all my other jeep products that had this problem was related to slack in the box . the adjustment on the top is a centering adjustment and will actually tighten the wheel at stright ahead rest but will not take out the slack you are feeling .An old chiltons manual had a way to adjust the preload on the pitman shaft bearings and that is where the clunk is coming from. Best way to tell...have someone wiggle wheel back and forth while you are underneath tracking down the clunk. More than likely you will here it on the pitman arm and it will radiate throughout the system but you will notice that none of the joints have any slack and you can put your hand on the steering box or pitman arm and feel it. do this with engine off and you really notice it altho it will require more effort......but mine at 6500 does NOT have the clunk yet...so it is my 2 cents.

 

Had the jeep with the dealer yesterday and had them check the clunking out
Write-up:

“Can hear or feel clunk through steering wheel, noticeable when vehicle is warm, turn one way then reverse to the other clunk happens when you reverse direction
Checked and verified clunk, checked steering an suspension nothing is noticeably loose at this time
Checked another vehicle on the lot, seems the same
Advised customer to drive if concern gets worse can return for further diagnoses.”

I added:

If concern gets worse or continues return for further diagnoses.

They believe they had narrowed the cause to the steering shaft, or the steering box. They would not replace both as they felt they would take heat from DC. BS, I know they could do this if they had too. I can be persuasive, so I will be following up with the service manager and factory rep.

The service writer in our town was very good. I had him ride with me as I suspected they were not noticing the correct clunking. After about 30 min. the clunking returned and he admitted that this was not certain that this was the clunking the tech had noticed. We popped the hood and messed around with the steering shaft etc. I believe the noise to be coming from the splinned section of the shaft. It gets so hot there with the manifold, could be expanding the metals at different rates?

Bottom line. I will continue to follow up with the service manager and let you know what we determine. In our state we have a lemon law, three tries at a fix and then she is a lemon. We will have to see what happens over the next couple of months. I will tell you that is I am at Drummond Island and the gear box or steering shaft goes, my service department will be my first call.

 

Covert Ops,

Thanks for posting your findings. I'm having other problems right now, so this clunking is on the back burner for right now.

My drivers side exhaust manifold is leaking somewhere, but I, and the dealer can't pinpoint where it's coming from. They told me the same thing - drive it until it gets worse. I'm more pissed than I can write! I will pull the damn thing apart myself! I already ordered the gasket. At least it was only 6 bucks, so I don't feel too bad, except for the time I will be spending doing the repair myself. I don't like anyone wrenching on my Jeep except myself anyway.

Husky~

 

huskynox...did you check to see if the EGR valve could be your culprit, I know there was at least one case of that being the culprit for the exhaust leak and it was a bear to diagnose trying to pinpoint where the sound came from. Just an idea.
Jim

 

jameswharton,
Yes, the dealer checked the EGR valve. The EGR is on the passenger side rear cylinder head. This noise is definately coming form the drivers side manifold area. I'm going to pull the manifold this weekend. I did learn when ordering the manifold gasket that the manifold to collector joint is mechanical, there is NO gasket. Now I'm thinking this could be the culprit. Maybe a bad machining or casting?

Huskynox~

 

That is an interesting bit of information. The annoying squeak some of us with manual transmissions are getting when we shift could be that mechanical exhaust pipe to manifold joint squeaking when torqued. Good luck on the manifold gasket change, looks to be fairly accessible.
Jim

 

Pulling the manifold was simple, but I found no evidence of leaking between the cylinder head and/or the collector mechanical joint. It only took a couple of hours to do the whole job. Now I'm thinking it's a broken weld somewhere? It's just so hard to pinpoint because it only makes the noise under load.

 

Mine goes in this Saturday for the same thing...you stated the exact thing I told the service manager. The manifold is way to close to the knuckle on the splined shaft and I'm 110% sure that is the culprit. Now getting the tech to go with this should be interesting. I was thinking of rigging up a heat shield between the manifold and the shaft to see if the theory stands true.

 

Stopped by the dealer on my way home from work today to see if they would check out the pop/clunk in the steering wheel. They found the culprit...there is a sort of immediate shaft under the dash. The shaft has a coupler that has a rubber coating with two pins in it. The service manager said the pins are not tight in the coupler as they should be. He saw quite a bit of play in it. He can't explain why it only does it when it's heated up. In short they are ordering a new intermediate shaft for the steering column.

 

How many miles on your car (I don't like kittens). LOL Your problem sounds more like a loose or worn part than the noise others are talking about. You should go through the list and check each item.