I have a strange steering-column noise on my 2011 Land Cruiser (~140k miles) that my mechanic and a longtime Toyota tech have not been able to identify. Curious if anyone here has experienced something similar.
The noise is a faint click/creak that appears to come through the steering column. The unusual part is how repeatable and directional it is:
They’ve since had the steering-column area apart and chased the noise with a stethoscope. They are confident the sound is coming through/from the steering column rather than something in the dash rubbing against it, but they haven’t been able to identify the actual source.
A Toyota-specialist mechanic looked at it. He’s apparently been working on Toyotas his whole career and said he’d never encountered this particular behavior before.
At this point my mechanic doesn’t see any evidence of a steering safety/mechanical-failure issue, so the plan is simply to monitor it rather than start replacing expensive assemblies trying to eliminate a faint noise.
Has anyone with a 200-series experienced a steering-column click/creak that occurs only while rotating the wheel in one direction and at repeatable angular positions?
Currently thinking it could be traced to a column bearing/bushing, intermediate shaft, tilt/telescope mechanism, or something else inside the column. But, it could be something else.
I’ll update the thread if we eventually figure out what it is.
The noise is a faint click/creak that appears to come through the steering column. The unusual part is how repeatable and directional it is:
- Turning the steering wheel counterclockwise/left, it clicks at certain specific steering-wheel positions.
- Continue turning left and it will click again at another repeatable position.
- Turn the wheel clockwise/right through the same range and it is silent.
- Turn counterclockwise again and the clicks return at approximately the same positions.
- It can be reproduced while stationary, including with the vehicle in Park.
- Steering itself feels completely normal: no binding, notchiness, play, abnormal effort, or tactile clunk.
They’ve since had the steering-column area apart and chased the noise with a stethoscope. They are confident the sound is coming through/from the steering column rather than something in the dash rubbing against it, but they haven’t been able to identify the actual source.
A Toyota-specialist mechanic looked at it. He’s apparently been working on Toyotas his whole career and said he’d never encountered this particular behavior before.
At this point my mechanic doesn’t see any evidence of a steering safety/mechanical-failure issue, so the plan is simply to monitor it rather than start replacing expensive assemblies trying to eliminate a faint noise.
Has anyone with a 200-series experienced a steering-column click/creak that occurs only while rotating the wheel in one direction and at repeatable angular positions?
Currently thinking it could be traced to a column bearing/bushing, intermediate shaft, tilt/telescope mechanism, or something else inside the column. But, it could be something else.
I’ll update the thread if we eventually figure out what it is.
