Steering wheel grinding sound when turning

I had that smae problem on my trip to Monterey in 2004. After I pulled the hub of there is a metal bushing that rides along with the turn signal assembly I located the scraping noise here and put some grease in there . I cant remember wheteher I put silicone or white grease. Ther are horn contacts there but they looked fine and I put some dielectric grease on that. In the 2nd pic it is the shaft then the pastic thing then the thin metal bushing that was caausing it. After i put it back together I never had the problem again!

Rob
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Robertgarven,
That's the horn ring commutator on the column switch.

As for other bearings, yes, there are a pair of small universal joints further under the dash. You can see them by looking up from underneath. Unfortunately, they get overlooked & don't get lubricated, so 1 could have failed.

 

They have zerk fittings, so they are easy to grease.

 

trust me,

I had this exact problem I could be wrong but am almost sure it is in the stalk you do need a baum tool steering wheel nut to get it off. I never saw any grease fittings under there but will check again?

Rob

btw you need to loosen the nut with the wheel on then use a puller to remove the hub, I would not use the key lock to loosen the nut as the part is hard to find...

 

I too am having the grinding. I am worried it's my steering box. I have to look at it closer but on first glance last night I see some sort of fluid on the frame behind the front wheels.

 

Not sure about the grinding part, but I love the VW pic! Is that a photoshop job? A real car painted like that would probably get you busted if you drove it!

Birdman

 

If you hear the same grinding i was getting it is definitely in the steering collum switch as you could ge a stethiscope and hear it. If it from you rack that is another matter. The car is real here is another one.
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thats why I hardly ever use my turn signals!!!!

I think Verell makes new parts for the assembly too?

Rob

 

WOW!
Thought I was the only column switch repair source in the world. Unless the main switch body is badly broken, I repair/refurbish the switches for less than half that. often for a lot less depending on what's broken.

I do have the molds to repair any of the stalks, and have repaired other parts of the switch, including the main body(see link below). If necessary, I have a collection of switch parts, so can make a mold of the main switch body, or the horn rings if necessary.

However,
I don't have cores to exchange, so it usually takes me a couple of weekends to service a switch if I already have a mold of the broken piece.

When you get it apart, post them here & pm or email me with a link to this thread & I'll get you a ballpark repair quote.

Here's some of my prior column switch repair work:
Headlight (aka: Column, Cluster) Switch & Switch Stalk Repair
http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21548&highlight=column+switch+stalk

There's more in the old FerrariChat.com archives as well.

BTW, I'd like to know the name & contact info of the repair source 'back east'.

 

Verell,
Rutlands will rebuild 308 head/turn/wiper switch assy's for $1,400. The previous owner of my car had it done by them.

 

Hmm,
Birdman's been telling me my switch repair prices are way too low...
;^)

However,
I can't in conscience almost triple them to compete with Ted R. Would like to see some of his restoration work so I could compare it to mine. Always ready to learn something.

 

I open this thread again
I had a grinding sound on the steering column. It came from the steering hub.
I extracted the hub nut with the special tool and I managed to remove the hub with an extractor.
What should I do to remove the wheel with the contact ring? I have to reach the metal ring between the hub and the steering column and I'm afraid of breaking something
thanks

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I clean it all off (vacuum), would put some dielectric grease down there, and put it back together. Mine sound never came back.

 

thanks Robert but I suspect the metal ring is rotated in the seat, coming out of the joints on the column

 

here you can see the metal ring i try to reach

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Is that your car? It looks fine?

 

the previous one is mine ..................... the last one has been taken from web
So no bodyelse can help me ?

 

May I please ask why people put dilectric grease on electrical connections when it impeads voltage ..it seem that electrical connective grease would be more in order for maximum electrial flow...Thank you all so very much in advance. Jq.

 

I did not know there was a difference can you suggest a good brand that’s easily available ?

Flavio, my next suggestion, just start taking it apart so you can determine what parts are broken and go from there.??

 

We do it to prevent corrosion of course.

If the mechanical connection aspect of the electrical joint is correct, the dielectric grease will be sufficiently displaced by the mechanical connection and everything works as planned. Conductive grease can create all sorts of issues unless it's applied very carefully and sparingly with absolutely no excess outside of the protected joint area. As someone who spent the early part of my career as a manufacturing control systems engineer, I would never suggest conductive grease for an automotive application. Too easy to get it wrong.

Some fun reading: https: //www.w8ji.com/dielectric_grease_vs_conductive_grease.htm