After several years I have finally solved this problem. The noise is difficult to determine where it's coming from but at times sounds like something loose under the dash and at times it feels and sounds like a left front suspension issue..occurring when going over bumps. It's the intermediate steering shaft upper bolt that clamps to and grips the spline shaft on the electric power steering unit. Easy to tell if u have this problem and only a couple minutes to fix. I made a video..see below

 

Thank you for documenting!

 

I don't have this issue as of yet but it was cool to see the old school "MAZDA" logo stamped on the backside of a piece on the left side of the video next to the bolt he was referencing. Brings back the old days...

 

I just went thru the sign up procedure and became a member for the sole purpose of saying THANK YOU Jdolson!!!

I've chased this noise for well over a year. Had my mechanic look for the source and he found nothing. I had googled "CX-5 steering column rattle" and "steering column cluck" in the past and the only thing I'd ever found was "fixes" on the other side of the firewall which obviously wasn't my problem. I could never find it, but I knew it was in the cabin, not the engine compartment.

Had you not pointed out that "it only takes about 1/8 of a turn", I STILL wouldn't have looked at this coupler as the source. I went after that bolt with about a 6" ratchet and couldn't move it. As I was about to give up, I tried a 12" ratchet and was able to get 1/8 - 3/16 of a turn on it. I still walked away thinking "that couldn't have done it", but it did. Good as new.

Thanks a ton!

 

Mark G
glad it worked. Im Really happy to see its solving this nightmare for other people also. It drove me crazy so just had to make the video expecting there had to be others !. Cheers to quiet cars !! Enjoy

Jim

 

First off, a big thank you to @Jdolson for posting this information. Very nice find, and hats off to you for sharing it with others! Here's a couple of additional things for DIYers to consider, relative to this intermediate shaft bolt.

As with most fasteners, there's a torque spec specified for this in the FSM, which is a range of 28-40 NM (21-30 ft-lbs). So, given the critical nature of this particular bolt, I recommend to anyone planning on tightening it, use a torque wrench, instead of a guess Start at the bottom of the torque range and see if the bolt moves. If it doesn't move the slight amount described in the above posts, then increase to torque in stages, until it hopefully does move a bit. However, no attempt should be made to tighten the bolt past the max specified torque.

The other specification from the FSM is that this bolt is not reusable, and is supposed to be replaced with a new bolt (the same as well for the lower intermediate shaft bolt). I suspect that a mechanical engineering textbook would probably state that tightening a loose bolt is physically the same thing as reusing it, but I don't know that for certain. In any case, I'm just sending this piece of information along, and anyone in this situation can make their own decision on replacing that bolt or not. Anyone deciding to replace that bolt should put some type of temporary clamp on the housing, to prevent the shaft from moving while there's no bolt holding it together.

Once again, many thanks to @Jdolson for letting the rest of us know about this!

 

That's all great info. Thanks for that. Good to know the technical details for sure.

I'm thinking this problem is a result of 2 dissimilar metals. The output shaft of the power steering unit...and the clamp that holds the intermediate shaft to the spline. I'm guessing that the original torque is probably enough at the time.. but extreme temperature changes likely cause the tolerances to change yielding slight play. I say this because in the winter when the car is cold..the problem does not exist...until the interior of the car has warmed up fully. I'm guessing the clamp expands more than the output shaft of the power steering unit as it warms. When it's cold.. the clamp contracts and is again tight with no play. A tiny bit of play occasionally over months or years becomes more play from wear of movement. During warm summer months it was a constant in my vehicle. however.. at -35 degrees in the morning in the winter...quiet as a mouse for a very long time until interior warmed. Part of the reason it was so difficult to figure out.

 

Nice thread glad you solved your noise issue!!
Fun video. I am not big and feel like a contortionist when going under the dash but really how you got under the dash so easily... HA!

I recommend that most let Mazda, or a service shop do the quick adjustment. The steering universal is not something that should just be tightened without first examining for any signs of wear of spline damage. The exact and proper tool and should be used to torque the fastener. In most cases the use of a thread locker might also be considered. Every situation is different and should be a one-by-one evaluation and service. .

Side note of information: The steering universals have been around for decades on many platforms and nothing new with the materials used even if more some components are dissimilar.

 

Thank you for the diagnosis and fix.

My own CX-5 now has north of 100Kmi, so it's about time to go through the car and double-check a variety of things. Bolts related to steering and suspension among them. I'll add this one to the list. (Properly torqued, of course.)

 

Our noise seems to be all over the place. Driver front, but there's no consistency as to when we hear it. Hot/cold, straight lines/turning, rough terrain or not, acceleration/deceleration. We are lost and the mechanics can't find it.