206 Steering Issues

[bung206]

Hello,

I've got a Peugeot 206 (2001, the 1.4L engine model) and it's developed an issue with the steering wheel.

When I'm at ~2000RPM in 2nd gear (just a bit faster than over walking pace), and I turn the steering wheel left/right (it has to be quite hard, if you turn it gently it's fine), I can hear and feel a clicking sound coming from right under my foot. It's super noticable when driving through roundabouts (i.e. you're whipping the wheel back and forth real quick).

I've taken it to a mechanic and reproduced the sound with the mech riding shotgun, and he's told me that this is apparently '100% normal in all european cars because they use steering racks'. He instructed me to stop the car on the roadside & kill the engine, at which point he was then able to reproduce the clicking sound by turning the steering wheel to a certain point and rocking it back and forth and saying "see? its normal". I'm convinced he's full of crap because I never noticed this before, and I've driven the car nearly 20,000km.

Any ideas what this could be? Where would you start diagnosing this?

[samwalker]

Hi,

I had a similar issue with my 206 XS, the sound was actually coming from the front drivers wheel, I took this to a garage and they replaced the connecting rod from behind the (cant remember what its called), the noise remained and I returned it, turns out the major issue was the wheel bearing.. worth taking a look behind your wheel at the bar..

[bung206]

Hi,

My noise is also coming from that vicinity... not 100% sure though. Just waiting on my tools to arrive, then I will get into it.

Cheers

[davidireland]

Originally Posted by bung206

'100% normal in all european cars because they use steering racks'.

What a load of crap indeed.
Every car on the market whether it be european or not has a steering rack!
did he remove the steering arms from the huds to check if the top shock bearings have failed?
Did he unbolt the universal joint at the bottom of the steering column to check it for tightness?
Did he manually move the steering rack and check for tight spots?

[bung206]

Hi David,

He did not. I'm convinced that they're trying to hoodwink me. I'm tired of being ripped off and lied to, so I've got some bits together to jack the car up (2 axle stands and a 3 ton jack) and have a look at what's happening.

I'm not TOO bad with a hammer & screwdriver - can you give me some advice as to where I should start with diagnosing this? I realise you've listed a few things in your previous post but that looks like it reuqires some extensive disassembly of parts, something with I'm not TOO comfortable doing since this is my daily driver and I have no garage to stash it when I dismantle it.

Is there any testing I can do before disassembly becomes necessary?

I've worked on motorcycles a lot before and I found that the factory manual w/ exploded parts diagram etc (often readily available) is very handy - where can I get a factory manual for my 206 from?

Cheers!

[danielr]

Peugeot Service Box

Go there, register for free.
they give you loads of exploded diagrams for free.

You'll also be able to check the (peugeot) price for parts (that's new OEM parts) when you've gotten quotes from garages.
then you know when a garage tells you that the part will cost x hundred pounds plus labour to change, and you see that pug do it cheaper at their main dealers that you might want to stay away from that garage.

Also if you want detailed technical information, or detailed procedure steps then they do charge for that.