Steering clunk?

[Lost Cosmonaut]

Yes, I searched. Found information about clunking over bumps but that's not the issue here.

Lately I've noticed that when doing "hard turns" (any more than say a slight turn of the wheel), I get a clunk in the front end. It seems to happen most when turning to the left, and sometimes happens when going back and forth (like after backing out of a parking spot turning the wheel the other direction). The clunk is more pronounced when parked trying to turn the wheels while stopped.

Any ideas what it could be?

- Patrick

[moroza]

A few things come to mind. Could you describe the noise in more detail (what it sounds like, where it sounds to be coming from, how rapid it is, if anything more specific sets it off, aso.)?

[Lost Cosmonaut]

The noise is just a light clunk from the front end, mostly a slight bump in the steering wheel. It sounds a lot like a clunking strut, and a lot like when the front suspension went bad on my E38, but all those noises came during bumps. This comes only when turning past maybe 5% from center and mostly when turning to the left. It's almost like a threshold, small inputs never clunk (like following curves on the freeway), but when you turn "significantly" like making a somewhat sharp turn into a driveway then you get the clunk. And like I said it's most noticeable when you are parked and you turn the steering wheel.

I don't notice it when I turn to the right, mostly to the left. Also, the steering feel in general is very stiff and heavy, is that the norm with the M5s? Maybe I have a steering pump going bad?

- Patrick

[moroza]

The steering on M5's has a shorter ratio than non-M cars, but I can't say how heavy it's supposed to feel. If there's also a sharp increase in resistance when it crosses center, your steerbox is over-tightened.

I'm not sure if the noise you describe is the same as mine, but it sounds close enough that I recommend you try this - go out driving, preferably around some block or section of road that has turns that set off the noise. Try the same turns with the hood popped and slid forward. I did this, and confirmed that my noise is somehow related to the hood bracket things (the ones attached to the body), and not the suspension.

A member (AWOL, possibly A.W.O.L) with an M5 posted something similar a while ago, and I think it turned out to be one of the shock mounting nuts that had come loose (either the main one, or one of the 3 small ones).

[Jetsa]

A lot of Gm vehicles are experiencing "steering shaft clunk" nowdays. Surprisingly, my 95 530I has the same shaft setup. So, when I was hunting front end noises, one of the things I tried was I loosened the nut that holds the intermediate shaft to the column shaft and took the intermediate one off at the bottom where it joins the steering gear shaft. It is a splined unit so you have to be careful not to turn it, especially if you have the steering wheel airbag. So with the bottom of the shaft off, you can move the upper portion in and out of the column shaft. This will reposition the grease that has been in one spot for however old your car is. I "jerked mine off" :D about 20 times to make sure that the parts in the shaft that hadnt seen any grease got some. Then reassembled the middle shaft back on the lower steering shaft.

The normal complaint we see with this condition is slight to harder clunking noise when turning the steering wheel, moreso on harder turns. So this sounds a lot like your concern.

With the GM ones, we initially were removing them and applying a special grease, but it only slowed down the inevitable replacements. Then GM came out with a revised steering shaft for most models supposedly to eliminate the condition. Note:We're still greasin em :)

Hope this helps.