Steering squeal

[Nipper]

When I first bought my car, when the car was stationery or moving slowly I would turn the steering wheel and it would squeal untill I stopped moving the wheel. I asked a few mechanics what they thought the noise was caused by, the most common explanation being along the lines of that at low revs the power steering doesn't have force to move the hydrolic arms smoothly, I was assured it was nothing to be worried about.

A while after when I was cleaning my car, I had the front right wheel off so I could clean the wheel arch easily when I noticed a lot of grit in the crossmember (I'm not sure if it is called a crossmember, It is the part of the chassis that goes directly across and underneath the steering arm). I started cleaning it out and to my shock I got about two or three handfulls of gravel out from both sides of the car. I can't understand how it got there but the area the car came from use to have a lot of gravel roads so I guess the front tires must flick them up. Since I cleaned it out the steering doesn't make the noise anymore unless I am reversing and turning the wheel slowly, it doesn't make the noise when the car isn't moving and I turn the wheel. I'm thinking that the rocks under the steering arm were making the power steering struggle a bit, does this seem possible? It was hard to get to the centre section of the steering arm so there may still be a coulple or rocks wedged in there. Has anyone else experienced this noise. It used to be about ten times worse than what it is now but I hate having to explain to people where the noise is comming from.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, sorry for my vagueness.

[ALFA GTV6 GP]

Hi Nipper
One explanation could be the previous owner had an off and ended up in the gravel trap do you know if the car saw any track days ?
John.

[Craig]

G'Day Adam,

Noises are very hard to diagnose when you can't hear them

Possible sources:

Fan belt
Power steering pump
Power steering rack
Suspension bushes

The middle of the rack is a solid tube hence no moving parts to grate on gravel.

The crossmember does have a couple of spots (one at each end) which seem to be designed to collect dirt/stones.

Try to narrow down where the noise is coming from, have someone reverse the car with the bonnet open and you listening.

Try flushing the old P/S fluid.

Also lubricate what you can get to of the steering column.

[Nipper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ALFA GTV6 GP Hi Nipper One explanation could be the previous owner had an off and ended up in the gravel trap do you know if the car saw any track days ? John.

[ALFA GTV6 GP]

Nipper when Alfa designed the 75 they did not envisage many drivers driving them on gravel roads!
Basically if you want to drive your car on unsurfaced roads you are going to get this.
Fitting of mud flaps and some strategically placed light weight mesh would fix this problem.
John

[Nipper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ALFA GTV6 GP Nipper when Alfa designed the 75 they did not envisage many drivers driving them on gravel roads! John