On Sunday, 27 November 2016 15:58:04 UTC, George wrote:
My wife's car has just started to produce noises that can only be described a strange, from the Steering Wheel. When it is turned it sounds as if there is a small wire brush inside the area just below the actual steering wheel containing the Air Bag. I have removed the cover and tried to pin-point from whence it comes, but it does not seem to be at all localised. I thought that maybe a piece of cellophane sweet wrapper had got into the works somehow.

I does not seem to change anywhere the wheel is turned to and I have tried an air pressure line to try and dislodge anything stuck in a crack somewhere, to no avail.

The local garage has offered to dismantle the steering head assembly and change the spiral connection that they say feeds connections to the horn and the air bag, but the charge would be more than the car is worth.

My reaction to this is to turn up the radio or always to travel in a straight line, however neither of these solutions are really satisfactory. I would really like to hear if anyone has heard this before or has any idea what it might be. Is it likely to a. get better, b. stay the same, or c. set off the airbag or the horn at the most inconvenient time.

Any comments would be welcome. Thanks George.

The noise is so different to the normal knocking or grating or screaming that I was sure someone else would have experienced it and have the answer

I took the whole plastic cover of, Two halves and now I am having difficulty in getting it back on, however I shall try the spray solution tomorrow and also tap the holes for the screws that hold the bottom cover on so I can use longer screws to attach it, someone has used several incorrect self tapping screws and damaged the fixings, I was thinking of attaching some foam to the inside of the cover to deaden the noise, but I think that a silicone squirt will work. Luckily a friend of mine is a really good MIG welder, - far better than I but he has not got as good welder as I have and he did an extensive job on all the rusty bits and it passed the MOT 2 days before some twerp backed into it in our dentist;s car park and did £700 worth of damage just before I re- registered it. His insurance would not pay the cost of the repairs, only their estimate of it's value of £500, so I had to cough up 200 quid, to get the car back. This does not seem fair as it was not my wife's fault and I feel it should have paid up as they would have had third party cover at the very least. Thanks for all the helpful replies. Regards George.