Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Steering Wheel Vibration

Good Morning,

I'm fairly new to Morgan ownership and thoroughly enjoying it so far. I'm the current custodian of a 2000 4/4 4 seater with a Zetec. Something that I can't quite get to the bottom of is an irritating vibration through the steering wheel at idle. It seems to go away above 1100 RPM and the car idles at about 900. The easy thing might be to up the idle but that feels like cheating !

Oddly, at least to my amateur mind, is that there doesn't seem to any vibration through the steering column in the engine bay but once you get to the wheel it's fairly rattly.

I wondered if anyone more expert may have any thoughts before I go delving behind the dash.

Many Thanks,

Marc

Marc

Check the clearance where the column goes through the bulkhead. Sometimes they are badly aligned and even with a slight contact, any vibration will amplify up the column.

My 2016 had contact and that presented as a knock more than a vibration. There's a flat on the column which allows access for a small file if that's the problem.

If it is an aftermarket steering wheel such as a Moto-Lita check that all the small screws which attach the wheel to the boss are tight.

Cause & effect.
If you manage to stop the steering wheel rattling, it may not necessarily have addressed the root of the problem.
How does the engine sound when idling at 900rpm. Is it a bit lumpy, rocking a bit on the mountings, etc. Poor idling can be down to a myriad of things: fuelling, induction air leaks, ignition, etc.
when was it last serviced…plugs, filters, etc?

Hello,

Thanks everyone for the pointers.

I'm going to have a look tomorrow at where the column passes through the bulkhead and see if there is anything to note there. A couple of other little things I've noticed are that the right hand engine mount looks more worn / compressed than the left. Also I got caught out in the bad weather for a couple of nights a few weeks ago, my fault that the car wasn't either inside or covered. Had a bit of a misfire afterwards and I think some rainwater had made its way onto the spark plug for cylinder 1. That's has cleared with drying but I'll have a look at the state of the plugs and HT leads whilst I'm there.

Last serviced in October, with the plugs last replaced in September 2021 when an ECU fault was found and fixed (before my ownership so just going from the history file).

Thanks,

Marc