steering column rattle
 

Hi
I have a 2001 blazer, in the uk, right hand drive from new.
it has a rattle, which at 1st I thought was coming from the suspension, Still might be, but I have noticed that where the steering column comes through the bulk head has play, and I think the bush or rubber that is meant to be there has either perished or gone. on smooth roads, it is only very slight noise, but start going over rough roads ( there are a lot in the uk ) it bangs and clunks really loudly. hence I thought it may be the suspension. I am planning on changing all the rubber bushes on the suspension. but it really seems to be coming from the steering column, as when you grab it from inside the engine bay, you can hear it knocking on the bulk head. so any ideas of where I can get info on changing any such bush and where to obtain one, will probably have to import from the usa.
any help will be very helpful.

The play in your steering column is almost certain to be wear in the bottom column bush. I replaced mine a couple years ago, not a difficult job but quite time-consuming, it involves removing the entire column from inside the car. This is the part you need. It is readily available from RockAuto.


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However, a VERY common cause of front end rattle on Blazers is the hood (bonnet) hinges. Grasp the rear of the hood at the corner & try to move it up & down. If it moves then you need to fit a couple of small aluminium washers that are only available from GM dealers. This takes the play out of the hinges. The part number is 12383460. I had to fit them to mine. Fortunately I travel to the USA quite regularly so I just popped into a local dealer, gave them the part # & picked them up the next day. Your best bet for getting them in the UK is probably to get in touch with Bauer Millet who are the only official GM USA dealer in the UK. They would certainly be able to help.


Hope you get your problems sorted.

thanks for the tip about the bonnet /hood. it was the hinge.... have sorted that and no more noise from that area, but really did sound like it came from the steering column itself, weird lol


have discovered another rattle clonking, but that is the anti-roll bar mountings which I will be doing once the parts arrive. replacing nearly all of the suspension rubbers front and back over the next few weeks. also the rear shackles. thanks again :)