Steering wheel clicking noise

[venomx]

47 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Second picture you have circled the brake cylinder and  you can spray only silicone lubricant as there are plastics and rubber, the third picture the metal pin you can spray either silicone wd-40 or classic wd-40 as it’s metal. Steering wheel check all joints and if all tightened up just spray some lubricant onto the splines.

Thanks for the useful info.

I have lubricated the splines, seems a bit better now.

In regards to this second picture...

 

I'm certain that is the clutch and not the brake cylinder as when I press the clutch down it moves in, then when I release the clutch it comes back out

 

In regards to the third picture.

 

Can I use thick lithium grease on it ? As there's less chance of spraying too much and getting it in places it shouldn't

[TonyHSD]

1 hour ago, venomx said:

Thanks for the useful info.

I have lubricated the splines, seems a bit better now.

In regards to this second picture...

 

I'm certain that is the clutch and not the brake cylinder as when I press the clutch down it moves in, then when I release the clutch it comes back out

 

In regards to the third picture.

 

Can I use thick lithium grease on it ? As there's less chance of spraying too much and getting it in places it shouldn't

Yeah, clutch master cylinder and brake booster can cause similar noises when they dry out at that places. On metal can use any grease, only on plastic and rubber on the clutch best to use silicone as it may go into the rubber seal of the piston, you don’t want to swell up and make it leak. If it’s me I will use wd-40 silicone for everything and if it’s stops and comes back after a while I may use oil or more permanent grease like lubricant. 👍

[venomx]

Clutch click is sorted. Just needed some lubrication. It feels much more robust now too, before lubrication there was barely any resistance. After lubrication it feels more sturdier.

Steering click is much better, still happens but less often

[Cyker]

 

[venomx]

On 4/24/2022 at 12:18 PM, TonyHSD said:

Yes, you can do. You also have similar splines shaft up the column for rake adjustment and it’s the most common place from where Toyota steering clicks., the lube dries out, but it’s difficult to reach. 

Noise disappeared for a few weeks then came back again. 🤔  Tried lubricating the lower splines in the pictures with Silicone and even thick grease which has helped somewhat.

How do you get to the splines higher up ?

As I recall Flash said something about removing the cowl but wouldn't be willing to do that. May have to just live with it I think.

[TonyHSD]

13 minutes ago, venomx said:

Noise disappeared for a few weeks then came back again. 🤔  Tried lubricating the lower splines in the pictures with Silicone and even thick grease which has helped somewhat.

How do you get to the splines higher up ?

As I recall Flash said something about removing the cowl but wouldn't be willing to do that. May have to just live with it I think.

I think better just leave it. I never done anything and traveled over 200k miles, it didn’t go worse so it’s ok to drive the car like that. 👍 As people says if not broken don’t fix it. 👌

[venomx]

Just an observation. If I move the position of the telescopic steering wheel ( inwards/outwards ) it goes silent for a while then returns.

Strange one. Either way I'll leave it unless it gets worse then I'll ask the mechanic. For now though I don't want to spend any more money on the car, and not sure if a mechanic would even go to the effort of taking the steering wheel off to lubricate or check things.

As @TonyHSD said and others, it's a common but annoying thing on Toyotas. Shame that, as otherwise the car is perfect.

[Cyker]

Well that helps confirm the source of the noise at least... now if only you could get some lube on the shaft you could slide it in and out to get the whole thing smooth and quiet.

...

That sounded dirtier than I intended....

[venomx]

19 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Well that helps confirm the source of the noise at least... now if only you could get some lube on the shaft you could slide it in and out to get the whole thing smooth and quiet.

...

That sounded dirtier than I intended....

 

I know where the splines are but no way would I attempt to remove the steering wheel in order to get rid of it.

The only realistic thing I can do is move the wheel in and out before I go for a drive 🤣

Here are the parts I did manage to lubricate.. ( Picture not mine )

[Cyker]

Yeah I must admit I'd be a bit leery about messing with anything with the steering wheel too, knowing that there's a literal explosive charge right there in it!  

If I had one of those old long-nosed oil cans and was able to stick it up there then maybe, but I think it would have to be done blind which is a bit risky and I definitely wouldn't want to spray anything up there!

I don't know how hard it is to remove the cowling around the steering column...

[fourbanks]

Full lock on the steering wheel and going round and round in a circle is always the drive shaft at fault and normally will only show on cars with 50'000 miles plus. Having said that, some cars are Badley executed in the manufacturing process and can effect all manufactures, although some manufactures are worse than others. On an 08 build car, this will be normal wear and tear 

 

 

[Gerg]

I've had this problem on two Aurises.  One was under warranty - which took several trips to the dealer to fix (complete new column fitted in the end).

The other one was out of warranty.  In that case, I bought a secondhand Auris Mk2 facelift steering column (which is known to not suffer this 'clicking' problem), and tried fitting the top half of the 'new' column to the existing lower half; because it was an easier job than replacing the whole assembly. 

That difference between the two (old vs new) column splines was enough to reduce the spline clearance sufficiently to stop the clicking.  Although this difference wasn't remotely visible, understandably, and I didn't try measuring it.  The grease on the telescoping splines (in the pictures) is as the car came from the factory - not especially thick.

That seemed to do the trick for me.

Your Yaris column will be a different design, but not by much, I'm sure.

These pictures might give you an idea what yours probably looks like, and where the splines live relative to the dashboard.  In the last picture, the gently tapered end piece and narrow splines, is where the steering wheel fits.

[TonyHSD]

48 minutes ago, Gerg said:

I've had this problem on two Aurises.  One was under warranty - which took several trips to the dealer to fix (complete new column fitted in the end).

The other one was out of warranty.  In that case, I bought a secondhand Auris Mk2 facelift steering column (which is known to not suffer this 'clicking' problem), and tried fitting the top half of the 'new' column to the existing lower half; because it was an easier job than replacing the whole assembly. 

That difference between the two (old vs new) column splines was enough to reduce the spline clearance sufficiently to stop the clicking.  Although this difference wasn't remotely visible, understandably, and I didn't try measuring it.  The grease on the telescoping splines (in the pictures) is as the car came from the factory - not especially thick.

That seemed to do the trick for me.

Your Yaris column will be a different design, but not by much, I'm sure.

These pictures might give you an idea what yours probably looks like, and where the splines live relative to the dashboard.  In the last picture, the gently tapered end piece and narrow splines, is where the steering wheel fits.

Thanks for these pictures and explanation 👍 Very helpful information. My one clicks from that bearing that is visible there or the splines. When I shake the wheel holding it 12 and 6 clicks exactly the same as when driving. When shake 9 and 3 is solid. If I turn the wheel 90° try to shake it 12 and 6 and is solid no movement, very strange but I learned to live like that. My go auris 12 reg did not had any issues, previously Priuses I had 4-5 of them some had developed that clicks at around 15k miles from new. I think just gonna leave mine to clicks to remind me I am driving a Toyota not an s class 😂

[venomx]

Any idea why adjusting the wheel back and forth a few times gets rid of it, then it comes back a couple of hours later ?

I am not willing to pay for a new steering column as I'll hopefully get rid of the car end of the year and get something newer. It does seem to be getting a bit worse, unless I keep adjusting the steering wheel back and forth then it stops for a while.

I don't think a mechanic would be willing to mess with a steering column and I'd probably have to go to Toyota right ?

[TonyHSD]

21 minutes ago, venomx said:

Any idea why adjusting the wheel back and forth a few times gets rid of it, then it comes back a couple of hours later ?

I am not willing to pay for a new steering column as I'll hopefully get rid of the car end of the year and get something newer. It does seem to be getting a bit worse, unless I keep adjusting the steering wheel back and forth then it stops for a while.

I don't think a mechanic would be willing to mess with a steering column and I'd probably have to go to Toyota right ?

Because the click comes from the upper splines that allow adjustment of the steering wheel. If you remove steering wheel and plastics surrounds can get access to these and you can lubricate them with lithium grease properly and perhaps all the clicks will disappear. If it bothers you this is the first steps that you can do. Here on Prius 👍

 

[venomx]

On 5/10/2022 at 9:22 PM, Gerg said:

I've had this problem on two Aurises.  One was under warranty - which took several trips to the dealer to fix (complete new column fitted in the end).

The other one was out of warranty.  In that case, I bought a secondhand Auris Mk2 facelift steering column (which is known to not suffer this 'clicking' problem), and tried fitting the top half of the 'new' column to the existing lower half; because it was an easier job than replacing the whole assembly. 

That difference between the two (old vs new) column splines was enough to reduce the spline clearance sufficiently to stop the clicking.  Although this difference wasn't remotely visible, understandably, and I didn't try measuring it.  The grease on the telescoping splines (in the pictures) is as the car came from the factory - not especially thick.

That seemed to do the trick for me.

Your Yaris column will be a different design, but not by much, I'm sure.

These pictures might give you an idea what yours probably looks like, and where the splines live relative to the dashboard.  In the last picture, the gently tapered end piece and narrow splines, is where the steering wheel fits.

Prior to getting the column replaced on the first one, and prior to replacing half the column on the second one. I'd assume you tried lubricating the splines before-hand to no avail?

[Gerg]

3 hours ago, venomx said:

Prior to getting the column replaced on the first one, and prior to replacing half the column on the second one. I'd assume you tried lubricating the splines before-hand to no avail?

No and yes.  With the dealer replaced column, it took three visits to fix the problem, although they were working from the Toyota TSB.  Regreasing was the thing they did on the first visit, although they didn't explain specifically what they greased.  I'd made the assumption that it was the lower splines.  As it was under warranty I didn't want to get involved with this.

On the second one I tried all other options first, to no avail, obviously.

The breaker supplied (eBay) steering column was low mileage and quite cheap at around £50 IIRC.  For what it's worth, on the Auris, the column is made by a company in Wales; JTEKT, who are part-owned by Toyota.  Aurises made after 2015 don't suffer this problem, it would be nice to know how the column manufacture was updated.

I have an idea that the Toyota price for the whole column was around £900. 

[venomx]

Just an update.

After lubricating the mechanism/joint a few inches up from the lower splines with silicone it seems to have stopped clicking for a few weeks now 

[Max_Headroom]

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Edited October 22, 2022 by Max_Headroom
Deleted wrong thread.