When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Several months ago I started noticing a clicking sound when I turned the wheel of the used 2013 Sonata I bought last year. After doing some research I found out that this is a well known problem caused by the disintegration of the steering coupler in the power steering motor. I've never worked on cars before but I found some videos that showed how to replace the coupler and it seemed pretty straightforward. I replaced the coupler which was indeed disintegrated and everything seemed to go fine, and the clicking sound in the wheel went away. But I soon noticed that now there's a new, very noticable sort of grinding or moaning sound whenever I turn the wheel. I attached a video of me turning the wheel where you can hear the sound.
I went back in and took the power steering motor off again to investigate. As you can see in the photo below, there are teeth on the bottom of the motor (blue) and on the steering column (red) that interlock when the motor is in place, with the coupler between them. I found that the grinding sound can be heard very faintly when I manually rotate the teeth on the steering column, which seems to indicate that something was damaged inside the steering column itself.
When I replaced the coupler and I was putting the motor back on the column, I was originally trying to tighten the screws on when the teeth weren't aligned and the motor wasn't fitting back on the column correctly. My girlfriend thinks that maybe putting pressure on column like that damaged something that's causing the noise. It's hard for me to believe that something inside the column itself could get damaged like that, but I have no other clue of what could have caused this noise to start. It's been a month and a half since I replaced the coupler and there hasn't been any change in the noise and no effect on how the car steers, the ease of turning the wheel etc. I'm planning on taking it in to a mechanic but I want to try to figure out what exactly is damaged first and how serious it is. I obviously don't wanna have to replace the whole steering column if I can avoid it. Can anyone help me figure it out?? I really appreciate any advice you can give
Mystery steering wheel sound after repairs
