Hi All,

Has anyone had a problem wth a rattling/clanking noise coming from the steering wheel? Any idea what the problem can be from? Loose bolt or nut?

I'm pretty sure its coming from behind the airbag part. I took apart the entire steering column and pin-pointed the noise to that area, but it looks like you need a special torx tool to remove (says that in the Haynes manual too as well as you need to replace the bolt with a new bolt when removing it) the airbag module.

Any help or insight would be appreciated. Thanks!

TJ

Is it THAT bad?

It may be coming from the guage rim plastic...
Be careful tampering w/ that module.

It's REALLY bad... and I'm sure it's coming from the steering wheel. I took apart everything and when i hit the steering wheel it makes the clanking noise. Basically while I hear 90% of the time when I drive...

I guess no one has had this problem before?

alright let me bring back an old post! I'm having the same exact problem and I took apart the steering problem as well but I also have the Haynes manual and decided not to take it apart cause of the air bag. any ideas anyone?....

Wow old post. My clanking/rattling noise came from behind the airbag. It was some metal piece rattle because the rubber that isolated came loose or something like that. All I did was removed the airbag and fix that and it went away.

If I remember correctly to remove the airbag you just have to remove the tamper-proof torx screws on the sides of the steering wheel. You'll need something like this. Don't forget to unplug your battery before doing this...

Were those the ones that if I take them out I have to replace them?

I believe so... I didn't replace them, I might have used loc-tite but its been so long. I'm sure you can get the bolts for <$20 from the Nissan dealer, just gotta order them.

Did you replace the rubber peice that came loose, or did you put use something else to stop it?

Such a long time ago but I recall using some rubber bands. I've since sold the car so not sure how it's holding up, but I had the fix for awhile and it seemed fine.

Sounds exactly like the noise I've been hearing when going over harsh bumps since I bought the car three years ago. Does it sound like a loud "clank" or "cling" (metal-on-metal)? I'm hesitant to remove the airbag because of the Torx screws, too.

Recently it's been happening more and more often. I've all but taken the steering wheel apart and, like teejnut, it happens when I hit the steering wheel from the top or bottom. Definitely sounds like something's loose.

Anyone else come across a solution?

Here's the photo walkthrough. The photos are in reverse order and the whole thing is fairly simple once you have the Torx key wrench. Email me or reply here if you've got questions.

Also, I didn't have to replace the Torx screws at all; they went back in easily. These are not the tamper-proof ones.

Thanks for the walk thru pics. I think I'm having this same problem. Lately everytime I hit a significant bump I hear a loud ring sound (metal on metal) from my steering wheel.

What did you put in to isolate the metal and the screw?

I just put some pieces of cardboard in there to keep the metal pieces from contacting each other. I'm not sure what the loose piece is for, but it looked like it could've been taken out completely. I still get a noise from time to time, but it's much quieter because of the cardboard.

Not trying to hijack the thread, but how can I tighten the steering column ?
Every time I drive over bumps, the steering wheel shakes (I can feel it moving up and down slightly).

Any ideas ?

Finally got around to fixing the rattle noise coming from the steering wheel. It had gotten so bad that it was basically a high pitch metal on metal sound the entire time I was driving.

Now I feel like I'm not driving such a pice of **** now that the sound it gone. Does anyone know what exactly the black metal piece supported by the rubber does??


Once I removed everything as posted in the tutorial linked above it was simple to see the cause of the rattle. The rubber that supports the black odd shapped metal piece was all cracked and it was simply banging on the center nut.

Here you can see the cracked dirty looking rubber piece behind the black metal (after i fixed it)


Here is what my repair looks like. A thin strip of rubber duct taped on. Ghetto I know but it should do the trick and obviously you can't see this part ever.


heres another shot of how the rubber isolates the two metal pieces now.

hell yeah! thanks for all the info. ive had that problem for awhile now but always didnt want to mess with all that. you guys are awsome

I have the same issue....I'm gonna attempt to follow the walk through tomorrow ... hopefully things go well ... I will keep you guys posted

I was able to fix the clanking/rattling noise by following the walk through ... thanks alot guys ... I don't know what I would do without the people of this forum ...

I am glad you revived this thread as I am having this issue as well. My question to you is did you use the same method as what's in this post or did you take that thing off to see if that rubber was repairable?

I used the same method because I don't think you can take that piece off, its connected by two rubber band like things, if you pull on it hard enough it might snap, so the easiest fix is to put tape on it and let it stay like that ... I put some double sided tape on the edges...

Ok I was able to do mine yesterday with some changes from here. I will create a new post and hopfully will be placed as a sticky.

So were those two pieces actually hitting each other or is the noise being transmitted up the steering column from something lower down? Maybe the intermediate shaft in the column is wearing out? If this fix is as easy as it looks I'll be very happy!

The black metal piece was hitting that center nut. My simple rubber and duct tape fix has held up fine all summer long.