Clicking noise from steering rack area

[Club Cheetah]

Gents,

I've been having some mild shaking when on the highway, and also a clunk when hitting some bumps, stopping, or going over the curb into my driveway. I took a look underneath, and everything is tight, and quiet. My wife and daughter were rocking the car, and no noise. When I had my wife turn the steering wheel from side to side, I could replicate the noise. Here are a couple videos I took of the noise. Sounds like it's coming from the steering rack area.

Any help on diagnosing this would be appreciated. Steering ends are quiet, and I replaced all of the control arms about 3 months ago.

Mike

[A4Qwattro]

Might seem strange, but can you check that the steering rack bolts are still tight? I'm not familiar with location on the C5, but if everything else is tight, then it could be the rack itself that is loose. Not uncommon with Audi....

[Club Cheetah]

That's what I'm checking on now. I posted, then did a search specifically on steering racks, and found several other people having loose bolts. I'm hoping that's the case.

[Club Cheetah]

No dice on the rack bolts. Both are nice and snug.

[PaperToast]

my dice are on cv's or bushings
yall know these car can be hard on those

[Club Cheetah]

I replaced the CA's a few months ago, all look great upon inspection today. Axles were rebuild about a month ago, and I had the noise before.

I'm trying to figure out if the noise came at a certain time, but I've been chasing down several noises. Control arms, axles clicking, a loose sway bar bolt, it's become my list of hobbies and favorite past times.

[PaperToast]

hmm, the only other thing that comes to mind are the wheel bearings

[Club Cheetah]

Bearings seem ok to me, no noise when turning or going around corners. The clunk sounds like it's coming from the area of the rack. I do have a bad boot on the passenger side, would that cause some point in there to fail?

[PaperToast]

the inner tie rod joint could have deteriorated, take a peak and let us know?

[Club Cheetah]

That sounds like the next most logical place. I did find a sway bar link bolt that was fairly unsnug, which removed a good amount of noise. I'll take a look and see what I find. Seems like the noise is coming from that specific location.

[Club Cheetah]

Pulled back the boot on the inner tie rod today and aside from being a little dirty, and having some minimal surface rust, it looks to be tight. Moving the wheel around I can not make the noise, and see not play in the ball joint on the passenger side like I thought was the area. On the driver side, if I reach my arm in and rock the steering wheel, I can make the noise, and it is still coming from further in than the inner tie rod. With my hand on the tie rod I could feel the clunk resonating, but not originating. I'm leaning more towards the rack again, but I have no idea why it would've gone bad in the first place.

I found one subframe bolt that took an extra 1/4-1/2 turn, but everything else is looking ok as far as the control arms, and tie rods.

[rollerton]

Totally sounds like inner tie rod end. Try doing it one side at a time, one wheel on the ground and replicate the noise. Also helps to have the wheel off so you can get good look at the tie rod/ rack when you do it. I think the early cars or some particular version of the steering rack had an external steering dampener. It's just skinny hydraulic shock kind of like the hood strut. That might be worth looking at?
But I'd say the rack itself probably isn't doing it if the car tracks okay and steers fine.

[audinutt]

My a8 had a similar issue a couple years ago and I narrowed it down to the steering rack. replaced it and the problem was resolved

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[Club Cheetah]

Car steers and tracks fine. It also had some steering shake especially on the highway. I jacked the car up, and double checked every single nut and bolt in the control arms, sub frame, steering and suspension. I found all four lower control arm nuts, weren't very tight from when I had the alignment. I also loosened up the sway bar and retightened it up with the car on ramps. Pulled out of the driveway and it's silent. I'm trying to find any noise that might be contributing to the shake, so I'l check out the steering ends and inners. One had some rust, but I didn't see movement.

So I'd call it mostly a win. If I can get the shake fixed I'll be really happy with it. On to oil leaks next!