Knock heard from front side passenger side.

whats up all gt and gtp grand prix owners. Im fairly new to this site but have gotten alot of help after being here for only a week, this site is awesome, i wish i found it sooner. In anycase I have had quite a few problems with my car over the past few months. but recently i have heard a knock noise coming from the front right side of my car when i make a left or a right turn.
In september i had my rack and pinion and tire rods and wheel bearings replaced for a total of 1550.00. not to complain since i love my car im just wondering what this knocking is and does it sound like a trans-axle tranny related issue. any help or advice on this would be really appreciated. thanks.
my car has 123k. 160 degree thermostat. pcm by dhp. thrasher cold air intake, with k&n cone airfilter.

Can you better describe the knock sound and conditions present. Could be a lot of things other than what you have replaced to date. Upper strut mounts? Hard to say.

The last person that had a knocking sound when turning left or right went through a lot of B.S. and things that did not fix her problem to include tranny. Her problem turrned out to be a bad starter bendix that was moving in a situation when she was turning and was the cause of the knock. I wouldn't want to see you go through what she went through.

hey bnaylor3400, well the knock noise that im hearing is coming from the left side (driver side) when steering from left to right, or right to left. I can only describe it as when I turn or im steering, it sounds like something is banging into place and i dont know if it is rack and pinion related, what ever the problem is i just wanna get it fixed, Im hoping that its not tranny or trans axle but ill get it fixed if need be.

Your title says you hear the knock on the passenger side and your last post says you hear it on the driver's side? Ummm...

Anyway, does the knock occur more than once when you turn? If so, at what frequency does it seem to knock? Have you check the ball joints or strut mounts?

I havent checked the ball joints or the strut mounts, i had new struts installed in september along with the other work at the top. It doesnt sound like to me that its coming from anywhere near the struts it sounds like its coming from underneath the front drivers side, i made a mistake on the title sorry about that.
its only one knock sound that it makes when i turn sometimes. its not all the time when i steer but yesterday i was making a broken k turn and i heard it again when i was backing up and steering towards the right.

Does it take more effort to turn than usual when you hear the noise? Can you feel it in your steering wheel? These would indicate a rack related issue. I'm still shaking my head over the lady that Bob mentioned. She went through all kinds of stuff to find out the starter drive was broken allowing the drive to slide into the flywheel when she turned making a tick. Craziest thing I've heard in a while.

it doesnt take more effort to steer at all even when i hear this noise, it steers perfectly smooth like it has been steering and i dont feel anything within the steering wheel, i would hope its not that just from all the work done on the rack and pinion. i mean i dont want anymore expensive problems though either ya know, hahaha.

Does it take more effort to turn than usual when you hear the noise? Can you feel it in your steering wheel? These would indicate a rack related issue. I'm still shaking my head over the lady that Bob mentioned. She went through all kinds of stuff to find out the starter drive was broken allowing the drive to slide into the flywheel when she turned making a tick. Craziest thing I've heard in a while.

Yeah I remember that one. The bad part is she informed us that the noise was on the right front end when turning left or right. However, the actual noise was found to be caused by the starter bendix giving out which is located on the driver's (left) side of the car. Mind blower. :dunno:

the wierdest part about all this is i can hear it coming from the left undercarry of the car when im turning as i have finished a turn. im hoping that im not having a persistant rack & pinion steering problem and with all the money that i have laid out this past year alone i paid the car off twice. If worse comes to worse does this sound like a transaxle problem if its not the starter bendix? and how much would that cost?

the wierdest part about all this is i can hear it coming from the left undercarry of the car when im turning as i have finished a turn. im hoping that im not having a persistant rack & pinion steering problem and with all the money that i have laid out this past year alone i paid the car off twice. If worse comes to worse does this sound like a transaxle problem if its not the starter bendix? and how much would that cost?

Have you tried jacking the complete front end up (safely) and then test the steering. If the rack is that bad it may show up under no load or weight.

I'd hold off as to whether it is a transaxle problem at this point.

hey bob, nah i havent tried that but i will and get back to you. the whole rack and pinion system from the steering wheel on down to the wheels was repaired though including the wheel bearings on the right side passenger side. could it be the wheel bearings on the left side that werent replaced maybe causing this. Im gonna try what you said.

hey bob, nah i havent tried that but i will and get back to you. the whole rack and pinion system from the steering wheel on down to the wheels was repaired though including the wheel bearings on the right side passenger side. could it be the wheel bearings on the left side that werent replaced maybe causing this. Im gonna try what you said.

Why was the rack repaired the first time around? Was it repaired or replaced in its entirety?

the whole rack and pinion was replaced. my mechanic said it was shot along with the inner, outter tire rods, wheel bearings on the right passenger side, and also i had him replace the struts if he was going to do all that work.
well i jacked up the car i didnt see anything that i would recognize as being a problem or anything. i dont know.

the whole rack and pinion was replaced. my mechanic said it was shot along with the inner, outter tire rods, wheel bearings on the right passenger side, and also i had him replace the struts if he was going to do all that work.
well i jacked up the car i didnt see anything that i would recognize as being a problem or anything. i dont know.

When this kncoking sounds occurs are you getting any feedback through the steering? Do you feel it?

I asked that earilier Bob, and he said no, that the steering is smooth and he doesn't feel it in the steering wheel. I think we have another head scratcher here.

I asked that earilier Bob, and he said no, that the steering is smooth and he doesn't feel it in the steering wheel. I think we have another head scratcher here.

Yes, I agree Rich. Thats why I am reluctant to mentioning wheel bearings or agreeing with one of his posts about wheel bearings, etc.

hey bob and rich. thank you guys for you help and advice on this whole thing. well i brought my car to different mechanic one of my friends at work introduced me to him. so i explain everything to this guy the P0441 code and what my old mechanic did and everything from the rack to everything i can think of. In anycase long story short this guy put me at ease. he explained the noise being the rack and pinion might be loose and told me to bring it back to the guy that replaced it and have him tighten it up. so that was a good thing. i told him about the evap solenoid and he pointed it out and i started laughing because he says to me "if you can change the spark plugs on this car and ignition wires then this should be a walk in the park", i started laughing and i looked and took the little vacuum line off and the rubber hose on the end of that was cracked so i replaced that. the soleniod itself looked fine i mean there was air coming out of it and all, so long story short i think i found a good mechanic and my grand prix ( my baby ) seems to be running fine!!! :-). today was a good day.

That's great that it's running better, but if you don't feel anything in the steering wheel when you hear the noise, it's doubtful that it's the rack.

Checking the bolts on the rack n pinion is a good idea. I can related to that. Never take mechanics for granted. I had a rack on a GM car (my son's Alero) loose after replacement under warranty. This was a Mr. GoodWrench dealership. My son complained something wasn't right after the work was done. So I jacked it up and found every bolt loose that holds the rack to the subframe. Even the nuts that secure the outer tie rod ends were loose. The wheel nuts weren't even tight or torqued to 100 ft-lbs. Pissed me off but I didn't lose any sleep over it. Never took it back there again.

wow thats crazy, i think this mechanic is probably gonna be my go to guy in the event i cant change or fix my self. what was really cool was dude took my car around the block popped the hood and looked at the engine for 20 mins and didnt charge me anything!!! that was awesome. the only thing is that he thinks he hears a noise coming from the harmonic balance, i thought it was coming from the L67 he told me to take the supercharger belt off and start the car to see if that noise was still there.

wow thats crazy, i think this mechanic is probably gonna be my go to guy in the event i cant change or fix my self. what was really cool was dude took my car around the block popped the hood and looked at the engine for 20 mins and didnt charge me anything!!! that was awesome. the only thing is that he thinks he hears a noise coming from the harmonic balance, i thought it was coming from the L67 he told me to take the supercharger belt off and start the car to see if that noise was still there.

On the SC thats a good suggestion. Just remove the belt and fire her up.