Weird Rubbing/squeeking Noise When Steering

[z0mbi3]

First post so please go easy on me!

 

Basically in the last 3 or so months my C1 has developed a whining / rubbing noise when turning the steering wheel at low speeds. It's still under warranty so I had the upper steering column replaced, which seemed to reduce the noise a bit, but a couple of days later it seems just as bad as it ever was.

 

The guy at the service centre road tested it after the upper column was swapped out and said he couldn't hear anything, so I sat in the car with him and showed him myself. Basically what I did was left the car started but stationary and just rotated the wheel full lock slowly, in both directions, second time coming around if I stopped and wiggled the wheel back and forth a little I could hear like a low pitch clicking sound that the technician attributed to something called the "u joint" (perfectly normal apparently?). When I continued rotating the wheel slowly it started doing the whining noise again, very definitley and loud enough for the technician not to miss it.

 

 

So it's in with the service center at the moment, and I have another courtesy C1 off of them. I've noticed that the clutch on the courtesy car is stupidly light compared to mine so I gave them a ring and asked if they could see if it was related at all (possibly the clutch cable rubbing against something related to the steering?).

 

So that's where I am right now. Waiting for a call from the service centre so I can pick it up at the end of the day. To be honest I'm not hugely optimistic, but I'd feel huge amounts better if someone here had shared a similar experience or might be able to offer me any tips.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

edit: btw, it's got about 25k on the clock and I don't drive it particularly hard.

[TurboSlag]

Er, there should be no detectable play or undue noise from a column UJ - apart from being ominous, it's also an MOT failure when that rolls around.

 

There's been an issue with so C1/107s with the electro hydraulic PAS pump going squiffy too.