I am starting to get a sticky steering wheel in my 13 plate leaf. By sticky I mean that it's kind of jerky when turning it, like it's not smooth. I will hear a small grindy noise from the steering wheel and it feels unsmooth when I try to turn the steering wheel. In the last year I have replaced, tracking rods, wishbones, drop links and had wheels aligned and balanced. But it is still there. Any ideas what could be causing this? Could it be eps? I read that some BWMs have EPS that turn of briefly when the weather is hot say above 18 degree celcius and this seems to happen mostly when the weather is quite hot outside, so maybe it is that? Anyway anyone elese have this problem and what did you do to fix it?
Sticky Steering Wheel
- Thread starter Gusy12
- Start date
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user 24513
Well-known member
If the steering is rack and pinion (which it almost certainly is, electrically assisted) then get the rack checked, IF it is getting grit into it or the teeth are wearing out you will need to fix it. Not something to mess with.
user 24513
Well-known member
How about listening under the front end when the car is parked, have a (trusted) friend turn the wheels? This way there is weight on the wheels and more force is required to run the pinion along the rack.. Put your hand on the rack, feel for vibration? If nothing else, check the rubber boots at the 2 ends to see if dirt might be getting into the rack.
Nubo
Well-known member
Could be the stability-control system stepping in for some reason. We don't get snowy roads in my area but the two situations where I have encountered it are 1) driving over wet leaves, and 2) after replacing two tires due to damage, which resulted in slight diameter difference between front and back tires. In the latter case I was able to correct the problem by swapping front and rear tire sets. I suppose this could also be caused by wheel-sensor problems, etc.. Check the dashboard while the steering is "misbehaving" and you may see the stability-control warning briefly flashing.
Ok so the temperature in the last few days has dropped from around 17-20 C to 11-15 C now and the stickiness has gone. Is this is an eps problem, where above a certain temperature it keeps cutting off then starting again almost straight away? This issue was found in BMW Z4 cars. Either that or the grease on the steering rack is not working very well above a certain temperature. I am going to regrease the steering rack with a high temperature grease to see if that makes a difference, though it is coming to winter now so I might not get the stickiness until next summer, so I might wait until next year to do it.
