Steering Squeak

[Wufei]

Hiya,

Whenever I turn the steering wheel, I can hear this squeal/squeak coming from the engine bay. I'm fairly certain it's not the belt squeal, since I've had that the whole winter and it sounded different.

I sprayed some WD-40 on the belts, and the belt squeal went away. However, there's still this other squeak when I turn the wheel, it kinda sounds like rubber boots or a shaft.

 

[-Stroked-]

Check the fluid first to make sure it is full. Then I would check and make sure the tie rod ends are good by trying to move the wheel side to side with the car sitting on the ground off. Then get under it and visually inspect it as well. Also never spray anything on your belts. That will just cause them to fix for a while, then slip worse and cause premature failure.

 

[Wufei]

I just filled up the fluid with DEXRON-III (AutoZone was out of II, and it said it met II requirements).

I forgot to mention that after turning the wheel all the way left and then all the way right a few times, the squealing goes away, but as soon as the car starts moving and turns, it squeals again.

I did some searching before I put WD-40 on and from the readings, I thought belt dressing would kill your belts but WD-40 was ok?

Thanks!

 

[-Stroked-]

If it goes away after a bit then more than likely your belt just isn't tight enough. Belt's have to be VERY tight. If using WD-40 helped then odds are you should just replace the belt because maybe it isn't riding in the pulley right because the V is wire out.

 

[DevilSperm]

For some reason my 2g squeaks where the steering column goes through the fire wall. That boot there is I think whats doing, however im too lazy to get down to look at, and usually im in a hurry. Anyway, crawl down there and spin the wheel, unless you are positive its coming from the engine bay.

 

[Turbo Talon 111]

i had a similar problem but it was almost always when i turned the steering wheel. it was easier to hear sitting still or going slower since there was less other noise. sounded like a squeek/squeel just plain bad ear piercing noise. had trouble pin pointing the exact location. i dropped some oil in a few places in a hurry and it ended up temorarily fixing it. then of course just after i drove back to columbia it started up again. i took it to a shop to have it diagnosed. ended up being that the ball joints just needed some lube. the shop used a special syringe type tool to inject some grease in through the boots. problem solved.

i think its kind of hard to diagnose stuff like that with laying on the ground in an uncomfortable position. if you've already tried and can't find it just take it to a shop for diagnosing and an estimate. most places will do the estimate for free and it doesn't normally take too long either.