steering "knock" sound while parked & not running

[tedtaylor]

Help! Is this normal? with car parked, not running, when i turn the steering wheel left and right less than a 1/4 turn (just enough to put pressure on the rack) i get a "knock" or "klunk" sound coming from the steering rack? of course the key is on to unlock the steering lock while doing this. When car is running and parked, i can turn wheel back and forth the 1/4 turn without hearing anything....it's all tight, no looseness and no knocking sounds. so my question is, is this normal or is there an area of wear or looseness that needs to be found? or is it the makeup of the steering rack itself, that without power fluids pumping though and energizing the system, that the parts do "klunk" or "knock" appropriately??? sorry if i sound a bit crazy here. We had it up on a lift and could NOT replicate the knock sound (in other words, the weight of the car needs to be on the wheels). Car is in excellent overall condition with one prior owner and only 37K miles. any help or suggestions or shared experience much appreciated.
thanks

[Brit-Car-Nut]

The rack is bolted directly to the chassis, so I doubt there is motion there, but worth checking the two big bolts at the rack. The rack assembly turns the wheels via the rack through tie rods and tie rod ends (track rod and track rod ends) Each tie rod is connected to the rack with a ball joint. There is a small amount of play allowed in this ball joint and would never make any noise if it was in tolerance but if out of tolerance, then the rack can move without the tie rod moving so you can create a knock when you go back the other way and slam into the tie rod. The tie rod ends are also ball type connections and if they have wear, then there can be a knock as you turn through the slop and go from contact to contact.

Get someone to put it up on a raisable ramp instead of a lift and while the wheels are on the "ground", duplicate the issue while someone is under the car watching for movement somewhere in the steering system.

There is also a U-Joint in the steering column at the top of the rack and it too can develop slop which will cause a knock.

[Simon_P]

Mine does that too!

It is unnoticeable while driving, but when sat in my car, pondering all of the things that need doing it really gets me !