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Knocking sound when turning wheel

13K views 14 replies 10 participants last post by  P_Murtagh2003 
#1 ·
Hi' all ,

if i turn my wheel in full turn to get out of tight space it makes a knocking sound. i've only noticed it when im turning right and it only happens when the wheel has been turned as much as it can.

Any ideas?
 
#2 ·
Not sure what your knocking is but I would never put a car on full lock with power steering, just short of full lock is fine but full lock puts strain on pump, seals etc. You can actually hear everything being strained when you do. I once did it on a vauxhall cavalier Sri and it blew a seal and I ended up having to replace the whole steering rack .
 
#3 ·
if it's knocking when you are moving it may be a CV joint as they'll be working under a more acute angle on full lock so more likely to show any issue with the joint especially if the noise is one sided. Power steering units on full lock generally do make a bit of a noise and you really shouldn't have them on full lock for more than 'a few' seconds as damage can result.
 
#6 ·
Knocking on full lock is classic Cv joint failure - its the constant velocity joint which allows the drive shaft to "bend" when you turn the front wheels to steer round a corner. There is one at each end of the shaft and there are two shafts (one to each front wheel). They consist of some very big ball bearings running inside a very finely machined housing which is packed full of molybdenum suphate grease which is all enclosed within a rubber boot.
What normally happens is that the boot splits, all the grease gets thrown out, crap gets in and wears the ball bearings or the housing.
Easiest way to fix it is probably an exchange drive shaft (or one off a scrapper) - I'm not sure if the CV joints on these cars are avilable on their own.
 
#7 ·
Thanks for the information , i had a ball joint replaced on it's last service around 10months ago is this related to the CV joint? I'll ask my garage to take a look see if they can out.

Getting new car later this year early next hopefully won';t have to spend tonnes on this car.damn alfa's have their problems! lol Lovely car to drive just alotof things to go wrong!
 
#9 ·
I agree re the lock stops.

No,a ball joint wouldn't be related to the CV joint. Ball joints are suspension bits - i suppose they may have damaged the CV joint boot while fitting the ball joint though. It'll be fairly obvious of the boot has split, there will be grease spread all around under the wheel arch.
 
#10 ·
I've just cured a similar issue. Lower droplink thread hitting balance weight on drive shaft , right lock only (eibach anti roll bar kit & new drop links just been fitted fitted). Cured it by cutting about 5mm off end of thread. Might be worth a look. :cool:
 
#13 ·
Let us know if the garage is any good. I'm on the look out for one to use in Bristol - preferably one that understands Alfas and doesn't cost too much!

As far as previous comments about not putting the steering on full lock are concerned, the turning circle on a 156 is so poor that it's almost impossible not to use full lock. The 156 GTA that I drove was even worse!
 
#14 ·
Is it possible that this is caused by non-OEM droplinks or if not then it is likely that something has twisted. This only started on mine after I hand to change front subframe after it got twisted in an accident. But as the droplink got sheared in the process that obviously got changed as well.
 
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