Steering column noise (clonk)

[Le_Combattant]

Hello all,

Yesterday on the morning I just ended up with my night shift.
I let the car idle on the parking and for some reason, play with the steeringwheel.

Near neutral and by going left to right, a disgusting noise was audible.

https://youtube.com/shorts/I84AN_fgJgU

First time I heard this kind of noise.
After 60 km of highway, no more noise.

I'm not gonna jack up the car until...few days/week because of the rain unfortunately.

For info, the car just pass 171600 km and the steering ball joint are from factory.

According to some people, it's a pretty "common" failure on PQ26 platform (A1, Polo, Fabia) but they are all agree about the source:

-Steering column
or
-Steering rack

If you have any feedback, experience with this, I will be glad !

Have a nice weekend.

[2226]

That sounds horrible.
From the location, I would say universal joint on the steering column.
I'm sure steering rack would sound more muffled.

If there is wear on the rack, there should be a screw down there to take up some of the wear by moving pinion closer to rack gear. Or at least that's how it's been on every car I've had.

[Le_Combattant]

Fun fact, no noise on this morning.

Quite strange issue.

[2226]

Super weird.

[Le_Combattant]

Super weird.

Also, on official Workshop manual from VW there is a procedure to adjust steering rack pre load to correct this noise.

Quite interesting.

[Tinman]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn76vbG ... #searching

[2226]

That's what I was referring to. Did that on my mk1 to take up the wear.
In a rack and pinion, the rack wears out around the pinion because that's where most movement is. The teeth compress/wear down. You adjust the bolt/screw to raise the rack closer to the pinion and take up the play. Do not over-do it as this will lead to binding of the rack and pinion gear set at the limits of the steering rack.