Clicking sound from steering wheel assembly

mad_mackem · Post by **mad_mackem** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 11:18 am

Morning all,

ever since i bought my Z second hand there has been a clicking noise which occurs when the indicators are off but the wheel turns back and forth past the indicator stalk, iv managed to confirm that the noise is definately coming from the left stalk, does anybody have any ideas of what this could be? intial thoughts are is there is something catching perhaps in the auto cancel bit of the stalk and the wheel? short of taking off the air bag and wheel im not sure if theres a way to fix it??
iv managed to remove the torx screws holding in the stalk without removing the wheel, but it doesnt want to budge so looks like i will have to remove the wheel too

any advice or help would me much appreciated

Cheers

andy

mad_mackem · Post by **mad_mackem** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 5:54 pm

update, for those interested

clicking problem now solved, it turned out to be that the piece of the indicator which protrudes to catch the auto cancel was catching without the stalk being moved, fix was to cover the protruding piece of plastic in grease, along with the sliding bit, and also greased the auto cancel rotating plastic. indicators now cancel how they should, but the click appears to be gone, long may it stay that way too

imp75 · Post by **imp75** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 12:51 pm

Pleased to see the solution was a relatively simple one. Thanks for update!

daveygravey · Post by **daveygravey** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 9:38 am

Hi, I have a similar problem but I cannot see the protruding piece of plastic when I removed the steering wheels cowl.
Does anyone know if I need to remove the indicator stalk or even the steering wheel?

Thanks,
Dave

RussellP · Post by **RussellP** » Thu May 16, 2013 7:43 am

Does anyone know how to solve this problem? This is happening on mine now and again but i cannot find the piece of plastic in question?

Thanks for any advice...

Wrighty · Post by **Wrighty** » Sat Feb 13, 2021 9:00 am

Morning all,
I have this exact issue also (didn't see the point in starting a new thread)
Does anyone have any further info on how to access this protruding piece of plastic? I've removed both upper lower steering wheel cowls but unsure as to how far I need to go next
Thanks

GAZA62 · Post by **GAZA62** » Sat Feb 13, 2021 9:23 am

Mines been making a clicking noise for a few years now not that loud and only now and then when i am manoeuvring the car never when driving wondered what it was thanks for the info.

Rockhopper · Post by **Rockhopper** » Sat Feb 13, 2021 10:17 am

Mine does this as well!

mjennings23 · Post by **mjennings23** » Sun Feb 14, 2021 7:31 pm

Well I can jump in and say mines started doing this after the winter. Seems the stalk needs to come out to sort, so that's a wheel off job

Wrighty · Post by **Wrighty** » Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:20 pm

The noise on mine dissappears when I pull the left stalk away from the steering column slightly. This would support what the OP said above

mjennings23 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 14, 2021 7:31 pm Seems the stalk needs to come out to sort, so that's a wheel off job

Fortunately it doesn't look too difficult to remove

Wrighty

Wrighty · Post by **Wrighty** » Sun Feb 21, 2021 6:08 pm

Brief guide for this task if anyone is looking for some help,

1 - Remove the steering wheel (see guide this guide viewtopic.php?t=1484)

2 - Remove 4 black torx screws then lift off the complete stalk assembly.

3 - Squeeze and pull to disconnect the 3 electrical connectors (4 if you have cruise control)

4 - Squeeze together the tabs on the rear side if the assembly to remove the indicator stalk.

When the indicator stalk is operated either up or down the short plastic tab pictured extends outwards, in my case this would not automatically return when the indicator was turned off resulting in the clicking noise as the wheel rotated past this point.

: DSC_5858.JPG (91.85 KiB) Viewed 768 times

5 - Apply grease to this plastic tab where possible plus the small circular spot to the left. Operate the stalk numerous times to work in the grease and confirm that the plastic tab now returns automatically when the stalk is in the centeral position (indicators off)

: DSC_5860.JPG (80.02 KiB) Viewed 768 times

: DSC_5861.JPG (76.55 KiB) Viewed 768 times

6 - I also applied a slight smear of grease to the corresponding face

7 - Take the opportunity to throughly clean all stalks, and the steering wheels whilst access is good.

8 - Reassemble in the reverse order

9 - Find your handbook to figure out how to get the clock back into 24 hour format!

10 - Test

Completed mine today and all seems okay so far

Wrighty

mjennings23 · Post by **mjennings23** » Thu Feb 25, 2021 12:50 am

Good guide, and having done the job myself at the weekend pretty much identical to my procedure. Old grease was pretty gummed up and not much left, which is fair enough I guess when the car has just ticked over 17 years old

Wrighty · Post by **Wrighty** » Mon Mar 08, 2021 7:59 am

Two weeks on and all is still well. I've not heard the original noise / issue since

Wrighty

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