Steering wheel stops turning early

[bluegrommet]

Hi all,

Last year my 2003 WG developed an issue where it won't turn all the way left. The wheel just hits a hard stop early at about half a turn left. Sometimes it hard stops at less than a quarter turn left, but if I turn the wheel back right and left again I hear an unpleasant pulling noise and the wheel continues to turn.

I've looked under the car for something wedged amongst the steering linkages but haven't found anything. To be honest I don't really know what I'm looking for.

It started right after I had new tyres installed a year ago - a family member driving the car said they heard some sort of a noise as they were parking. We noticed the wheel didn't turn all the way left anymore - oh well, doesn't affect driving. As time went on I noticed I could only turn 3/4 left - uh, okay. And eventually I couldn't turn over 1/2 left and had some serious issues in parking garages.

Steering box? Or maybe I need to look harder for something getting in the way? Has anyone had this before or could help point me in the right direction?

[OffroadSpike]

Does the steering box work fine? Does it feel lose? Does it return to center? If those are fine then it's probably not the steering box.

Have you changed the steering damper recently? I had a similar problem with an aftermarket steering damper which was hitting the axle knuckle before fully turning.

Record under the car while turning the wheel, you should be able to detect the problem.

Also, check steeing fluid level. A low enough steering fluid level will cause the steering pump to suck bubbles and make noise, when fully steering it's when the pressure it's at it's highest. Check the hoses on top of the steering pump, the OEM fitting is known to leak on high mileage cars, a custom made hose by any hydraulic workshop will be a cheap and easy replacement.

Edit: the steering progressively getting worse doesn't sound good, it could be related with the steering box, but you should be getting more symptoms than that

[Classic Boy]

I have suffered the same fault previously it is mechanical fault inside the steering box, a shim piece inside breaks and can jam the input sector. They sometimes clear temporarily.. try find a good used steering box as it maybe too exy to rebuild the original.

[OffroadSpike]

I bought a brand new one from Edelmann on RockAuto and so far so good. It was around 380€ + tax and shipping

[Classic Boy]

Ours are different RHD