W123 280E 1982 strange noise while slowly turning

[JohanCNel]

Dear Members

I would appreciate it if you could provide some troublehooting advice in regards to my car's steering.

Whenever the car is turning slowly, especially when reverse gear is engaged, I hear a noise from the front passenger footwell. I recently adjusted the steering column play, and the noise was briefly gone, and now it is back.

I have tried to locate the noise by having someone turn the steering wheel to while inspecting the car from underneath, and to no avail. I had a tyre/shocks/exhaust franchise look at the problem, but could not locate the noise to a specific component. I think it might be one of the steering bushes or similar related to the shock mounting.

Perhaps you could provide some pointers.

Regards,

Johan

 

[TimN]

There are two possibilities here. One is that it is the rubber bush at the joint between the lower wish bone and the subframe. As a car turns a corner the weight is thrown outwards and the side of the car on the direction of the turn will raise. Clearly the car must be moving to demonstrate this. Loose joints can be inspected by the use of a prising tool if you know what you're doing.

The other possibility is that on the passenger side there is a slave unit which transfers the direction of movement from the sterring box which is transverse via a connecting rod to the road wheel movement via the track rod end. It basically mirrors the movement of the pitman arm. I had a 114 once where this slave unit creaked or growned every 6 months and had to be disassembled greased and rebuilt. You will see a short pipe with a bolt through it and the slave pitman arm attached to the end with the two track rods connected to it. There may be a bearing inside which requires replacement. I have never had to disassemble this unit on a 123 series

The only other thing that I have suffered again it was the 114 was due to the constant bad practice by tyre fitters of jacking the car by the chassis. This eventually split the front chassis rail on the drivers side which then flexed and may have created some noise.

As with any work on the steering system tighten to the correct torque and realign after the work is complete.

If you have managed to adjust the play in the steering box then you are one of the lucky ones. My experience is that when the slack has become unbearable then it is past the point of adjustment.

 

[Rasputin]

Idler Control Unit

It may well be the steering idler bushes being dry or worn (see pick)