Hi - I have an intermittent annoying steering judder / hammering noise when going over 55 and tripping the power steering assistance shift. I have replaced the servotronic valve and the hammering got worse (presumably from a better functioning valve) - I've also just tried a replacement BCM (granted it was a ebay special) and the problem persists. Steering is nice and light below 55 and I can feel it firm up at speed. But then the hammering noise starts and persists until almost stopped. Slowing down from say 70 it gets louder around 50 - sometime with steering shake. Braking causes some fairly violent steering shake. It's not every time and no fault codes during or after it happens ... any ideas please?

Regards

Corrie

Sounds almost like the steering pump pressure relief valve is doing something odd.
However, if it's a steering pump issue it should happen at similar engine speeds in lower gears too.
Have you tried using Sport Mode & going through the gears manually ?
Does it happen at lower speeds in lower gears or only at a single specific road speed ? Paul,
2001 Discovery 2 TD5, 211,000 miles & climbing
2006 FFRR TDV8 Vogue 145,000 miles & climbing
Member of Midland (Land) Rover Owners Club, www.mroc.co.uk

Only ever starts playing up when going over 55. Keep the car below that and it’s perfect.

It certainly won't be Servotronic valve related. The servotronic adds max additional assistance at zero speed & then progressively reduces that extra assistance as the speed increases. From memory when testing mine, it's still doing something - although minor - at 70 mph.

55 mph is just over the speed the auto gearbox should lock up (it's probably actual lock-up speed if slightly larger tyres are fitted). Could it be gearbox related ?
What actually happens at the steering wheel when the problem starts ? Paul,
2001 Discovery 2 TD5, 211,000 miles & climbing
2006 FFRR TDV8 Vogue 145,000 miles & climbing
Member of Midland (Land) Rover Owners Club, www.mroc.co.uk

Hi. At 70 you can just hear a pulsing / hammering noise. As you slow down to around 50 you get steering shake. Braking to a halt you get violent shake and you can feel it through the pedal too. When the problem doesn’t show then all is fine. It’s a td6 03 with 110k - it does tend to hover around 3k whilst accelerating so might be flakey torque converter but I wouldn’t expect the steering shake.

Thanks

I had a very similar problem a few months back and the problem was the bolt on the front offside lower control arm was loose (this was after it had been into a local garage to replace the driveshaft boot - they hadn't tightened the bolt up properly - it was just hand tight).

If the bolts are all at the correct torque, check the bushes and balljoints on the arms are not worn.

Hope that helps.

Front end has all just been done and the problem is intermittent so I think everything should still be tight - I will check though.

I think my next step is to drop it into sport mode when the noise starts as I've just read this should drop the lockup clutch (Pawl has got me thinking). The noise doesn't start straight away - I can be doing 70 just fine then it would start. Sometimes it will go away by itself too.

I might also try disconnecting the servotronic valve completely (as long as the steering is still usable with limited assistance) to rule that out.

Then drive it off a cliff

Thanks all

I drove mine with the servotronic disconnected for weeks when trying to identify my steering problems.
Assuming your PAS pump output is OK, steering effort while stationary / slow will increase noticeably (at an estimate, say 20%), but still be manageable. Above 20 mph, the steering effort will only be small amount heavier - perfectly OK. Paul,
2001 Discovery 2 TD5, 211,000 miles & climbing
2006 FFRR TDV8 Vogue 145,000 miles & climbing
Member of Midland (Land) Rover Owners Club, www.mroc.co.uk

I had a very similar issue with a judder at 55mph;. Mine is a 2011 L322 4.4 TDV8 - turned out to be the front diff. Replaced it and judder gone. I still have heavy steering above 5mph...replaced steering rack and pump....still the same...can’t find my BCM as it’s not under the passenger seat on my car.... it’s on the list to fix

This ended up being a combination of things. The servotronic fixed the 55mph issue and binding rear caliper fixing the rest - hurrah!

Corrie