Steering column rattle

Post by **deleted** » 04 Feb 2005 06:58 am

Hi everyone,

I just registered here, owned a 360 for a number of weeks. I'm trying to get it roadworthy. There are a number of issues, but one that is quite concerning is the steering rattle over bumps.

Im not talking about a wheel balance or shockers. When sitting in the car, I can pull the wheel towards and push it away from me. about 5mm of travel id say, its not very loose but because of this it rattles over bumps.

I dont know m uh about steering systems, its been suggested to me that it may be a spring under the actual wheel that pushes against the column?? This is apparently what 240's have. Anyway, when i pull and push the wheel i can feel the shaft at firewall move in and out with it (down near where the ubolt thing is). Could it just be the u bolt needs tightening??

The steering works fine except for this, no rattle left or right. Afraid its a roadworthy issue.

I will introduce myself later. A bit of a rush at work atm

Anyone who knows about this that can help.. greatly appreciated

its an 87 360 glt australian

Thanks everyone.

Post by **Lonewolf** » 04 Feb 2005 07:20 am

Welcome to the forums, its about time another fellow aussie got on here. (i'm from coffs harbour, nsw)

Funny you should mention that as i just put my steering wheel back on (like 2 minutes ago) if you want to tighten it up pull the horn piece toward you, it should pop out, and disconnect the 2 wires. You should be able to see a nyloc nut there, just tighten it up, till theres no more jiggle, then hook the 2 wires back up to the horn button, note they are different size connectors, and then push the horn button back in.

I took the steering wheel off the other day so i had better access under behind it and when i put it back on the wheel part would wobble.

This should solve the problem, let us know.

Post by **RandomHero** » 04 Feb 2005 08:06 pm

Is that rattle caused just by the nut in the steering wheel that needs to be tightened? Because my current 360 and last 340 had that same thing when driving over a speed bump or something.

Post by **deleted** » 05 Feb 2005 03:58 am

Thanks for replies

I tightened up the steering wheel bolt, it was already pretty tight. Then i drove up the driveway and it still seemed to clunk, so i took off the firewall dashboard underside (where the colunm goes through to the engine bay) i could see the shaft moving up and down as i shook still, so i tightened the first nut/bolt , then took it for a spin. iand the rattle is completely gone!

Maybe it was a combination of both things

??I took it down a dirt road, turning left out of it taking it a bit fast in 2nd. I look down the road ahead and the cops are parking ready to start speed cameraing, i was pretty scared cause hte car isnt reged or roadworthy, so i drive 10 metres down this road and then,. real sus pull over and do a u turn the way i came.

Today i have discovered the driver side saet is broken (causing it to lean back further when pressure is applied) this is not roadworthy. I took it off and disover that where the seat meats the sliding channel, the metal is broken. maybe could be fixed with welding, provally time for a new seat though, which is a bvit of a shame cause its not a bad seat, and now ill have colour mismatch problems.

Things that i know i need for roadworthy:

Seat adjustment tuner handles (driver side was broken, and today passenger shattered)

Pedal pads

rear left hand side light cluster
a not broken 300 jack

thats it basically, i am having a lot of trouble tracking down any of these
( i also need some bolts that hold the fuelpump heat sheild on the underside and obviously a seat).

I f any one could help methat would be great, i want to take it to a roadworthy place this week, which means ive got 1 week from then to get all the stuff.

I expect work will have to be done on the brakes as well

Any suggestions are welcome

Thanks

Post by **5lab** » 06 Feb 2005 02:36 am

i have a full light cluster set, but i think posting it to aus would be far too expensive.

Post by **Lonewolf** » 06 Feb 2005 05:11 am

cant help with the seat knobs sorry, i went and checked them on mine as i am getting rid of seats soon in favor of some lighter ones and wont be needing them, but the knobs are slightly damaged, they are in better nic than when blueslip'd as i stripped them off the donor car and put them on mine.

However if u live in melbourne, check the phonebook for a place called sweedish wreckers, i dealt with them with both my current 360 for it to get a blueslip passed as well as other odds and ends. They are pretty good, their prices were fairly reasonable, but shop around none the less.

I have 2 spare lamp clusters so if u want to pay postage i can send one of them down (i need the other one so i cant send both). Can also send some pedals down if u get desperate.

Havnt got a spare jack, you could try a car parts place (super cheap auto, repco, autobarn) not sure what auto shops are down there. Maybe sweedish wreckers has em, but i rarely see a car at the wreckers WITH the jack.

ah here we go:

Sweedish Wreckers
34-36 Slater Pde.
Keilor east, VIC, 3033
PH: (03) 9336 2028
Website: http://melbourne.citysearch.com.au/E/V/ ... 042/54/95/

And another wreckers down there for volvo's but i haven't dealt with them as they were a bit dearer off memory, but between the 2 wreckers you should find all u need, otherwise if u pay the postage i can send down bits off my donor car if i dont need it.

VolvSaab
31-33 Cambria Road
Keysborough, VIC, 3173
PH: (03) 9798 7200
Website: http://www.saabpaarts.com.au/

There was also a place up in Brisbane called eagle wreckers which were really good to deal with, but i cant find their details.

See how you go with that, can you tell us about your car now?

Cheers, Trent

Post by **deleted** » 07 Feb 2005 11:34 am

thanks Lnewolf

I gave sweedish wreckers are call, they seem a bit more expensive.

Volv -Rek (berry motor company) seem to be my best bet at the moment, there is one in resevoir too and bayswater.

No luck on a rear light cluster though.. i will find it though, i am sure.

I also noticed the steering vibration damper is cracked.

I am thinking of getting the roadworthy done at volv-rek (88$) instead of the local guy (77$). i dont want to get done over, made to change all pointless things, like rubbers that arnt worn.

My car is a 87 (built 86) with 196,000 km and a b200EA engine.

its metallic silver with blue stripes. The paint is really the worst bit of the car,
seems to have been resprayed (though it is all good ) except the roof which is crows footed and has coffee stain looking bits (like worn down below the metalic)

looking bleached
the crows feet arnt really noticable from a far.

There is a bit of competition between the 360 and my friends e21 bmw (83), they have 105 - 109 hp and weigh 1030kg. I dont plan on thrashing this car, but interestred to know how they compare. I used to own one, but it was auto.

This particular friend gave me no end of abuse when i told him i was thinking about getting a 360 again, so id like my car to eat his, though ill be happy either way.

Car had a bit of rear end damage when i got it (mostly bumper), i took it off andbeat it flat.

If you know about the bumpers, the little plastic clips that hold the sides of the bumper to the car (near the rear doors). they are for self taping screw. Mine was missing all 3 on one side, i couldnt find any suitible replacements. fortunantly the car came with 3 pens + 3 pen lids. ive taken the boot interior trim off and placed these 3 pens on the interior side of these holes/screwed into them/worked great!

the car also needed a new fuel pump to get running
though we trailered it home.

I want to get it on the road cheap as possible.. already costs are mounting
need new tires too.

anyway i hope that will see you fit :)

according to this pdf i have hp is 113 @ 6 and torque is 157 @ 4200

its a bit faster than my 240 wagoon

bye :

Post by **Lonewolf** » 08 Feb 2005 08:05 am

I can certainly help with the light clusters, though i'm not sure what condition the steering damper is in on my donor car. Also got a spare driver seat, the material is not torn either, just need to replace the tilt knob, but the rail is good. The fuel pump seems ok, i pulled it out yesterday to get at the gearbox. The bumpers on it have damaged clips so are no good. Anyway i had to bring the car home as the place it was housed, the guy got kicked out for not paying his rent, and i cant afford the space it uses, so when the engine/Gearbox is out and the bonnet/doors/boot are off (hopefully in the next week), the car's going to the crusher, but if you need some of the stuff my email is orara_twf@hotmail.com

As for making it go faster i'd have to say check ur oil lvl, have the fuel tank at 1/4, and water at 1/2 and gut the interior, rear seats (18kg), passenger seat (14kg), door trim panels, the boot carpet(6kg) and the spare tyre/jack(15kg). I did it when i my sub box in (not the door trims)
it does make a slight difference to acceleration and a noticable difference to handling. Right now i'm lightening the car, but you'd be looking at $300-$400 for a mandrel exhaust, probly only $200 if you got crush bent everything, but prices vary and so does the level of fluff talk, so shop around and dont get pressured into buying something unless ur happy its what you want.

Post by **deleted** » 09 Feb 2005 11:47 am

got everything !

thanks

1 very ugly fawn coloured seat.

Im not really interested in doing any 'perfomance mods', i jsut wanted to know how itd fair stock (though it is tempting to change the air filter set up, it does seem rather silly to make it go all the way to the other side of hte engine bay)

the roadworthy is booked next wednes, will see what else they find.. hopefully not much.

parts from volv-rek

seat = 44$
jack 25??(48$)?
rear lights = 125$
pedal rubbers 5 - 10$??
i think 5

i probally will need a new gearknob, but worry about that later.

and im not going to mess with the steering damper atm

anyone know how hard it is to change?/

after fitting new rear light cluster, none of my rear lights (cept the number plate and 1 rear night driving light) are working anymore.

oh and the indicators
pretty annoying, im sure they were working before. but ill worry aobut that later

id also like to get an analog radio/cassette for it, though a cd player is kinda tempting me.

One thing about the car, it smells very CO-ey when running

but fix that later too

The boot struts are of course busted. They were kind of working at one stage and i was in there lookin in the boot when.. wooosh. smack in the centre of the back with the boot catch.. ouch
i thought i was dead, was very winded.. much worse than the heavier 245 tailgaet (no catch).

thanks for the replies

Ill let you know how it goes

(the brakes seem to be with-in regulation but the handbreak is really hard to pull on)

i think its adjusted right though (lock at 3 ticks)
id very struggle to get it up to 5 ticks

bYE :_

Post by **Lonewolf** » 10 Feb 2005 02:13 am

yeah i'm not a fan of the intake layout, but its probably very well designed for the criteria volvo needed to fill, drivability, cold climate driving, budget, low maintainence... so on.

you'll have to post a pic of the seat

the boot stuts are a pain, all 3 of mine had the problem, it been regassed on the one i drive, much better than the 'broom' strut i was using

I'd say you'll not pass till the light cluster is working again(make sure theres no dirty contacts), and if the exhaust is leaking it'll need fixing also. Good luck with ur inspection

Post by **deleted** » 11 Feb 2005 01:21 pm

horrible vibrations from 3000 upwards!!!

really bad

on a past service sheet i have it says "vibration at high revs" "vibration appears to be in torque tube or gearbox, vechile will need dismlantling to correctly diagnose"

Strange that it had no problems at all till tonight (that id noticed)

Really bad

ashamed to say i was giving it a bit, keeping up with a skyline.

the most annoying thing at the moment, is the brake lights wont come on (i suspect a problem at the brake pedal button (the lights have power coming to them (somewierd switch in the car proves that)) It seems as if the button is hid in the hydraulic brake glove, shrug.

blah

poor car :).

Any suggestions as to what the vibration is.. mch appreciated
it still powers through despite vibration.

keeps with skyline too :)

poor car :(

Post by **foggyjames** » 11 Feb 2005 06:26 pm

Must have been a ghetto spec Skyline

You ought to give that BMW a hard time - I'm not sure you'll beat it, but it'll be bloody close. It may well come down to a) driver, and b) what shape they're in. On paper I'd not like to call it.

The vibration....engine mounts, torque tube bushings (haha...the old favourite

), gearbox mountings? Probably not the box itself. Is there a noise? If it sounds like a hammer-action drill, its almost certainly the torque tube.

cheers

James

Post by **deleted** » 12 Feb 2005 02:42 am

blah .
It is suggested it is probally clutch spigot bearing.
Ive tightenedd the.. and i dont even remember what they're called now, with allen key remoiving the rubber from the torque tube.

the vibration peaks starts and peaks at 3,000 makes alot of noise too, and continues on from there.

This is annoying because i dont want to spend money, its booked for roadwrothy in a few days, and ive already spent 500$ on it without anyone seeing it.

tempteed to buy another :(

the skyline was r31 with extractors and custom exhaust, it could creep away a bit.

the most annoying thing is, i cant even get my axle stands under it, it wont jack up high enough.

if this car is going to cost anywhere near 3,000 its not worth it
:(
dont know what to do
parents wont have me with a spare parts car.

on the vibration/noise. Its in the drive train, clutch in and it goes away, and its not the diff cause it does it in neutral.

Post by **foggyjames** » 12 Feb 2005 12:12 pm

Clutch release bearing or torque tube are the two likely candidates. I take it its not a sound like a hammer-action drill then?

cheers

James

Post by **deleted** » 14 Feb 2005 04:18 am

I dont know what a hammer action drill sounds like dude :)

actually come to thinkl of it. i do

and it probally does sound like that, it is a heavy as vibration, gearstick t urns to fuzz in your hand.

most certainly the movement of the driveshaft (wahtever its called), eiter fowards or backwards or circular motion. i wonder how easy it is to diagnose when you take this torque tube off. hopefully its not a r/w requirement, then i can worry about it later.