeaking sound at all. whereas previously I would hear it, almost every time I was driving the car. we'll see how long it lasts, but I have plenty of lubricant left in the can i bought, so if it comes back at some point.. I will just apply it again..
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03-27-2014, 04:39 AM	#10
BrokenMyWallet12 Private First Class 8 Rep 114 Posts Drives: 2009 335xi Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Long Island iTrader: (1)	Had a similar squeak on my 09 e92 with a little but more of a deeper tone. Drove me crazy since i also have the damn mystery brake squeak. I had taken it in to the dealership and it turned out to be a deteriorating portion in the steering column. My SA told this was a common occurence and was completely cover since the car is CPO'd. Hope that helped!
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04-08-2014, 08:58 AM	#12
only1harry Second Lieutenant 37 Rep 257 Posts Drives: 2011 E92 335i xDrive Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: NY iTrader: (0)	What kind of lubricant did you use and where is this seal you lubed? I have the squeaking noise when I turn the steering wheel too. It started right after I took my car to the dealer for other issues. Mine is an '11 e92 335 with 26k mi. It squeaks at low speeds when turning the steering wheel. The reason I took it in was because I have a noise in the steering wheel at low speeds that goes "clunk, clunk" when the car is stopped or when I am moving at slow speeds. I can feel it in the steering wheel. It's a metal clicking sound which they told me is normal(!). I am not buying it. So I got my car back with this extra squeaking now. More issues than when I went in with.. Fricking dealer. Now I have to take it back again. I am going to speak to the service manager. __________________ 2011 Space Grey 335i xDrive E92, Sport Pack/Premium/Winter/Navi rolling on 342's. 2019 Accord Sport 2.0T 10-sp.
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