This on-going annoyance with squeaking steering wheel

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Hi, all.

I posted a question about having a squeaky steering wheel on my '01 A6 some time ago. Since then, I’ve changed the fluid, but the problem just won’t go away. I can feel the tiny vibration when it squeaks. So I’ve decided to put the wheel in different positions, just to see if it would make a difference, and it did! When the steering wheel was placed at the lowest position, it stopped making squeaky noise. I can’t drive with the steering wheel all the way down… Any idea here? Thanks.

2

Don’t Be Hood-winked!

Are you sure it’s coming from under the hood? I had a car, not an Audi, that had a steering squeak. You couldn’t tell exactly where the sound was coming from. It sounded scary. I had well meaning people telling me it sounded serious and possibly dangerous, but I figured out it only involved plastic covers surrounding the column (dashboard area). the fact that your wheel position changes the sound makes me think it’s trim. Otherwise, it is possibly steering shaft/shaft joints, hopefully not more expensive hydraulic things.

3

I think the noise is coming from the column, or the steering mechanism, under the dashboard, and not from the power steering under the hood. It could be as simple as two plastic trim pieces rubbing together. Keep searching.

4

If the squeaking happens when you are turning the wheel, it might be the “clock spring” electrical cable inside the steering column. I suffered with that on two cars ('00 Camry and '99 Escort); it seemed to be worse in the Summer (or was it the Winter??). I decided not to fix it because: 1) It’s pretty expensive; 2) There was too good a chance that the new parts would start squeking, too.

This seems to be a common problem.

5

Have You Turned In This Direction, Yet?

I noticed one TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) for this car, mentioning steering and noise.

Maybe a nice dealer could shed some light on it for you.

Click this link:
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/tsbs/results.cfm
then click: Get Summary

Sorry, they’ve got problems with their website today. I couldn’t link. Here’s a copy:

Service Bulletins Summary

Make / Models : Model/Build Years:
AUDI / A4 2002-2005
AUDI / A6 1998-2004
AUDI / ALLROAD QUATTRO 2001-2004
AUDI / S4 2004-2005
AUDI / S6 2001-2004
Service Bulletin Number : 480501
NHTSA Item Number : 10012767
Summary Description :
POWER STEERING, NOISY. TO INCLUDE 2006 MODELS. *TT