I am feeling some type of rubbing or thumping on floor pan when I turn my steering wheel. It doesn't happen every time I turn the steering and sometime I can feel it when I turn the steering wheel but I am not moving or driving. I am Deaf so i cannot check by using my hearing.

Do you think it the strut? It got about 170,000 miles on it now.

Thank you
Bill

 

One more question, how do I know if my strut is bad or is there a way to test strut without depending on hearing something?

 

It's likely the upper strut mount. It houses the bearing that allows the strut to rotate when turning the wheel. They dry out and then start catching against the races, but as you continue to turn the wheel, the pressure builds against the coil spring until it lets loose, causing a thumping/vibration to be heard/felt through the body and the coil spring.

There is also an issue with certain models of caravans (can't remember the exact years) where the upper strut mount will start wearing around the stud for the shock tower and cause it to "egg hole" as I call it - it becomes oval shaped. As a result, the shock starts to move freely inside the upper strut mount, causing noise and vibration as well. You can verify this problem by removing the cowl and inspecting the strut mount from above.

General signs of wear include cracks in the base of the springs and leaking from the shock. By "leak" I mean there's fresh oil clearly leaking out - not to be confused with "seeping" which is where a little bit of oil is visible but it's usually coated by dust and dirt and has an "aged" appearance. Seeping is normal - leaking is not.

You can get replacement strut mounts, but you'll need some way of keeping the coil springs compressed to change them. My recommendation is to just by new strut assemblies - they'll be much faster and easier to install. If the original struts are on it, they've more than served their purpose.

 

Any update, TechBill? at 170K, I'd say the van is in need of strut replacement. The van would probably feel a lot newer, by handling better, if you replaced the struts and strut mount/bearings.