[Paul J]

hi guys, hoping you can help. I've been directed here by a UK EV Forum as they've said that the GM Volt is essentially the same car, and you'd be perhaps better placed to help me. I test drove an Ampera today and on slow manoeuvring where the steering was turned a fair amount, there was a noise, not a squeak as such, a medium pitched noise, that happened somewhat at random while the steering was steering wheel was being turned. The action of the steering was perfect, the steering is otherwise fine, just the noise, which happens slightly at random, but always as your moving the steering wheel around. It's the kind of noise level which would be noticed and become somewhat annoying. It's impossible to say if the noise originates from somewhere inside the steering column or if it's beneath the car

Is this any known fault, and could anyone hazzard a guess as to what it might be ?

Does anyone know if the Ampera shares a steering rack / pump with another model ?

Would it unduly dissuade you from buying this car, it's a relatively cheap car with over 100,000 miles, which in most other ways would seem to have been cared for, it's one owner, with a full service history

Many Thanks

 

[Pro451]

Well,
I did a quick search for steering noise and here a 3 threads for different types of noises. There are a lot of pages to wade through (I'm not duper impressed with the search engine filter here....or, I just don't know how to use it correctly), so I stopped after page 4 but it's a st a rt for you.

https://gm-volt.com/forum/showthrea...power-steering/page2&highlight=Steering+noise
https://gm-volt.com/forum/showthrea...ing-turned-clockwise&highlight=Steering+noise
https://gm-volt.com/forum/showthrea...eering-at-low-speeds&highlight=Steering+noise

 

[Paul J]

That really is a brilliant start, whatever it turns out to be, I'm not going to let this issue stop me from having an interest in this particular car, I'm going to assume that we can sort it

thanks very much for your help and quick response !

Paul

 

[Pro451]

Please don't forget to come back and tell us what you decide or what you find.

Chris

 

[JuneBug]

Paul, the Volt/Ampera has electric power steering, there is no hydraulic pump. You were probably hearing the steering motor. That being said, I never hear mine, but maybe I'm just used to it after driving a RAV4 with EPS for 10 years now.

Pro451, the built-in search has been broken since these forums were moved over to new cloud servers. I use the Google Custom Search at the top of the home page.

 

[Paul J]

Pro451, I will certainly come back and let you know, obviously provided that (hopefully) this purchase goes ahead

JuneBug, I guess that a noise is impossible to describe, I don't think it's the motor, possibly as someone suggested, the brakes need a good scrubbing, or the well documented rubbing of steering column as it goes through the firewall. I think I've seen reasonably priced complete steering units for the Ampera, so that's my fall back option.... they say 'common things are common', it's most likely one of the possibilities above