Creaking and grinding noise when turning steering wheel

Steven Wander

• 599 Answers
• Posted on May 19, 2008

SOURCE: my 96 ls400 suspension noise

front lower ball joints are possible cause, they wear out and start all kinds of noises, uppers are also suspect, either the ball joint or the control arm bushings. Did you put the anti squeek shims behind the pads?

SOURCE: 2000 Lexus ES300 - 45K

Are you sure this is a rattle or is it more of a creaking noise? I have a 2000 ES300 and had an issue when I would go over speed bumps and the noise would drive me nuts! However replacing the bushing in the top of the strut mount is expensive due to the labor involved.. Replacement of the strut or the bushing isn't necessary. Just open the hood, locate the strut housing and you ll be able to see the black rubber bushing in the middle. Obtain a can of Heavy Duty silicone aerosol spray and attach a straw to the spray tip. Using a flathead screwdriver wedge the screwdriver between the top of the bushing and the metal pushing the screwdriver all the way to the edge of the metal underneath the roof of the metal housing. Then pry the edge of the bushing away from the metal housing so that the top of the edge of the bushing exposed and stick the straw end of the silicone into the spot and spray generously. Only slight bushing movement will be obtained as the bushing is pretty stiff but it will be enough. Work your way around using this technique until you get the spray fully around the bushing 360 degrees getting it into the area between the edge of the bushing and the metal. Then spray the silicone onto the top of the bushing filling it all the way up until it spills over the metal. After it drains down, repeat again making sure you fill it above the rim of the bushing so it seeps into the area between the bushing and he metal housing (or frame) because this is where the rubbing is taking place that is creating that awful noise. Repeat on the other side and your done. The main goal is to get the silicone into the area between the metal and the bushing along the edge. This happens to be the way I was able to do it. This totally solved my problem and now the car is so quiet there aren't any knocking, creaking or rattling noises. This was a hard solution to explain without visuals, hope you can follow. This will work for sure. The Heavy Duty Silicone spray I used was manufactured by CRC and I bought it from Walmart.

SOURCE: Strange noise from rear of car

struts are bad car can support 20 inch rims if struts are new if noise persist strut plate is rubbing

SOURCE: loud noise when turning wheel

That red fluid is power steering fluid. You may not have lost enough yet to register but you will. You need to determine whether it's leaking from a cracked hose (which I've seen on Toyota products), or from the steering rack itself, and from there the course of repair can be determined.

SOURCE: 2000 Lexus GS300 has whining, vibration from power steering pump

if the pumps is goignng no way!! just use the 125 towards the new pump