Every morning especially in a very cold morning, after the car has been parked all night, I get a ticking noise when I turn the steering wheel on either direction. After driving the car for a while, the ticking noise disappears. The CV boots have been replaced a few weeks after I had discovered them being ripped open. While the boots were torn, I never got the ticking noise and they were non existent up until they were replaced. The mechanic inspected the axles during the CV boot replacement and didn't find anything wrong with the axles. The ticking noise just started up not too long ago. I checked the new boots and they seem to be fine, no evidence of spewing grease around the drive axle areas. Has anyone had this problem before?

Thanks.

-Dennis

 

i have it... listen for the side it ticking or clicking on. if its jsut one side.. its probably the strut bearing..

 

The noise is coming mainly from the driver side so I guess its the strut bearing. Is that the same as the strut mounting bearing? I'm looking at an exploded view of the front suspension on my Chilton's manual. Doesn't sound like a very hard thing to do. Compressing the coils with those rental type tool would be the major pain in the butt. Perhaps I can take it out of the car and take it to a shop and have them compress it for me.

 

Pretty positive it's the strut bearing, a $30 part.

 

Coool, what's gonna make this a little bit more expensive is the front alignment which is necessary when doing a strut R&R. Thanks for the reply guys!

 

i was gonna say check your power steering fluid lol.

 

It doesn't hurt to do. In the past, when the steering fluid is low, I'd feel the steering stiffen up sporadically. I'll check tomorrow.