Sometimes, you have a hard time turning the wheels or hear no noise once you turn the steering wheel while your car is stationary. This indicates something more serious with your engine, suspension, or steering.
Like turning the steering wheel, your car also needs lots of power steering lubrication. Thus, while you lubricate your vehicle, the problem may be temporarily fixed, and you don’t run the risk of wearing its important parts.
But if you fail to take your car to a mechanic to repair the damage or replace the faulty parts on time, you risk causing accidents to you and other road users. You and your mechanic can tell which of your engine, suspension, brakes, and steering systems is faulty, depending on the kind of noise you hear when you’re turning the steering.
You may hear a whining noise while turning the wheel, or the noise might be rather grinding, clunking, chucking, or squeaking, depending on what’s wrong with your engine, suspension, brakes, and steering system.
This article discusses technical causes of hurdles and noises when turning the steering of a car that’s stationary.
Causes of the Noise When Turning the Steering Wheel While Stationary
Insufficient Power Steering Fluid
If even after rectifying air bubbles, you hear a whining noise when turning the steering wheel when your vehicle is stationary, could be a case of low power steering fluid.
Most cars with rack and pinion steering have circular steering that is connected to the gearbox through a metal rack. That rack also has a tie rod that helps to turn the circular motion of the steering into linear motion and reduces the impact of the gear for the wheels to turn.
For all this to work seamlessly, it receives high-pressure fluid lubrication through two ports on the side of the piston; and not only does the fluid assist in lubricating the gears and column, but also provides great power for the piston to move.
Poor Fluid Quality
Aside from whining, you may a sharp grinding when turning the steering wheel of your stagnant car. This symptom means that you use the wrong lubrication fluid.
Nowadays, however, most of vehicle manufacturers make vehicles that can only use specific lubrication using the unique minerals ideal for lubricating the parts’ chemical compositions.
Examples of lubricants that common manufacturers prefer are Pentosin, Dextron and P/S fluid. Using the wrong power steering lubrication damages the whole power steering system.
Fluid Leakages
Leaking steering pumps are also another cause of annoying sounds when driving your vehicle. The more the power steering fluid leaks the more serious the whining, grinding, or clunking sound as you turn the steering wheel while stationary in your car.
Similar to the cases above, the low lubrication capability that wears the power steering belt brings about problems in turning the steering column, metal rack, and gears.
You can tell it’s a power steering leak by looking for stains at the bottom of your parked car. However, the fluid stains could also be from engine oil or brakes, so be sure to check the steering fluid reservoir levels to rule out other automotive fluid leaks before you call your garage.
Faulty Steering Rack
In some cases, a clunking sound when turning the steering wheel can mean you have a more serious problem at hand, i.e., there is a faulty steering rack either after you get into an accident or because you have not been servicing the vehicle in a while.
In this case, the clunking sound from the rack usually occurs when you turn the tires from one end to the other. Repeated clunks usually mean mounting or bad struts.
Faulty Struts
The steering system relies on the vehicle suspension to help it turn the wheels, so whenever your car has suspension problems, it becomes more difficult to steer, especially at slow speeds or when stationary.
Bad struts and improper suspension put undue strain on the steering system, which could cause worse damage to its mechanics.
When your vehicle makes noise only when turning right and never when you turn left, then it means that you have failing ball joints and your tie rod end is worn a little. The clunking noise is caused by sudden weight shifts of the car as its tires turn.
Worn-Out Power Steering Belt
When the power steering belt is broken, or worn out, your ride will likely make a high-pitched screeching or squeaking sound when turning the steering wheel right or left at low speeds or when still.
This belt acts as a link between the engine and the power steering pump. It, therefore, needs ample lubrication from the power steering fluid to prevent wear and tear while your vehicle is in motion.
Air Bubbles, Water, and Impurities in the Power Steering Fluid
Normally, the presence of any impurities or air in the power steering liquid impairs its lubricating capacity on the power steering system.
Consequently, mechanical parts of the system are subjected to tension, friction, and pressure effects, thereby producing noise when turning the steering wheel while on the spot.
You can detect the impurities by noticing a difference in the power steering fluid color.
Low Tire Pressure
Low tire pressure can also produce a similar sound when you turn from left to right while stationary. Low tire pressure causes an uneven distribution of weight in the car.
So, the steering system feels inconvenienced when trying to change the direction of the tires, and that brings an extraordinary tension, which results in noise.
Worn tires or mixing of kinds of tires can also cause and affect power steering problems.
Steering Pump Malfunctioning
As said before, the pressurized fluid for the power steering system is generated in the steering pump.
If the steering pump is impaired, then it creates a serious problem for the steering system. It may not completely stop the steering movement, but a defective pump will definitely begin causing other mechanical problems, such as breaking steering belts, which could damage the rest of the power steering system.
You can tell that you have faulty steering pumps when you find that the wheel is hard to steer and there is a Clicking noise heard in the steering column when the wheel is turned when the car is standing.
How to Fix These Power Steering Noise Problems
To identify the source of annoying sounds from your car, the first step is to diagnose the culprit. You don’t require special mechanics for this entire process either. Unless the problem is too complex, you can diagnose and fix them using a mechanical toolbox and get the satisfaction of doing so yourself.
A good example of problems you don’t need to call your mechanic for is the fact that your power steering issues are a result of mixing and matching tires or using badly worn-out tires.
You can drive to your local car dealer, buy, and conveniently use simple tools like a lug wrench, a car jack, and wheel wedges to replace them.
You may also check your power steering fluid levels using a dipstick and change them without a specialist’s help. Low levels of steering fluid and/or poor quality are the basis for most annoying whining wails when steering your standstill vehicle.
Hence, the principal step to take whenever you experience steering or a nasty sound from your vehicle is checking the levels of lubricant in your power steering fluid reservoir.
Checking levels of your power steering fluid should be easy in daylight or at night if you have a working underhood work light to provide the necessary visibility. You simply open the power steering cap and insert your deep stick into the reservoir.
Remove the deep stick and check oil levels against its built-in calibrations. If levels are anywhere between the minimum and maximum marks, you are okay and should not have any steering issues.
If your fluid levels are okay and you have power steering sound problems, it means you didn’t use the recommended power steering fluid, or it has already been contaminated. Either way, you need to flush the power steering system before making another refill with fresh fluid, as the manufacturer’s manual will require.
However, get in the habit of looking for leaks around the hoses of your power steering system if you observe your fluid levels dropping at an alarming rate from time to time.
Loud clucks and screeches when trying to steer a stationary car signal a bigger issue in the power steering. Unfortunately, the culprits for these loud clucks are difficult to detect. You might need a professional assessment from a qualified mechanic to be able to know which part needs replacing or fixing.
However, you can cut the noise by lubricating the mechanical parts of your car. You will still need to fix or replace some of the following parts to completely eradicate the clunking noise when you turn the car’s steering wheel.
- Power steering pump
- Suspension joints
- Struts
- Ball joints
- CV joints
- Tie rods
- Sway bar link
- Bushing
Ask someone to turn the engine on as they rotate the steering wheel left and right, and check the screeching and clunking engine noise to know which part to fix or replace.
Though most noises and accidents from a power system damage are as a result of a lack of sufficient lubrication or accidents on the road, you still need to take your car for repair and maintenance services so as to prevent these damages from occurring.
A single problem with one part always leads to a problem with another, so repair maintenance is the best way of avoiding serious steering problems.
Final Words
A normal power steering produces no noise when you turn it, whether you’re in motion or standing still. The kind of noise your car’s steering makes informs you or your mechanic what the problem is.
Whining and grinding noise mostly points to problems with lubrication by the power steering fluid, while the sharp clunks come mainly from worn-out mechanical parts like the steering belt, rack, and cracks.
You must fix them as soon as you notice them so that you don’t damage your car any further and risk causing an accident.