[Davidval18]

Hi Forum,

So whenever my steering wheel is straight, and I make a turn left there is this "Clicking Sound" coming out from the steering wheel. This is the fist time ever that I notice this sound after 1 year and 2 months of owing the car.

Can somebody advise if this is normal? Or is this a serious issue? What can be the problem?

Thanks for your advise!

 

[exmc]

It sounds like a CV joint ( I think that's what it's called). I'm not very mechanically inclined but I have had those go bad in cars before and it makes a clicking noise when you turn the wheel. They're fairly simple to replace and weren't terribly expensive back when I had the last one done several years ago.

 

[zero_gravity]

Yes likely cv joint, they're not that hard to replace. Could also be something with the brakes, hard to say without hearing it in person.

Does it sound like it's coming from one side more than the other?

If you still have warranty, use it

 

[Davidval18]

Thanks!

The clicking sound is only coming from one side, when the steering wheel is straight and I make a turn left, this is happening all the time!

As I mentioned before the clicking sounds comes from the steering wheel only, I'm definitely taking the car to the dealership to fix this.

 

[Davidval18]

Update!

Came back from the dealership just now, I told them about the "clicking" noise coming from the steering wheel and that perhaps the problem is a broken CV joint. After they checked and inspected the problem they claim that the "clock" spring inside the steering wheel is broken.

They ordered the piece for me and this should be installed under warranty sometime during the week.

Hopefully that's it and nothing major, so I all can do is to thrust my dealership which have done an exceptional job so far in solving problems and taking care of my car.

 

[Davidval18]

Update!

So I went to the dealership today, the tech guys shows me both pieces and he claims that this clicking noise is a normal thing apparently, as he replicated the problem that I heard on both pieces, old and new. ( I was very skeptical but at the same it kind of made sense).

Then I'm like ok sounds fair enough, he put the new piece I go for a drive, and then turning left or right I hear this awful noise like if I'm rewinding a mechanical clock, I'm like HOLY FU#$!!! Go back to the dealership, tech guys starts to become very rude at me, like if I'm looking for this problem on purpose, I tell him that now there is grinding noise coming from the steering wheel, I go for a ride with another tech, this is one is more friendly, he hears the noise! He is like, let's go to the dealership to solve this.

The rude tech guys comes back to me, gets in the car angry, drives with the second tech guy the friendly one), they took their time, and come back to the dealership, they are like, wow this time I didn't hear the noise the friendly tech guy says, they are like, go for a drive and if there is a noise come back again. I'm like maybe it got fixed or the new clock spring needed time to settle, go for a drive and BOOM! The sound happens again! I'm like no freaking way!!! Get back to the dearlership, immediately look for the manager and I tell him my story, we drive together, the freaking noise does not happen while he drives, I'm like holy [email protected]#$! We come back to the dealership the manager tells me that everything looks fine now, I'm like ok...

Go for a drive, don't hear the sound for a while and then boom!!The noise appears again!!! At this point I'm tired and angry, luckily I was able to record and film the noise in video. Go back to the dealership, speak with the manager, show him the video, he is surprised!!! He is like we are fixing this now! Calls the angry tech guy (Apparently the only capable of fixing this stuff) , takes the car, checks and comeback to the manager to tell him that the new piece is "defective", the manager at this point does not want to deal with this anymore as well and requests for the original piece to be put together as he thinks that the clicking noise is normal after all, but I'm not letting this issue go either, since the new consecutive clicking noise was never present on the original piece . At this point at well I just want to have the original piece back and get the hell out of there. The angry tech guys installs the original piece, and he is like, there should not be any problems now. I'm like, this definitely needs to solve the problem, right? go for a ride and guess what? now with the original piece there is the new grinding noise that did not exist prior to arriving to the dealership, at this stage I'm going nuts!!! The guy must be installing this think the wrong way!

I go back to the dealership and immediately go look for the CEO and the manger, now they are on a meeting, one of the floor managers attends my issue, I tell him that perhaps the angry tech guys is either not installing properly the piece and that he might also have some personal bad feelings towards me, no idea! The manager calls me over the phone, I explain him that with the original piece and with the "defective" piece this new grinding sound is happening, he tells me to leave the car so they can check the problem, I just could not believe what was happening, all I wanted was for them to fix this issue... not to mention that every-time they are taking the plastic covers from the steering wheels they are scratching them....

That was me expressing my discontent, I hope this issue is fixed!!! I mean what the hell can this tech guy be doing wrong??!

 

[Davidval18]

Update!

So I went to the dealership, they fixed the horrible grinding noise of the improper clock spring installation or damaged replacement part, here is the video of what I was referring to:

https://vimeo.com/242801246

Now, the click sound the reason for which I went to the dealership in the first place is still present in my steering wheel, as per my dealership they state that this is a common issue, video below:

https://vimeo.com/242800143

So, my question to you is, is this click sound normal yes or no?

I don't know what to believe , and even if they put a new replacement part or the original part, I would greatly appreciate your feedback so I can escalate this issue accordingly...

I lost a bit of hope and respect towards my dealership, cause I never heard this click sound never before.

Thanks!

 

[arathol]

Sounds to me like the detente for the signal light is stuck, broken or incorrectly assembled. This can happen if you don't put the clockspring in the correct orientation. Mine makes a similar single click sound when you hold the stalk in the turn position and turn the wheel. Mine is normal, yours is most certainly not.

 

[Davidval18]

In the first video the problem was not fixed! The first video happened after they replaced the clock spring, before I arrived to the dealership the problem was non-existent, and the only issue I had was the one shown on the second video.

And after all this mess, I'm still having the "click" noise when I turn the wheel left and it is straight, which is the second video that I posted, this one represents the reason why I came to the dealership in the first place. (This is after the dealership claims that they re-installed the original clock spring or a new one, they wish not to tell me this information, for all I know the original one has been re-installed)

Also, on the second video, the signals lights are off and the click sound can be heard, therefore I'm investigating if this is totally normal or maybe the dealership is giving me a lot of BS since it was obvious to me they don't have any experience with this kind of issues.

So is this click normal? (As per the second video) Can somebody check this their own cars and post some feedback?

Also if it is damaged, what are the implication of not switching it? (As per my knowledge, the horn, and the controls are working properly in the steering wheel.

 

[Davidval18]

Update!

The horrible clicking noise of the first video when using the signal lever is gone, they replaced the signal lever with a brand new one and switched the entire clockspring with a new one as well. (Everything under warranty)

Regarding the single click noise on the second video, this is almost totally NORMAL! So for anyone who thinks their clockspring might be broken because of the click , this is not the case!!! Since even with the new clocspring there is a slight click sound when turning the steering wheel left , no turn signal lever engaged (I made the mistake of thinking this was not ok and ended up creating a bigger mess for myself and also because of how bad my dealership handled this, they should have know this is normal...).

Although it is important to note there was a wide known issue about this "click" nose in the steering wheel as per the link below:

https://mazda.oemdtc.com/249/clicking-noise-from-the-clock-spring-when-turning-the-steering-wheel-2014-2015-mazda3

Youtube video of the problem the link above is referring to:

So the clicking noise happens on the youtube video not even when the signal lever is engaged, which in my case it would only happen if engaged. Now, I'm not certain if the clicking noise on my second video is the problem that the above TSB link is referring too, but I would doubt my dealership knows about this problem and the correct way to fix it as mentioned above.

At least this problem has been fixed, now my dealership scratched the horn / airbag center piece by not properly taking it off and there are visible scratches on the steering column plastic (OH well...) , they also damaged the parking sensor button under or next to the steering wheel (applicable for those who have front parking sensors), I guess I'll have to deal with this problem later today...

I hope this thread can guide people and be a tool of learning in the future regarding a similar problem, at the end of the day no matter how careful we are dealerships don't give a rats ass about our cars...

 

[oldfartwithamazda3]

Contact another Mazda dealership in your area and ask if they heard of the Click Noise problem. If they do, make an appointment with them for repair.

 

[Davidval18]

I have no time to deal with dealerships or chase a click sound which might or might not be normal.

So at this stage, I'm ready to live with this click noise (second video that I posted earlier on this thread), which is unnoticeable with windows open or music.

And they fixed my parking sensor button as well! Dealerships here in Israel are to laugh at...

 

[yeopazman]

Mechanics don't know anything about cars. They are like the nurses to engineers. You need to talk to an "engineer" who can diagnose problem. Funny thing is that people have experience driving cars for years without taking the time to know anything about it. That is the same with anything. Like your own body. You own your body for your entire life, but know nothing about how it works.

If there is a clicking sound, what type of sound is it? Metallic tink? Dull thud? An actual click-click? Or is it a scrape? A metallic sound is metal on metal, so there is hardly anything to do with the shafts and a rubber bushing that protects metal parts hitting each other is usually the culprit. There's not many parts on powered steering wheels that can do that. Clicks are CV joints, but that can be heard just by putting the car on jacks and turning the wheel (front wheel drive or rear?). Scrapes (especially on turns, or even clicks) could be brake pads hitting the rotors in one spot. That means that you could have a tiny bit of metal that the "mechanic" didn't clean while installing, manufacturer's "default", or your rotor is warped.

Just think, don't get angry. Dealership people are pencil pushers / paperwork people. They know nothing about cars except about memorizing statistics. Mechanics can just replace parts and not fix them. They usually diagnose things wrong because they take the car out for 5-10 minutes and it takes an hour for a car to "settle" and show symptoms.

Sorry you had a bad experience. At least you have a warranty. I'm too poor to even take my car to a dealer, so I HAVE to go on forums to figure things out on my own.