Go out to your car, start it, turn the steering wheel slightly from side to side. Hear a clunking noise coming from your feet area. What the hell is it? I have seen several of these come in at work with the same problem. On my 98 cav I have had the steering shaft joint recall done, changed the steering rack, strut plates,and struts. This is awful. The car had only 40,000 miles on it when I changed all that stuff. Now it has 72,000 and still sounds the same. Has any one fixed this on theirs and know what is going on here?


01 cav w/01 3400 gam gt 4t45e

Ball joints or tie rod ends, maybe... that's about the only other thing that I can think of that would do it.

Rack was a complete used one with tie rod ends in excellent cond , Cant believe it would be the ball joints at 40,000 miles, and hasnt gotten worse in 30,000 miles of driving. I was hoping it would get worse so I can figure it out but no luck. thanks for the suggestions though.


01 cav w/01 3400 gam gt 4t45e

My 2000 makes no such noise. But.... could be worn-out strut mounts or loose bolts in subframe... my parents' car had a clunky power steering rack that was never fixed.... it was a 97 tho. Other things it could be... just can't think at the moment...

Pretty sure that's the ball joints. Possibly A-arm bushings? If you get in there to check one out, might as well check out the other.

There is a TSB on this ya know........


- 2004 Cavalier - 124k, owned since new

Its a TSB on damn near all Chevy's. lol! Its the steering intermedite shaft part # 10377680. And the TSB # is 04-02-35-004B and includes all 1997 to 2004 J body cars.





Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

intermediate shaft, or bushings


1998 Chevrolet Cavalier
5-spd

The shaft itself. look up the TSB on it and it says exactly what hes described. It connects the rack to the steering shaft inside the car.






Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

mine doesnt make this noise... im happy


-----------
ayo 8 Iz Enuff

All you need to do is lube the intermediate shaft, I looked up the TSB today on the computer.


- 2004 Cavalier - 124k, owned since new

If you look under your dash, up by the fire wall, you'll find the Rag Joint and a Universal joint, check them and make sure the set screw to the intermediate shaft is tight. Also check the clamp bolt and make sure it's snug. Mine was making a clucking sound and I found the bolt was loose, just tightened it up.

If you look in the engene bay, below the brake master cylinder you'll see a black or gray corrigated rubber boot, just slide it up and you'll see the lower u-joint and the bottom of the intermediate shaft, and check them down there.

Hmm, Thats odd Rob cause thats not what the TSB # I gave says at all. Here I'll post exactly what it says for you.

04-02-35-004B Service Technical 08/01/04 Part# 10377680
Clunk noise form fron tof vehicle during turning maneuever / steering wheel rotation ( REPLACE INTERMEDIATE STEERING SHAFT)
2001-2004 Buick Regal 2001-2004 Cadillac Seville - with RPO JL4 (control active brake) 1997 -2004 Chevrolet Cavalier 2000 - 2004 Chevrolet Impala, Monte Carlo 1997 - 2004 Pontiac Sunfire
2000 - 2004 Pontiac Bonneville 2003 - 2004 Pontiac Grand prix


Its also listed under TSB # 04-02-35-004C and TSB # 04-02-35-004D And in all of them they say exactly the same thing REPLACE INTERMEDIATE STEERING SHAFT





Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

Quote:

On my 98 cav I have had the steering shaft joint recall done

He's already tried this, it sounds like?

But that doesn't mean it can't go bad again. I've seen many people getting the same recall done several times over.





Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

i think the lubing of the joint was either first or 2nd


funny thing is the u-joint in the steering shaft is sealed , and the slip section squishes out the lube


its a never ending battle

its odd that you can have a recall done more than once isn't the idea of a recall is to fix the problem so it doesn't happen again. i work for ford as a tech and you can' t do a recall more than once on fords so is chevy different?

Jackalope wrote:Hmm, Thats odd Rob cause thats not what the TSB # I gave says at all. Here I'll post exactly what it says for you.

04-02-35-004B Service Technical 08/01/04 Part# 10377680
Clunk noise form fron tof vehicle during turning maneuever / steering wheel rotation ( REPLACE INTERMEDIATE STEERING SHAFT)
2001-2004 Buick Regal 2001-2004 Cadillac Seville - with RPO JL4 (control active brake) 1997 -2004 Chevrolet Cavalier 2000 - 2004 Chevrolet Impala, Monte Carlo 1997 - 2004 Pontiac Sunfire
2000 - 2004 Pontiac Bonneville 2003 - 2004 Pontiac Grand prix


Its also listed under TSB # 04-02-35-004C and TSB # 04-02-35-004D And in all of them they say exactly the same thing REPLACE INTERMEDIATE STEERING SHAFT

I'll look it up again tomorrow. The one I looked at, had you just lu\be the shaft.


- 2004 Cavalier - 124k, owned since new

robert blakley wrote:its odd that you can have a recall done more than once isn't the idea of a recall is to fix the problem so it doesn't happen again. i work for ford as a tech and you can' t do a recall more than once on fords so is chevy different?

For example the old tailgate cables used to be regular steel cable which would rust and break so it was an open ended recall meaning that you could have them replaced over and over till GM came up with a better design. It took them several years to figure out if they made the cables out of stainless stell it wouldn't rust out anymore, so thats what they did and now when you get the stainless ones installed thats it and you get no more.

The steering shaft has never been redesigned so its an open ended recall and its not just for those cars but for GM trucks as well. Rob S was correct in that some of the recall's are to inject greese into the joint, but just not our cars, ours are replace. GM always tries to greese them first trying to limit cost but sometimes that just doesn't work.





Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

Thank you guys but, I had the steering shaft recall done already, that was at 40,000 It made the clunking before and after it was changed thats why I changed all of the other things. I checked all of the subframe bolts, Im going to check the ball joints tomorrow. Im thinking Its slop in the rack gears because its coming from only the drivers feet and seems to radiate to the sector shaft. Dont know , im checkin the ball joints and tie rod ends then maybe a new rack.

Does any one else have this problem?


01 cav w/01 3400 gam gt 4t45e

GM is knows of the problem. I see it almost daily. It is the steering shaft. It looses grease and begins to pop. Dealerships have a grease kit that can be used on it. It fixes it for a short time. GM is working on a permanent fix. There isn't one yet.

Bad ball joints and you have put 30,000 miles on it since, not to be a smart ass, but I wouldnt think possible, the car would probably be on the ground with both ball joints snapped and both wheels sticking out like paddles.

So I was right...... Rob S actualy made another post about how he found a TSB that says to lube the shaft and rather then post it for you the guy who needs the help he thought he'd make a post juuuuust for me.

What an ass!


Anyway James it seems there's another TSB that Rob found that says to grease the shaft so you may want to try looking into that .





Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

My brother's car is doing this knocking noise and it annoys the hell out of us.

My brother never did the recall, nor did we know about it. Would we have to pay for this recall since my brothers car is also a 98 and out of its warrenttee period. How much would it cost, and if my brother cheaped out on this repair, would it eventually be dangerous (how many miles do you guys think the intermediate shaft will last?)

Thanks for any input at all.



2003 Cavalier 2dr. 5spd

Call the dealer some of these are whats known as silent recalls. That means if the customer doesn't complain it won't get fixed, but say its an issue and suddenly its covered under warrenty.





Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.