Squeaks from the dash

[flymartin]

Quick update on the cheaping bird squeak noise..

Last week, I was able to alleviate the squeak by playing with the steering wheel yoke adjustment. Sadly on the way back from a weekend camping, the squeak returned and no amount of yoke fiddling would clear it. However, undoing the yoke lever while driving would make the noise stop, and it would return again as soon as I closed the yoke lever.

I had it booked in with Breeze Poole for this week and took it along there. They have spent some time trying to diagnose it, and have tried tightening and greasing parts around the steering wheel and column, to no avail. They also confirmed that it is not the known issue with airbag alignment.

Now they have run out of options and have ordered a new steering column. Seems drastic! I'm away with the van for a few weeks now, so I will post another update once I'm back and get the new steering column fitted..

 

[Viktorgeorge]

Quick update on the cheaping bird squeak noise..

Last week, I was able to alleviate the squeak by playing with the steering wheel yoke adjustment. Sadly on the way back from a weekend camping, the squeak returned and no amount of yoke fiddling would clear it. However, undoing the yoke lever while driving would make the noise stop, and it would return again as soon as I closed the yoke lever.

I had it booked in with Breeze Poole for this week and took it along there. They have spent some time trying to diagnose it, and have tried tightening and greasing parts around the steering wheel and column, to no avail. They also confirmed that it is not the known issue with airbag alignment.

Now they have run out of options and have ordered a new steering column. Seems drastic! I'm away with the van for a few weeks now, so I will post another update once I'm back and get the new steering column fitted..

Thank you @flymartin, please do keep this string posted with any progress. Although my steering column noise has gone for the moment (and my column adjustment is untouched since) I am mindful that it could return - as yours has.

 

[calibusje]

Quick update on the cheaping bird squeak noise..

Last week, I was able to alleviate the squeak by playing with the steering wheel yoke adjustment. Sadly on the way back from a weekend camping, the squeak returned and no amount of yoke fiddling would clear it. However, undoing the yoke lever while driving would make the noise stop, and it would return again as soon as I closed the yoke lever.

I had it booked in with Breeze Poole for this week and took it along there. They have spent some time trying to diagnose it, and have tried tightening and greasing parts around the steering wheel and column, to no avail. They also confirmed that it is not the known issue with airbag alignment.

Now they have run out of options and have ordered a new steering column. Seems drastic! I'm away with the van for a few weeks now, so I will post another update once I'm back and get the new steering column fitted..

I hoped along with you and I certainly don't want to come across as pedantic, but feared that just doing the steering wheel in and out would not be enough to keep the chirping noice away. Maybe you could re-read what I wrote about the airbag unit. This is not a hoax and happens regularly. Hopefully this is the solution. With this info you can go to your garage; a new steering column? wow! Anyway: I'm not a mechanic and you should certainly first rely on what your garage owner indicates.
I wish you all the best.

 

[flymartin]

I hoped along with you and certainly don't want to come across as pedantic, but feared that just doing the steering wheel in and out would not be enough to keep the chirping noice away. Maybe you could re-read what I wrote about the airbag unit. This is not a hoax and happens regularly. Hopefully this is the solution. With this info you can go to your garage; a new steering column? wow! Anyway: I'm not a mechanic and you should certainly first rely on what your garage owner indicates.
I wish you all the best.

Thanks @calibusje and if we’re being pedantic then you will see from my post that the garage has acknowledged the airbag issue is a known fault but that they’ve ruled it out in my case

 

[calibusje]

Thanks @calibusje and if we’re being pedantic then you will see from my post that the garage has acknowledged the airbag issue is a known fault but that they’ve ruled it out in my case

I meant that I don’t want to be pedantic not you or others. Thought this was clear.
Sorry I didn’t see the sentence about the ruling out the issue with the airbag alignment: I was eating pintxos at Hondarribia and drinking a beer with it. Next time I’ll leave it and concentrate on my food Maybe it will help others because it is indeed a well know issue and easy fix for the annoying chirping.

 

[Stu@rt]

I've chosen to leave the steering wheel closest to the dash for now. Not my preferred driving position, but having just returned from 4 nights away, and a good few hundred miles driven, I've quickly forgotten about my preference. The chirp reappeared a few miles into the outbound journey and pulling the wheel towards me, sure made it worse. I pushed it back towards the dash a little more firmly than intended and the chirp disappeared. It stayed gone for the remainder of the trip and I have chosen to leave it in the "quiet" position and enjoy the fact that it's one less thing that requires a fiddle to rotate the drivers seat.

 

[Viktorgeorge]

I've chosen to leave the steering wheel closest to the dash for now. Not my preferred driving position, but having just returned from 4 nights away, and a good few hundred miles driven, I've quickly forgotten about my preference. The chirp reappeared a few miles into the outbound journey and pulling the wheel towards me, sure made it worse. I pushed it back towards the dash a little more firmly than intended and the chirp disappeared. It stayed gone for the remainder of the trip and I have chosen to leave it in the "quiet" position and enjoy the fact that it's one less thing that requires a fiddle to rotate the drivers seat.

Snap.

 

[flymartin]

Quick update on this. Squeak from steering column is ever present and feels like just part of general van sounds now. Breeze have finally received the replacement part and today they called to book me in on 20th December!

Hopefully that will fix it.

 

[Perfectos]

it could be from the centre of the roof around the camper control unit.

Open the Tambour hatch to the roof (fully) , does the sound stop ?

 

[flymartin]

Open the Tambour hatch to the roof (fully) , does the sound stop ?

Thanks - that louder creaking is very intermittent and not currently happening. Next time I will try opening the hatch fully and seeing if that stops it..

 

[calibusje]

…

I am very keen to hear your idea re the loud creak!

Post in thread 'Crackling sound and the saga continues.'
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/crackling-sound-and-the-saga-continues.46582/post-611395

 

[Vandriverjeff]

Yes, it was a continuous bird chirp noise, I had it also and started looking on various fb pages and more. I came across this issue a few times. Here’s what I found:
When the van is stationary, tap the base of the steering wheel with your palm and if you hear the chirp noise, it could be this: the air bag was miss aligned; take it out and re-set. Sound is gone I took it out only a centimetre and didn’t disconnect anything; oh, you will hear the horn
However: removing the airbag unit is no sinecure: I even watched a YouTube video for it Or go to your dealer for help.

It worked for me! 2022 cali beach. Sound like a canary. I did not get the the noise tapping the base of the steering wheel. But i followed a YouTube video about how to take the airbag off a VW golf with the same steering wheel. Just unclipped it & then clicked it back again. Did not touch wires. It worked! So pleased. Honestly I was considering selling the the van. It was driving me nuts. Exeter VW main dealer had quoted me £800 to take the dash off as the next step! Refusing to do it under warranty.

 

[calibusje]

It worked for me! 2022 cali beach. Sound like a canary. I did not get the the noise tapping the base of the steering wheel. But i followed a YouTube video about how to take the airbag off a VW golf with the same steering wheel. Just unclipped it & then clicked it back again. Did not touch wires. It worked! So pleased. Honestly I was considering selling the the van. It was driving me nuts. Exeter VW main dealer had quoted me £800 to take the dash off as the next step! Refusing to do it under warranty.

Great!
I also watched a (maybe even that same) YouTube video on how to do it yourself, did it and it was resolved and never came back. I find it amazing that dashboards are almost being taken off or steering columns are even replaced by dealers. Hopefully the airbag unit will be replaced correctly or it will happen again. And it’s such an easy fix.. By the way: by knocking a few times rather hard at the bottom of the steering column with palm of your hand (just under the steering wheel and hard, not a soft tap) you should definitely hear it. This is how you can easily identify an incorrectly installed airbag unit in the steering wheel; maybe useful as a tip for others who have the chirping sound.
Anyway, I have already experienced quite a few issues with our coast in that genre (unusual sounds) and they have all been resolved permanently. I like sharing my experience and how it was resolved. That and many other things

 

[flymartin]

Great!
I also watched a (maybe even that same) YouTube video on how to do it yourself, did it and it was resolved and never came back. I find it amazing that dashboards are almost being taken off or steering columns are even replaced by dealers. Hopefully the airbag unit will be replaced correctly or it will happen again. And it’s such an easy fix.. By the way: by knocking a few times rather hard at the bottom of the steering column with palm of your hand (just under the steering wheel and hard, not a soft tap) you should definitely hear it. This is how you can easily identify an incorrectly installed airbag unit in the steering wheel; maybe useful as a tip for others who have the chirping sound.
Anyway, I have already experienced quite a few issues with our coast in that genre (unusual sounds) and they have all been resolved permanently. I like sharing my experience and how it was resolved. That and many other things

I’m going for my steering column replacement on Wednesday this week.. The dealer has assured me it’s not the air bag causing the sound, and I know the sound subsides if I open the rake adjustment while driving along. I will have a chat with the dealer and see if they can rule out (or in) the airbag again when they fit the new steering column..

 

[flymartin]

I’m going for my steering column replacement on Wednesday this week.. The dealer has assured me it’s not the air bag causing the sound, and I know the sound subsides if I open the rake adjustment while driving along. I will have a chat with the dealer and see if they can rule out (or in) the airbag again when they fit the new steering column..

The dealer has had the van for 2 days now. I didn’t get to talk to the technician about the airbag thing, and they are going ahead with the steering column replacement. This requires the entire dash to be removed so hopefully they know how to put it back!

I have had a couple of emails telling me online services have been deactivated, yesterday afternoon and this morning. I’m sure this is normal but I feel a bit like the van is calling for help!

 

[Perfectos]

The dealer has had the van for 2 days now. I didn’t get to talk to the technician about the airbag thing, and they are going ahead with the steering column replacement. This requires the entire dash to be removed so hopefully they know how to put it back!

I have had a couple of emails telling me online services have been deactivated, yesterday afternoon and this morning. I’m sure this is normal but I feel a bit like the van is calling for help!

I don’t think the whole dash needs to be removed to replace the steering column. the lower Dash panels come off to allow full access

 

[flymartin]

I don’t think the whole dash needs to be removed to replace the steering column. the lower Dash panels come off to allow full access

When the guy at Breeze said “the tech has figured out he will need to remove the whole dash in order to remove the steering column,” I was slightly alarmed and asked whether they had a VW workshop manual to follow or if they were just freestyling it. The service guy assured me they had the VW guidance, which says remove the whole dash, but often they are able to shortcut VW’s guidance and just remove some bits of dash - however they had discovered they couldn’t do that for steering column removal..

I have the van back now. No squeak from the steering wheel - hooray! And I can still steer - hooray! I will never know whether it was really a noisy steering column or indeed the loose airbag issue, which presumably would have been removed and refitted as part of the steering column replacement. The service guy assured me it was not the known airbag issue..

 

[calibusje]

When the guy at Breeze said “the tech has figured out he will need to remove the whole dash in order to remove the steering column,” I was slightly alarmed and asked whether they had a VW workshop manual to follow or if they were just freestyling it. The service guy assured me they had the VW guidance, which says remove the whole dash, but often they are able to shortcut VW’s guidance and just remove some bits of dash - however they had discovered they couldn’t do that for steering column removal..

I have the van back now. No squeak from the steering wheel - hooray! And I can still steer - hooray! I will never know whether it was really a noisy steering column or indeed the loose airbag issue, which presumably would have been removed and refitted as part of the steering column replacement. The service guy assured me it was not the known airbag issue..

Great! Happy for you and indeed… you’ll never know..

 

[CaliforniaSeb]

I have the same squeak. A cricket like sound is a great description. Only time it goes away is over super smooth tarmac. I did the hitting steering wheel test and it is definitely that. Then pushed the steering wheel in hard and it is a lot better.

Did you get your work done under warranty? My van s now past the six months noise snagging window Was this Breeze in Poole? I might phone them and see what my options are?

 

[calibusje]

I have the same squeak. A cricket like sound is a great description. Only time it goes away is over super smooth tarmac. I did the hitting steering wheel test and it is definitely that. Then pushed the steering wheel in hard and it is a lot better.

Did you get your work done under warranty? My van s now past the six months noise snagging window Was this Breeze in Poole? I might phone them and see what my options are?

Did you take the airbagunit out and then put it back in the steering wheel? If you do that the chirping sound should be gone (instead of a lot better).

 

[CaliforniaSeb]

Did you take the airbagunit out and then put it back in the steering wheel? If you do that the chirping sound should be gone (instead of a lot better).

I am too timid to try that

 

[CaliforniaSeb]

I am too timid to try that

Which video did you watch? I might ask a friend who is a reservist mechanic to have a look. Depending on what Breeze say. He is used to fixing tanks though!

 

[calibusje]

I am too timid to try that

It would/should help. If it doesn’t help, you have another issue. I did it along a rural road where only a few cows heard the horn because it will go off - especially when the airbag unit is replaced.
I also saw a video once, but I don't remember exactly which one, but I quickly found this:

 

[flymartin]

I have the same squeak. A cricket like sound is a great description. Only time it goes away is over super smooth tarmac. I did the hitting steering wheel test and it is definitely that. Then pushed the steering wheel in hard and it is a lot better.

Did you get your work done under warranty? My van s now past the six months noise snagging window Was this Breeze in Poole? I might phone them and see what my options are?

I took it in to Breeze in June (at about 11 months old) and they agreed there was a squeak they needed to fix. Due to their busyness and my summer hols it took a while to get a booking for them to have a proper look - and they concluded steering column was the source and it needed replacing. It took months for the new part to arrive and I’ve just had it replaced at no cost to me - all under warranty. I didn’t know there was a six month noise window! But it didn’t seem to apply to my noise..

 

[calibusje]

I took it in to Breeze in June (at about 11 months old) and they agreed there was a squeak they needed to fix. Due to their busyness and my summer hols it took a while to get a booking for them to have a proper look - and they concluded steering column was the source and it needed replacing. It took months for the new part to arrive and I’ve just had it replaced at no cost to me - all under warranty. I didn’t know there was a six month noise window! But it didn’t seem to apply to my noise..

I’m sorry, I have to ask me: ‘A six month noise snagging window’? Is this for real or do they tell you that?