Intermediate steering shaft squeak / Slight play in steering wheel
 

Good afternoon all,

A few days ago I noticed some extra play in the steering wheel and when the car is off and parked in the garage I can hear a slight squeaking sound and notice some movement coming from the intermediate shaft connecting to the part in front of it (towards the bumper, I do not know the name of the part) when I lightly bob the wheel back and forth.

Is it possible that the bolt is a little loose? Can I spray it with some WD-40 to mute the squeaking sound? The slight play isn't that bad but I have become more aware of it after having several mods installed; the installers may have used the steering wheel as support when getting into and out of the car but I do not notice any play in the column.

Thanks for any advice.

Edit: I've attached a photo of the shaft where it sounds like the clunking/squeaking sound is coming from. Also when I move the steering wheel this shaft rotates slightly which I believe is to be expected and when I grab the shaft and twist it the steering wheel moves.

If you follow the shaft to the right past the boot, that leads to the steering column. I am not sure about the part to the left but it looks like there is some electrical connection.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...b949f27df7.jpg

The part you don’t know the name of is the steering “rack and pinion”. It is 100% electronic in the C7 which is why we don’t have power steering fluid. What you need to do is first make sure the bolt is tightened down to the proper torque spec, and you need to have some jiggle the steering wheel while you watch the shaft connection to the rack. The rack has a male splined shaft coming out of it and the steering shaft with the bolt has a female splined section that goes over the steering rack shaft to connect them together.

You need to determine if when the steering wheel is moved, does it move both the male and female connectors tightly or is there play between the female and male shaft section. Because they are splined, there should be NO play when these turn. The bolt on the shaft that connects it to the rack and pinion should use an 11mm socket. Hope this all helps :cheers:

Ant

Thank you for the reply and the great explanation. Is there any way to see those splines or are they covered up under where the bolt is?

The splines cover the entire circumference of the shaft and inner circumference of the coupler. You would have to remove the bolt and pull it off the shaft to see the splines. If you do that, use some brush on white out (yes the office supplies for whiting out pen mistakes) to make a line across the coupler and shaft so if you disconnect them you can put the back on the exact same spline when you reassemble it or else your steering wheel may be slightly off after.

I had this same problem in my car. I bought it with 12K miles, and he previous owner was using the steering wheel as a support to get in and out of the car as I’m sure many people do.

The dealer replaced the steering column shaft and that fixed the play and noise. This was a warranty repair under the extended warranty through GM.

Hope that helps.

Thank you very much for the replies, I finally had the opportunity to get in there and tighten that bolt. It was indeed lose and there was a little bit of play. I simply tightened it and it seems fine now; will know for sure tomorrow when I drive into work. Even though I tightened it, I was careful to not torque so hard. Can anyone tell me the factory torque spec for that bolt?

Thanks.

Anyone know the torque of the steering shaft to the steering rack?

Thanks,
Mike