Hey guys, so today I failed MOT because of steering slack/knocks, I replaced the steering ends and after that I failed the MOT.
So that leaves me with the rack and steering shaft. the play is almost nothing at the wheels, but when you play with the wheel left to right you feel knocks.

A friend suggested to tighten the lug which sits in the steering rack. I never did this kind of thing and to be honest never encountered a failed electric steering.

Maybe some of you would be kind to suggest of what should I do with this? maybe there's a common fix, or I need to pull out the rack and send it to refurb (I live in a country where specialized people are rare, everyone's thinking they are the best but literally don't have a clue of what they are doing so I try avoiding 'specialized people' here as of fire. This is Israel)

Thank you very much

Update: (I don't know how to edit the post... very sorry for that)
I uploaded a YouTube video as the car didn't pass the MOT for 2 reasons.
1-play in the steernig rack
2-play in the upper strut mounts

I uploaded a YouTube video which I'll highly appreciate if someone could give a look and so maybe help me with my issue

https://youtu.be/uL1mM4Ss19s

and by the way my car is stuck now.. have no clutch (doesn't disengage) replaced the master pump few days ago and the secondary didn't fit. after I played with this video today the car lost clutch. tried pumping and bleeding it a lot and nothing helped.. stuck now with 3 issues

edit 2:
I found out that I do not have this cup in the pedal (when I was trying to tighten the steering shaft nuts I found a some weird white broken plastic on the floor matt) of the clutch:

https://fiat.7zap.com/en/fpun/1n/18...com/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=4]#4 [/url]
#4 - 46554495

and I guess that's why clutch doesn't go all through the way..
damn it parts will arrive maybe in a month now

Hello guys I have an update to make.
The gap (play I had in the suspension) was because of my defected suspension plates which connect the strut mount to the frame (I ruined them at experiments lmao so I just glued some thick rubber under them for the meantime). and the nut was too thick aswell and created larger gap than the plate could handle so there was a huge play. So I brought proper lower profile nuts.

The steering play was the steering rack at fault, I tightened a nut that connected the steering shaft (from the driver's steering wheel) to the rack for the meantime until I get my hands on a rack which I could refurbish.

Passed the MOT

Hey, I too have that play in the steering wheel. I still haven't discovered what causes it nor how to fix it. Luckily my country's MOT doesn't respect that

When my HGT lost the clutch it turned out to be the pressure plate with broken spring fingers. I cant remember if it had hydraulic actuation but the pedal will drop the the floor if there is any leak as the return stroke pulls air past the master cylinder seals. You can diagnose that by bleeding the hydraulics.

On the Panda 100HP I replaced the inner track arms (seized solid rod end lock nuts). The hardest job was removing the rubber gaiter clips. It needed a tool like this to turn the inner ball joints.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universa...124017?hash=item41d073cbf1:g:0RoAAOSwLv5Zyk6x

If the problem is in the actual rack/pinion you will feel the clunk at the steering wheel. They wear more in the mid range, so if the cluck goes away at 3/4 lock it's likely to be the rack.

ddrexj said:

Hey, I too have that play in the steering wheel. I still haven't discovered what causes it nor how to fix it. Luckily my country's MOT doesn't respect that

Click to expand...

I fixed the play by tightening the nut on the steering rack (the opposite side where the steering shaft goes in from the steering wheel). There is a 17mm nut which was loose due to wear in the steering rack. I'm on the look for one now or a rebuild kit until next mot (car 20 years of age has mot every 6 months)

DaveMcT said:

When my HGT lost the clutch it turned out to be the pressure plate with broken spring fingers. I cant remember if it had hydraulic actuation but the pedal will drop the the floor if there is any leak as the return stroke pulls air past the master cylinder seals. You can diagnose that by bleeding the hydraulics.

On the Panda 100HP I replaced the inner track arms (seized solid rod end lock nuts). The hardest job was removing the rubber gaiter clips. It needed a tool like this to turn the inner ball joints.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universa...124017?hash=item41d073cbf1:g:0RoAAOSwLv5Zyk6x

If the problem is in the actual rack/pinion you will feel the clunk at the steering wheel. They wear more in the mid range, so if the cluck goes away at 3/4 lock it's likely to be the rack.

Click to expand...

yup the inner track rod replacement could be a real pain of job.


About the clutch drop I had this problem before (where the pedal went to the floor) it was a hydraulic leak in the master cylinder which I replaced. Now I have the weirdest thing: If I raise the car on the engine side and put it back down after a bit of time I start it up press the clutch and can't put it into gear while the engine is on (doesn't matter what gear) BUT! when I start the car when I'm already in gear and start driving, the problem solves and goes smoothly until the next time I raise the car.
Well not so smoothly as when I hit the rev limiter when blasting thru (haha) It's hard to put into the next gear until the engine rev matches the road speed better.
I ordered a new slave cylinder as it makes noise and doesn't look the part. And I'll see if it will help in any way.

And the thing you said about the diagnosis of the steering knock is very interesting but I didn't understand what you mean when you go 3/4 until lock? like you mean 1 and a half turns?
I had knocks/play when I played with the steering wheel from side to side on the MOT