travels68

Hi All. My first post here as I recently purchased my first Porsche!

Anyhow, the problem is that when I turn the steering to the left while at a stop, parking, in driveway, etc, I get a clunking/pop noise and can feel the event in the steering wheel as feedback. When I corner hard I can feel the steering wheel shaking which can't be normal for these cars.

Seems like a bad bushing in the ball joints/tie rods? Maybe the steering rack is bad?

I haven't had the car up in the air yet (just ordered a new floor jack and bought new jack pads and jack stands) and plan to wiggle the wheels up in the air to see if I have excessive play and start looking around. Hopefully something simple here.

I plan to replace all four of the struts as the rear struts/shocks are toast but I would like to take care of this problem at same time so I can enjoy the factory handling onthis bad boy.

Thanks!

Kale

Ed Hughes

Congrats and welcome. It could be a number of things, starting with a sleeve in the steering column, behind the wheel, that disintegrates, or something along the line to the other end at the steering rack. You'll have to do some inspection, there's no magic answer.

I'd not drive her anymore, until you resolve.

Amber Gramps

Kile, welcome to Rennlist. Your problem sounds like one we can figure out as soon as you get your jack and jack stands.

My car had a similar clunk that went away with new wheel bearings. Sounds like you know how to diagnose that issue with a wiggle of the wheels when in the air.

You could have a worn ball joint in which case now would be a great time to upgrade to turbo tie rods. I also did that in rather quick fashion.

If it's the rack then that is doable too. In any case we can walk you through all of it.

Rear shocks are as simple as they come.... the front inserts are a bit tricky, but if I can do it, any trained monkey can.

theiceman

The suspension is at a different geometry while hanging in the air. Does it do it standing still? Not great for the tires but they should withstand a small test.

tulliotk

If you can move the steering wheel up and down or side to side while parked at a standstill, it is likely the steering column support bushing. A very common failure with an easy fix. I recently replaced mine with the Mitch Leland MDS bushing from Pelican.

PelicanParts.com

Welcome to Rennlist Kale and congrats on the 911! Unfortunately, it will be hard to pin-point a specific cause here and it could be several items, many already mentioned.

Any maintenance records come with the car? Be good to know if any of these items were addressed recently.

When you are ready to shop for parts and research DIY projects, don't hesitate to look us up:
911 Parts Catalog

Mark/Pelican Parts

travels68

Thanks all for the responses! I'm so happy to have this car and having this kind of support is a huge bonus. I'm by no means an expert mechanic but my first car was a '76 Fiat X-1/9 in High School so I became proficient by necessity.

Now with more financial resources, far better tools, and superior medium (Porsche vs FIAT engineered) I suspect this thing is going to be a blast to work on.

The car does make the clunking sound when turning left at 20mph and at zero (any faster and I don't think I can turn the wheel enough to **** it off). I don't have any service history on this issue but will contact the seller to see what he knows.

Also, I'll put it up on the jack stands this weekend and start the diagnostic process and see what parts to purchase....

Thanks again folks!!! Hope to someday help the next newbie to continue the preservation effort of these special cars.

Meantime on the topic of struts - Is it safe to say this car came with Boge? The rear units are black and the front has one yellow and one green strut (this can't be good). It looks like the green Bilstein sport units are the way to go - are these hard to come by?

-Kale

rusnak

Before you raise the car on jackstands, grab the tire from the top at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock, and shake it side to side (you move front to back). Listen for a "clunk" which should be faint. If there is a large clunk, then you should adjust or repack the bearings.

If no clunk, then you might check the tightness of the top nut on the strut, inside the front trunk. What you want to check if you get the car up on jackstands is the balljoint nut, wedge pin and nut, steering arms and nut, and A-arm mounting bolts. The balljoint nut is a threaded pipe. A big pipe wrench is perfect for this, not the $spendy and fragile balljoint socket. Ask me how I found this out, the hard way!

travels68

Thanks - I'll do the 10 and 2 o-clock grab-and-shake with the thing on the ground then move on to the next steps. Wish I was home to start looking now!

-Kale

JQ911

I did had a clunk before like yours, evident when turning slowly or even from full stop moving forward. Mine happened after lowering the car and hit a pothole hard while I was turning on a corner. Culprit was the bushings on the sway arms. While I was on it, I also replaced the ball joints and upgraded to turbo tie-rods, cambered and aligned.

Ed Hughes

You have A-arms and swaybars or anti-roll bars. I've never heard the term sway arms, so your "fix" is not clear to anyone. Both have bushings, too.

JQ911

Hi Ed, my bad its the sway bar bushing...One of my senior moments, I guess. Thanks Joe

travels68

So I finally got back home and tried the left right grab - car on ground - and shake and both wheels moved and caused a small clunk. Once up on the jack stands I could really move the wheels (both sides) left and right with a big clunk. Looking at all of the bushings and linkage close to the A Arms and everything is tight but I could see the tie-rods(?) linking to steering rack move like crazy - seems like 1" of play but probably more like 1/2"

Steering wheel is tight - I don't think I need the bushing fix (wish that's all that was wrong with it).

Next I tried to wiggle the tires up and down (12 o'clock and 6 o'clock) and did get a small amount of up/down play - bearings I'm assuming. Right front was worse than left front but definitely a few millimeters of play can be felt. No part of the bushings/linkage moving so this is why I'm thinking bearings responsible for the up down play.

The car has a yellow Bilstein on the front right and a green Bilstein on the left so someone screwed up on a replacement job somewhere down the line. Both of those are going away as part of this repair - I'm going with 4 new struts (green sport type Bilstein).

Let me know what you think and thanks all in advance.

-Kale

theiceman

time for a turbo tie rod upgrade i would think ..

i have have Bilstien Sport upgrades all around and i like em .. some others however do not like this and do a combo HD and sports i think. I will let others comment ..

travels68

Thanks! Hoping to get some feedback on my preliminary diagnostics as well (steering rack + bearing replacement??)

-Kale