[robj80]

So I turned off the highway last night and my car started making this awful extremely loud clicking, boinging, metallic noise. It was coming from the pedal area of the car. I could repeat the sound by turning the steering wheel. It was really loud and my daughter described it as "springs breaking".

I inspected it this morning to find that on the lower bolt of the steering intermediate shaft there is a brass sheet metal tab. Mine was bent out of place and hitting the floor around the shaft. I snipped it off and the problem was fixed :banana:. No more noise what so ever.

For the life of me I can't see this pieces function. I have seen similar things on the old 300zx turbo but on the turbo manifolds to stop the bolt from backing out. But that doesn't seem to be the idea here. So I searched online and found this thread Steering Column Part Identification : Versa Suspension, Brakes, Rims and Tires. A guy said it's just there from manufacturing and serves no purpose after that. I think this is true, and I guess I will find out since My clip is now gone.

So if any steering wheel noises out there coming from inside the cabin check this first. Could be a simple fix.

 

[RKight]

I had the same issue, after doing a few mods to my car, and freaked out thinking I had somehow messed something up. I got the idea to remove the plastic trim around the base of the steering column and saw this same tab. I saw no real purpose for it, aside from freaking me out and annoying the hell out of me, so i went at it with a pair of side-snips. Problem solved. I came across this forum/post after deciding to find out if it actually served a purpose. Lol