On an older model I would think you should look into the stepper motors, not sure if that advice would apply on the T3.

 

My '12 does this.

I think I am going to mention it at the 30k service. It feels like perhaps cavitation in the PS pump.

 

I had 255/55/18 on my truck with no issues, swapped to 275/45/19 and i got the same feeling your explaining, i would back into my garage and under very low speed it would "pulse" or vibrate the steering wheel. I figured it was the pump pressure relief valve inside the rack/pump.

If the system has a pressure relief valve and its starting to move the wheels by pump it has to have a place to dump that pressure if you suddenly stop turning, so it opens a relief valve to release that pressure. My thought is its not working like it should, or its working harder then it has to like a wide tire on a hot road and your dry turning.

This is just a shot in the dark.

Hope you figure it out.

 

Update: The dealer has had the Treg for 3 days trying to get a concensus (with VW) on what the problem is. Right now they are lfocusing on the steering rack and pump. The problem is especially bad in reverse, like prelude48 describes. They are going to run one more test tomorrow and make a decision on how to proceed. I will probably be Treg-less for most of next week. They gave me a passat to drive in the meantime.

 

They believe it is the differential or stepper motor now. VW rep will be there on Monday for a look.

 

Steering wheel noise and wvibration, 2013 Touareg TDI.

My 2013 Touareg TDI has 14.000 miles. I start experiencing an intermittent whining noise when turning or reversing , at low speeds 5-10 miles/hr.. Also at the same time with that noise , the steering wheel is vibrating and the feeling is like a vibrating / buzzing phone in your hand. I did check the steering fluid level and it was 1 inch under the min. ,right at the tip of the fluid dipstick. I added new OEM hydraulic fluid to the Max. line.
The noise and vibration stayed the same , I am watching the fluid level.
I called the dealer and I was told that at 10K service all fluids are top of. and that is not Ok to have the fluid so low, or the noise.
I will have it check next week .

 

Take it in to the dealer ASAP.

Your car clearly has a problem that needs a fix.

 

2013 TDI Touareg - steering wheel vibrations

I barely have 3k miles on my car. I also have the same issue as sorin789456. I generally notice the noise and the vibration as I make a half left turn; however, it has happened under different situations as well. I can feel the vibration throughout my left hand. I have taken the car to the dealership twice with no solutions.

I also noticed the fan running and a funny smell on numerous occasions after I've driven the car for short periods (1/2 hour) and no more than 10 to 12 miles. I have also brought this to the attention of the dealership with no solutions.

I thought I chose a highly reliable car but have been a bit disappointed over these issues. The car doesn't come cheap having spent over $60k. I enjoy driving the car but just don't know what the long-term impacts are given the above issues.

In addition, I am quite disappointed with the service at the dealership. I now tend to agree with my husband that the service at the Lexus dealerships excels over anything I've received from VW.

Comments are appreciated with respect to the steering wheel and fan issues. Thanks

 

I barely have 3k miles on my car. I also have the same issue as sorin789456. I generally notice the noise and the vibration as I make a half left turn; however, it has happened under different situations as well. I can feel the vibration throughout my left hand. I have taken the car to the dealership twice with no solutions.

I also noticed the fan running and a funny smell on numerous occasions after I've driven the car for short periods (1/2 hour) and no more than 10 to 12 miles. I have also brought this to the attention of the dealership with no solutions.

I thought I chose a highly reliable car but have been a bit disappointed over these issues. The car doesn't come cheap having spent over $60k. I enjoy driving the car but just don't know what the long-term impacts are given the above issues.

In addition, I am quite disappointed with the service at the dealership. I now tend to agree with my husband that the service at the Lexus dealerships excels over anything I've received from VW.

Comments are appreciated with respect to the steering wheel and fan issues. Thanks

The fan running and a funny smell is your Diesel Particulate Filter doing a regeneration. It means it's doing an active regeneration due to your driving habits, instead of a passive regeneration, which is what it is supposed to do when you are on the open road/ highway /freeway/ interstate. Do not interrupt these active regenerations, your exhaust temp is at 1100 to 1200F going through the turbocharger, and will cook the oil in the turbo bearing housing, coking it up.... If your consumables (A/c and fan) are turned off, and the fan is running for the radiator when you turn the key off, immediately restart the motor, and let it idle until you hear the fan shut off, and the regeneration is finished and the turbo has cooled down.

This is one of the prices we pay to get Clean Diesel vehicles here in the USA... it requires education of the New Owner of a Clean Diesel. You can read more about it on TDIclub.com if you do a Google search with "TDI" and "DPF regeneration"

Basically, your car needs to be driven in less city traffic, and more highway traffic, where 12 to 15 miles are run at 50-75mph constant for around 15 minutes, maybe on the weekends, and regularly. You should be going through a tank of diesel every 14 days, or less, with perhaps 50% of the miles driven per tank on highway or interstate for 15 or more mile trips. Diesels do not do well driving in city conditions more than 50% of the miles accrued.

To avoid active regenerations, you may need to modify your driving habits. Aggressive and hard acceleration rates tend to load up the DPF, mild and conservative acceleration tend to build up less soot and require less active burn offs. Freeway driving with the motor fully warmed up tends to allow the exhaust temps to get to at or just over 600-650F where passive DPF regenerations occur. You may be doing freeway driving, and it's quite common to get off the freeway, and as soon as you start driving in a bit of stop and go traffic (hopefully for another 12-15 minutes) the active regeneration process starts, you interupted a passive regeneration while you were on the highway/freeway. This is because it is most fuel efficient this way for VW to program it's regenerations while at idle at a stop light.

Keep in mind, this isn't a Lexus, or a Toyota or an Acura, that is a no brainer and runs on gas. It's a highly technical and sophisticated Porsche Cayenne, wrapped in a VW badge with a less expensive set of interior bells and whistles, at a lower price point. It requires more training of it's owner/driver to understand it's quirks. And believe me, Vw /porsches are quirky.

 

it seems number of people have this problem. i have no warranty for this car so i wanna do my 10k and no major breakdown...

 

I have the same exact issue on my 2012 TDI with 18'' wheels. It usually happens when I'm not moving, or turning at low speed between 2 and 5 degrees.

It's very intermittent with me. Some days it does it 2 or 3 times a day, then it will be fine for weeks at a time. I've mentioned it to my dealer but because it is so intermittent, they can never reproduce it.

Please let us know what they find out, so I can print this post out and take it to my dealer.

 

Do a search here, under "MotoLegends" posts and you will find that is something that appears to occur on very very hot days, temps in excess of 100 to 105F, plus more from black top and thermal radiation off of black top, in city stop and go driving conditions, in low land Southern tier states. IE it is heat related.

BTW, you should never turn your steering wheel unless your wheels are in motion and the car is moving... it tears up the steering box. Prior to having power steering, this was impossible to do.

 

Perhaps not impossible, but the level of force required to do so made it obvious it wasn't any good for the steering box, and created excessive wear and tear on it and the front end knuckles and steering assy.

I learned to drive on a 1964 VW Beetle, nothing was power on that, not even the 40 HP 1200cc motor.

 

The steering pump will need to be replaced (15000 miles). Will come from Germany in 2 weeks, there was none in stock in US !!. I was told that there were no hydraulic fluid leaks, despite the fact that the fluid was 1 inch under Min. level /cold.!! Where did the fluid go ? No answer.

 

Top off your power steering fluid, and then note if the daily temperatures historically on the days this shakes exceed 95 to 100F.. It seems to be a high temperature /low oil viscosity condition underneath the hood condition. One active regen under the hood on a smoking hot day over 100F in stop and go traffic with your A/C and the radiator /A/C condensor fan on.

Let us know in a year if after having your steering pump replaced if the problem is resolved, I am betting it won't. Your dealership is sucking money out of VW of America for warranty work that will NOT solve the problem, it will be back next year with the hot weather and heavy traffic. The power steering oil viscosity gets too low/thin in the heat, and creates an oscillating flutter to the steering wheel.

Others in AZ and here in CA have had the same symptoms, same replacement, and no resolution. You'll live with the problem in hot weather. Do a search under "motolegends" here, and find his thread on the problem... there is no solution.

 

Lucky to find this forum. I have exactly the same problem on my 2006 Touareg 3.2
But my case has something special that's it got shaking and vibration after it ran over 10 km and I applied a heavy brake, first I could hear a sound like something dropping in brake and then I found I need more force than usual to press the pedal to make the car stop. Also, when I released the pedal, I can hear another strange sound from the brake. I just felt the brake seems not so easy to return his original position. However the feeling on pedal was normal.
Then everything happened just like other post in this thread, it vibrated and suffered "pulse" when turning at low speed and sharp angle.
But after 1 to 2 hours rest of the car, everything return normal. No vibration when turning, the brake return normal feeling.
In past week, I read many post here and understood this kind of problem may not be resolved. I just wonder whether my car is still safe for driving? Is it going to break down in some major parts that I need quite a lots of money to repair?
Apart from those problems, I really like Touareg and enjoy to drive it.

 

I found my car's problem not related to how long distance I run it, but occur when it went down a steep road and I applied a brake to make the car stop. After that, " I here a sound like something dropping in brake.......
The problem was occasionally accompanied with the ABS error signal. I guess are the problems related to brake sensor, wheel sensor and others related to ABS control system?

 

Well I can add myself to this issue. I had this problem when I first purchased and the dealer was unable to replicate the problem. After a while it went away. But now after the 30k mile service, it's gotten worse.

Dropped it off at the dealer and received a phone call from them this afternoon. The tech experienced it, and called VOA. They told him to find another 2012 TDI and drive it to see if it does the same thing....WTF?

Was told I should have an answer by tomorrow....

 

No need to wait till tomorrow, I got that answer for you, "could not reproduce, operates as designed". I've had same problem on my 2012, took it in several time. Nothing was done except for topping off fluid.

 

Yeah I have a feeling this won't get resolved.

At first I thought it might be a temp issue, as Niner suggested, but the vehicle was not doing this before the 30k service (it was but didn't have an incident in months), and there was no massive increase in local temps. But after service, the buzzing came back and with a vengeance.

Not only did the frequency of the vibration increase, but so did the intensity. So much so that on one occasion, during a left turn through the intersection, the buzzing was so intense it was vibrating the plastic cover on the steering column.

If they can't fix it, it might be time to trade this 50k vibrator.

 

If they can't fix it, it might be time to trade this 50k vibrator.

Didn't VW market a model in the US called the Rabbit . . . ?

 

try turning off the air conditioning while you're getting the buzzing to see if that stops it.

 

I'll update when I hear from the dealer. I'll try turning off the AC when it happens, but I'm pretty sure it was doing it with the AC off as well.

In the mean time I'm trying to cope with the Jeep Patriot they gave me as a loaner, what a horrible vehicle.

 

All 4 of my Touaregs, including the new '15, have done this, albeit *very* intermittently. I don't think it's related to the A/C. Impossible to reproduce the problem on demand. When it happened on the '15 I was making a slow right turn and I could feel the buzz through the steering wheel. I've never complained to the dealer because it happens so rarely and can't be replicated. I think it mainly happens after a long drive when everything is at full operating temperature.

 

All 4 of my Touaregs, including the new '15, have done this, albeit *very* intermittently. I don't think it's related to the A/C. Impossible to reproduce the problem on demand. When it happened on the '15 I was making a slow right turn and I could feel the buzz through the steering wheel. I've never complained to the dealer because it happens so rarely and can't be replicated. I think it mainly happens after a long drive when everything is at full operating temperature.

Mine was like that as well. But I had to take it in because it got really bad and was happening whenever the steering wheel was turned. Oh well all I can do is hope for the best.

 

Just got a call from the dealership.

The service advisor said they had an engineer from corporate who was in the area come by and take a look at it. He drove the vehicle and said that vibration is...."definitely not normal ......something is wrong."

As of right now he is with the techs and will advise them on what parts to order and replace.

They will call me tomorrow morning and give me an update on what they will be replacing and how long it will take to get parts and such.

I'll update this as soon as I find out.

 

Update:

Yesterday I picked up the vehicle. The service adviser said they replaced a line for the power steering and they were not able to reproduce the problem.

The tech wanted to replace the power steering pump first, but the engineer said replace the line first. If it fixes it, then it was the line, but if it doesn't, then they are only out the line and not the entire pump, which is understandable.

Since it went away after changing the line, they think the line might have been bad and was possibly collapsing or had an obstruction of some sort.

After driving it home, it felt great and the vibration was gone, or so I hoped. However it is back. Granted it's not nearly as consistent as it was before.

I called the service adviser to pass the news onto the engineer and tech. In the mean time I'm going to drive it this week to see if its back to being a rare intermittent problem, or if it gets worse and becomes constant the way it was when I took it in.

So while I wait to see how this "shakes out" I'm considering trading it for the new GTI.

 

Just an update.

Dealership replaced the entire steering rack. The advisor drove it, and said he still felt the buzz, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was. They are going to have an engineer come in and look at it later this month.

I drove it home and I have yet to feel it. As a matter of fact the steering feels 10 times better. Initially the advisor commented that the steering felt "heavy", but now its much easier to turn.

Hopefully this will fix it, but only time will tell.