WCS

The following sympton gradually developed in my '03 S. It has about 32K miles now.

When I drive over cobblestones or uneven surfaces, I can hear some clunk as if the suspension or steering column is loose. Sometimes when I apply the break while turning, I can feel a slight knock in the steering wheel.

The clunk also appears to occur when I drive on straight bumpy highway. Overall it just feel like the steering is looser than a couple months ago; maybe it is due to the repeated stress from the tire vibration...

Another maybe related symptom is, there is a sqeak noise coming from maybe the break, it occurs even when I do not apply the breaks, and it is more obvious if I make a slow (5mph) right/left hand turn after the car get warmed up.

Any ideas? The car will go in to the dealer (again.) for some recalls; I'd like to bring this to my dealer but don't know where to start.

Thanks.

CayenneS

I think this is somthing that I am experiencing.. only I experience it when going at low speeds (i.e. in traffic, etc) and it shakes the whole car in a mild sudden JERK... I wear hearing aids and I can even hear it... very wierd and is somthing that I am quite concerned about!! I will eventually get it checked out.. it is something underneath the car, feels like it has somthing to do with the transfer case or somthing of that sort (and yes I have already had the transfer case recall done, supposedly..)

Ryan T.

WCS

The noise you are referring to might be a separate problem.

When you slow down to about 10mph and accelerate (california stop), there are sometimes long delay and then the gear will kick in with a clunk. In Cayennes there is a mechanism to reduce engine break and I believe it gets out of sync with gear shifting. This didn't happen on mine until a sw update, which also made the car more responsive.

CayenneS

I think there is an actual physical piece smacking the bottom of my car, I can feel it!!.. or can this still be what you are talking about?

Ryan

WCS

Drive your car for about 10 minutes very mildly, no hard acceleration, and try this experiment.

- first drive your car at around 20 mph, release gas & break; after a while you should feel engine break get released and the car lurch forward a little.
- again drive at around 20 mph, release gas & break; right before the engine break release, accelerate slightly. you may hear a clunk.

WCS

CayenneS, basically I am suspecting if my car has this problem in one of the TSBs, and want to know if anyone has similar problems.

1/04 4822 "Rattling Noise In the Area of The Steering Shaft and Driver's Footwell"
Concerns: "Rattling from steering shaft bearing on upper universal joint and preloading the steering shaft bearing to compensate for the play"

I don't think yours is the same problem, but it appears to be reported before on the forum and no one has found a fix AFAIK.

DC from Cape Cod

My old TT had a clunk in the steering when making a right-hand turn at slow speed. it could be duplicated by putting the car in gear, putting your foot on the brake, and turning the steering wheel from center to right lock and back again. Others had this problem. Porsche replaced the entire steering rack/assembly under warranty.

pdxjim

My 05 TT has the same problem. Clunking when stopped and turning the wheel. I will have the dealer look into this next time in. My 03S had the same problem, but could not replicate it for the dealer. Now I can do it stopped!

WCS

Hm, thanks for the interesting info.

How many miles did the car have when the clunk first developed? Does it get worse over time?

I have observed only two big clunks so far, and have not been able to reliably duplicate it. Not long before that, I started feeling some looseness in the steering, I can feel a small secondary bounce in the steering wheel when going over the bump.

While trying to duplicate it, do I turn to the right lock at speed, or just stay still?

DC from Cape Cod

Standing still, at idle, in gear, foot on brake.

My car did it with only a few miles on it...less than 1,000.

WCS

Some updates after returning from the dealer:
- the clunk similar to what Ryan mentioned is gone after recall actions. I think this is related to the DME update. I could be the clunk was from the clutch inside the torque converter.
- the original issue (steering looseness, clunk over cobblestone) is determined to be steering rack and will be replaced under warranty. this problem can't be duplicated by keeping the car still and turn the steering wheel. It first occured at around 30K miles and I thought it can be a long-term quality concern.

len928

My 04 CS was in for service last week. TSB issues. They aligned the vehicle and now when doing tight turns there is a very disticnt clunking and binding/choppiness coming from the front end. I had never done this before the alignment.
I know that some 4 wheel drives do this. I had never experienced this in any of the Cayennes I have driven.
*Note* it was very cold 12 degrees or less when this happened. It seemed to let up as the car was getting warmer.
Any ideas...
Len

tmm

My CS has 14k miles on it and I have experienced this very same thing on three seperate occasions. Always seems to me on a slow moving, right turn through a curb and gutter type of transition. It almost feels to me like gears grinding..

davidbrondstetter

crap, my 04 has this problem. Back to the dealer. Anyone have any updated info on the loose sterring, clunking so i can tell my dealer how to fix it?

len928

The dealer told me it was normal. Yeah right. He says that when it is cold all of the fluids are not in the front differential so it grinds. My question to him was, So what is grinding, and how long before it Breaks? He had no definitive answer. At least now it's on the Books. I also have a call into Porsche, However, they have not called back yet. I guess the guy saying "By Friday" gives the rep 4 chances out a Month's time. I will say that mine only does it when it's cold outside and after it's been sitting in the cold for long periods. After it warms up (The car) it goes away.
I am watching mne, seeing that this is the Wife and Kid mobile.