Resistance under turning

JustAnotherSaver

I thought so. 

Tried out the wife's car - no problem. 
Also had no problem previously with this car. 

And heard feint droning noise when slight steering right and left on the motorway with curve of the road. 

Geodark

What car is it? and is it 2wd or 4wd?

JustAnotherSaver

Geodark said:

What car is it? and is it 2wd or 4wd?

2006 Mondeo diesel. 2.2. 2wd.

Anyway as i'm not one of these who never bothers to update -

Drive belt got done. Said it was a bit of a pig of a job to do.

Did the REAR wheel bearing (drivers).

I wasn't optimistic that will have sorted the noise, considering it's on turning and i'd have to say it's coming from in front of me. Sure enough this morning the noise was there as usual.

Contacted the mechanic who seemed to get a little defensive, saying there was certainly a noise coming from that rear corner & it needed doing.

I don't particularly doubt that, but regardless - the noise is still ahead of me.

Tells me to monitor it and if it gets worse to contact him.

£235.

I'll have to take it to a different roundabout to see if i can rule out road surface. What I wont be able to rule out is whether it's specific to first startup (i.e. if i hit the same roundabout once it's been running a while, will it do it). Suppose I could do that eventually but it's a bit out of the way to do that. There's significant 'clunk' when steering from the dead centre position when cold but it disappears when warm, or rather eases off significantly. That's what i mean by ruling out specific to first startup.

Anyway, in a nutshell, the problem persists.

Goudy

If it's coming from the front and affects the steering, that's where you need to look!

There's a couple of tests you can do your self (maybe with help from any other person) a couple are very easy.

Start the car with the steering straight ahead and swing the steering wheel back and forth 1/8th of turn each way - is it smooth, is there a lot of free play before the road wheels start to turn, does it knock or clunk?

Do the same while you rest your hand on the front tyres, each side at around 3 or 9 o clock - can you feel any knock or clunks or free play?

Now swing the steering from lock to lock - is it smooth or does it judder?
(the closer you get to the ends of the rack the more you might feel a little play as the rack is graduated, this is normal)

Next check around the steering pump for leaks. Slowly unscrew the PAS fluid cap when the car is running, it should gurgle a bit but does it spit and foam up?

Remove the small cover over the PAS belt/pulley, back end of engine off the cam shaft and get someone to swing on the steering again while you watch the belt - does it slip/judder under load?

If you can jack up the front wheels, you can check the wheel bearings, track rod ends and lower ball joints.
Spin the wheels by hand - do they spin smoothly?

Grip the wheel at 3 and 9 o clock and push/pull the road wheel back and forth - is there any play/knocking?
This tests the track rod ends and wheel bearings.

Grip the wheel at 12 and 6 o clock and push/pull the road wheel back and forth - is there any play/knocking?
This tests the wheel bearings and bottom ball joint/wishbone.

If there is some play/knocking, get someone to lean in and apply the foot brake and test again.
If the play/knocking disappears it's likely the wheel bearing as the brake being applied will hold the wheel to the upright and take the play out of the wheel bearing.

While the car is up, is there any signs of PAS fluid dripping or pooling off the underside of the car around the rack (look around the area between the engine and bulkhead).