I have a UK 2014 Fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost Titanium X with an annoying steering issue:

 

1. Does this car have PAS, If so I guess it is electric as there is no PAS fluid reservoir under the bonnet.

 

2. I the warm weather it has developed and annoying rubbing noise as you turn the wheel. I believe that this is a common problem with these cars. Jacking the car up it sounds as if it is emanating from the rack itself, a sort of groan as you go lock to lock and in my experience typical of a dry nylon/rubber joint or bush. It only happens when you are actually turning the steering wheel which eliminates most of the suspension components. I have WD40 the column bush and UJ at the base of the pedals, given a squirt to the steering knuckles and still the noise persists.

 

Any comments guys. I am sure I cannot be the only one who has experienced this issue.

 

Thanks in anticipation.

 

 A1. Yes the car has EPAS as standard.

A2. You need to use a spray white lithium grease.

Thank you Unofix. Where would be a good place to spray the White Lithium Grease to stop this noise?

To be honest different cars have the problems in different places, so if it moves spray it !!!

The EPAS motors have been known to be a source of 'groans' on a few models over the years. When a vehicle is under warranty the normal coarse of action is for the garage to replace the steering column and EPAS assembly, but as you might imagine that is an expensive option. Many have reported that they have found ways of getting the lithium grease in to the steering column which has apparently stopped the noise.  

I am now suspecting suspension turret bearings as there are now some ominus knocks coming from that area. I have replaced suspension arm and anti roll bar links not so long ago so those areas are eliminated. Time to whip the struts off and investigate. Any advise as to removing them, or is it easy peasy?

Removing full struts is easy.  Compressing the springs to remove the top mounts is potentially perilous.

Well, I had an MOT on the vehicle yesterday and asked about the clunking. I was advised that the offside lower anti roll bar ball joint was shot, which would attribute the clunking noise. Sure enough the ball joint was absolutely knackered and the nearside was not much better either. Both were the ball joints attached to the anti roll bar and not the strut incidentally.

These were Borg and Beck items that had lasted the grand sum of 6400 miles over less than a year, so no I do not recommend these if you have to replace your own anti roll bar links. Replaced them with NK aluminium items this time, clunk gone and steering quiet lock to lock, lets see how they perform in the long run.

Regarding strut top bearings, when these get shot they normally identify themselves by stiffer steering  and grauching noises easily identified at the top of the strut, which was not the case here.