[SOLVED] Is my steering rack busted?
 

Hello all,

I have had this noise for like a year now. A couple weeks ago I had posted in the "what did you do to your BRZ today" thread that I had fixed the noise by simply tightening my Perrin steering rack lockdown braces and their little baby set screws. However, the noise came back a week later and even louder than before. Of course!

I've been thinking about what to do this past week and after some Google-fu I saw one of @Ultramaroon 's many answers on these forums stating that the steering rack bolts are to tightened to 89ft/lbs which is indeed in contrast to the 65ft/lbs that Perrin recommends.

I got under the car just now with my torque wrench. Tightened the passenger side bolt to 89lbs, dead quiet and I think I'm about to solve my problem. I get to the driver side and even with me barely applying any pressure I hear the creaking/ticking you can hear in the video below.

In the first video you can see my shaking the steering shaft and it is making the noise like crazy! In the second video I am applying like 10ft/lbs of pressure on the bolt with the torque wrench and it's also making the noise.

One thing to note was that when I had the torque wrench on the bolt, I could shake the steering shaft without it making noise.

Also lots of grease around where the shaft enters the rack :bonk:

Steering still feels normal and controllable on/off the track.

TIA

https://youtu.be/MP7r_Gj996c

https://youtube.com/shorts/8HIAuOviKu8?feature=share

Interesting

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Sounds busted to me?
Never herd a click like that, that's very strange.
Like you pointed out though, There is a decent amount of grease that has leaked out, probably just got leaked dry and starved the bearings inside inducing slop?

I've just parted out an 15 FRS, and have a steering rack available. I'll throw in the steering column linkage aswell so you can also rule that out. If your interested in it DM me, I'm giving really good deals on all these parts.

Do we know if that sound is coming from the rack, or is it possibly upstream of the intermediate shaft (EPS drive)? If not 100% sure, I suggest separating to verify.

PM'd. I really have no idea what is inside a steering rack but what you are saying makes sense. I have 160k miles on the car with 15 track days so logic says that my steering rack should be on it's way out.

That's an excellent point and I need to check. I recently had the EPS motor dropped down to replace that little star shaped bushing as I thought it could be the cause of this damn noise, but just my luck the stock bushing was in perfect shape. I put a new one in anyways as the stock one was over 8 years old and I figured it may be "not great" anymore.

If I just remove the driver side kick panel, can I access the bolts to separate the 2 components?

I think the easiest place to do it would be to at the u-joint where it plugs into the rack.

https://gt86stuff.onrender.com/t3Por...02TET014X.html

But, now some other stuff comes to mind. In your clip, do you have the tie-rods clamped, or are somehow keeping the wheels from steering, like using ramps instead of jackstands?

Because, if the wheels are free, the only resistance felt would be coming from the EPS. Since you've already inspected the motor coupler, I'm even more confused. :(

Wheels are actually up in there air via jack stands so no crazy resistance there.

But check this out video (WARNING LOUD 86 BEEPING), I can wiggle the wheel in ignition mode and no noise, but once I turn the car on I get the noise? This may point to the actual motor being the problem, but that’s scary to think about because the EPS is the most expensive part of the steering system to replace!

https://youtu.be/W4kHlcVHIOA

Yes, indeed! Found it.

So yesterday evening I did a couple more tests and I found I could shake the intermediate shaft from under the steering wheel and it didn't make noise, but when I shake the intermediate shaft from in the engine bay I can hear the noise and it definitely sounds like it's coming from the rack area.

This may be a long shot, but is it possible that the rack/pinion gears are worn enough that it could make a noise but still steering correctly? The noise is coming from right from where those 2 gears meet.

But next steps to save money will be to remove my lockdown braces and inspect the rack bushings.

The only way to know for sure is to separate them at that u-joint. I've been humbled many times here. I don't want to lead you astray. Follow your gut.

I have a popping sound whenever turn left or right a slow movement, like turning a parking spot etc...

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Update time:

I removed the steering rack lockdowns and the noise is gone (for now, we all know how these things go).

There was a super tiny rock wedged between the driver side lockdown and the area where the pinion meets the rack, but I am unconvinced something so small could cause such a large creak.

https://i.imgur.com/2S97liL.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/qQIMJMj.jpg

When I had loosened the driver side lockdown to roughly 30lbs I could shake the intermediate shaft and there was no noise. It was as if I had relieved a ton of pressure in the general area.

https://youtube.com/shorts/G-2GsFUcuDA?feature=share

There looked like there were metal shavings on on the bottom of the driver side lockdown. I'm thinking it could've worn the nub that the lockdown sits on.

I will report back after I do a drive this evening!

Interesting keep us updated. Those lockdowns were on my shortlist.