Hi Guys,

I just bought a used honda fit 2001 model. I have read the forums and noticed that most of the members here has the latest model.
I am hearing funny noise clicking when I am turning my steering wheel, I know that my car is old, I just want to know if you are also experience this or has knowledge what is wrong or what I need to do fix this.

Thanks.

 

if you believe the noise is coming from the area of one of the front tires, then the first thing to look at is the constant velocity (CV) black, ribbed, rubber boots, both inner and outer. They may have become worn/cracked and have lost their grease. Crawl under and take a look at each boot area (the outer boots nearest the tire are easiest to visually observe). The grease will get tossed around and make a mess under the wheel well and on the nearby suspension parts. But, since you just bought the car and it may have been like this for a while, look to see if there is a lot of dirt and muck caked on those same areas. Grease that leaked out a while ago will now be a dirt catcher. Dirt gets inside the cv boot and makes a grinding/clicking noise when making hard left or right turns.

 

With the constant velocity joints, when turning left you would most likely be hearing the right CVJ and when turning right the left CVJ. Often times, complete replacement axles cost little more than parts to repair, unless it is just the boot.

You could also check the inner tie rod ends, though if they are bad you probably would have noticed uneven front tire wear.

 

Maybe it's the nut holding the steering wheel. JK JK :^)

 

Yeah given the year and mileage i'm going to say bad CV joint due to torn boot. Check the boots, if it's torn that's probably the issue. The sound you are hearing is the ungreased bearings loading/unloading.

Since you are not sure how long the problem has persisted you might want to just replace the joint rather than trying to patch it up.

 

If you do need to replace the CVJ, after the old one is cleaned up, you can use it as a type of Rubik's cube game to re-assemble.

 

If the clicking sound is heard when the vehicle is making a turn (with the steering wheel steadyish, as would be usual for turning a corner), CV joints are indeed a good guess.

If, on the other hand, the clicking is happening as the steering wheel is being rotated without the vehicle moving, it's not the CV joints, but rather something in the steering linkages itself. It may be nothing more than trim pieces rubbing a bit around the steering wheel or something similar that's annoying but not particularly dangerous. It could also conceivably be something more serious. The best thing to do would be to jack the front of the car up (so as not to scrub the tires down) and turn the wheel back and forth and try to locate exactly where the noise is coming from. If it's near the steering wheel, I probably wouldn't worry too much; if it's in the rack or other steering components associated with it, on the other hand, I'd investigate whether repair was needed. Steering ability is, after all, a fairly important feature of a car.

I had a car once that had an ever so slight squeak in the universal joint in the steering column that let the steering wheel tilt. It was, at times, a bit aggravating, but nothing dangerous nor worth my time to try to fix up (presumably by disassembling the works and regreasing and/or replacing bushings).