Steering column hitting dump pipe
 

Hi all,

I noticed last weekend that when turning left and being on the power pedal, I would get a grinding noise and vibration through the steering wheel. As this is not normal, I decided to get it checked out.

Melville Subaru has said that my dump pipe from the turbo is clashing with the steering column. When turning left the engine will shift which causes the steering column to touch the dump pipe. There was a very small shiny area on the joint of the steering column. Supposedly there have been a few people in with the same problem in the last couple of weeks.

Ok so what I want to know is how to fix this problem, without of course returning to the stock dump pipe.

Pertinent info:
- Car is MY05 WRX.
- Exhaust is X-force turbo back from Speedworks.
- Exhaust has been on the car for quite a few months now without this problem occuring.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

John

wouldn't it be easier just get speedworks to check it out? :confused:

remove steering column?

(im probably not helping, am i?)

-Luke

Man I have this same problem

Like a rattle when doing a hard left sorta? Vibration in the wheel.. Weird to explain

If you find out, let me know :-)

Get a Mallet and make an indent in the dump pipe. This will only need to be minimal and wont affect the performance of your car whatsoever. I had the same problem dont be scared. Fixed the problem forever.

spose short of getting the wok to look at it again, you could wrap your dump pipe in header wrap, and this would soften the blow, plus help you spool a little quicker

[QUOTE=BJ WA]Get a Mallet and make an indent in the dump pipe. This will only need to be minimal and wont affect the performance of your car whatsoever. I had the same problem dont be scared. Fixed the problem forever.[/QUOTE]
Take it back to speedworks and get them to do it!

Seen this on a few cars here in the shop with certain types of aftermarket dump pipes. In extreme cases it can be quite dangerous and actually cause the steering column to lock in place against the dump pipe - i.e. you are left without the ability to straighten your steering wheel!!! :eek:

You'll notice some dump pipes (like RMS ones ;) ) are designed so that the wastegate splitter section feeds back into the dump pipe quite early to avoid fouling aginst the steering colomn. Aside from changing your actual dump pipe it would be worth getting it modified to be well out of the way of the steering column.

Cheers
Alex - RMS

[QUOTE=Jaron]Take it back to speedworks and get them to do it![/QUOTE]

or get it done right at RMS!

[QUOTE=1C3]remove steering column?

(im probably not helping, am i?)

-Luke[/QUOTE]

lol!! :D :D :D

can i ask what size the pipe is, as i have a 3" x-force and dont have problems?