WOTever

My 996tt had about 0.5 inch play in the steering and a clunky noise when wiggling the steering wheel. Though it was worn tie rods but it was a loose bolt on the steering column where it connects to the steering rack. Just tightened the bolt and everything is good. See pic, bolt is the one the screwdriver points at.

mffarrell

nice catch!

napoleon1981

Interesting, did it work itself loose from factory, or had work been done in that area?

WOTever

The docs from the POs show nothing about work in the area, the rack reads TRW but has a 996 part number, probably the original part. I'm guessing it worked itself loose between 2003 and 2017 over 50000 miles. Was definitely the cheapest fix ever. :-)

Carlo_Carrera

Nice job.

FAS4WD

Old thread but huge thanks to OP.

My new to me C4S with 56k had this EXACT symptom, most often felt when driving into and out of garage with slow speed steering on high friction surface. Front straight ahead a small amout of left and right play before resistance
felt and a clunk sound.

Without a lift on a 90* day it was around an hours work to get all four corners off the ground and remove center and front undertrays. Thiose spring steel U clips are akward.
Actual fix around 3 mins. Same as OP, could not see play but could cinch up bolt around 1/3-1/2 a turn. There is enough room for a slim nut on the other side of bolt in question
so a lock nut would be some added security.

Symptom 100% gone when backing out of garage.

As above, best fix ever !

David

sicates1

+1, just wanted to share that I was recently experiencing a clunk/clunking sound from my front suspension area along with what felt like loose steering, or excessive steering play.
After doing some research, the fix listed on this thread turned out to be the exact problem. On my vehicle the bolt was marked with a yellow paint stripe as if they indicated that been torqued from the Factory and then marked, however this bolt appeared to have worked itself loose.
Just wanted to share so that it benefits others, for about 10 minutes of pain I was able to fix this problem instead of having to replace tie rods, or other suspension bushings that I initially and erroneously thought may need to be replaced.

Thanks!

ENV

My car is having a hard time tracking straight after going to very good Porsche centric shops. 4 alignements and still slightly drags left. I wonder if this issue can cause that from play.