Hey guys.. Got a strange one today...

Has anyone ever gotten a strange churning sound (its a solid sound, with no vibrato or variance in volume or pitch, like metal on metal or something) while in motion with the steering wheel turned all the way to the left or right? It sounds like its coming from the driver's side front wheel well.

It seems to only happen when I'm close to a complete stop, or coming out of one.

I don't think it could be the brake system simply because the car has only 5000 miles on it, although I guess I can never be too sure.

Any ideas? Thanks!

 

So I was talking to a coworker today and he said the following:

I had a very similar problem which was apparently isolated to his power steering system. There was a loss of pressure in the system which was triggered by the steering wheel turned all the way to the left or right. What's eerily similar is that when he turned back the steering wheel, he would get the same churning sound.

Does this sound plausible? Anyone have this experience before?

 

I used to have that problem on my old car. Turns out I had a leak in my power steering fluid resevoir. The sound happens when there is low or no fluid.

 

I surely hope this is the issue, since it would be fixed under warranty.. Funny thing is, I'm due to take in my car for A1 service this Saturday... The service items include check of fluid levels and hoses.. Guess now they really do have something to fix if it is indeed loss of power steering fluid... I'll keep you guys posted.

 

Just don't do it. Turning the steering rack all the way against the "stops" (all the way left or right) puts unneeded stress/pressure on the PS pump. So just back off of the "stop" and the noise should go away. You'll never notice the difference in the turning radius and your PS pump will be much happier.

 

Adobeman:

The thing is, I'm not even "riding" the stops going all the way to the left or right. However, your advice is still fundamentally sound. I think avoiding extremes in anything results in better, well.. "results"...