I have been experiencing some minor steering "clunk" when the car is cold. Seems to clunk less or not at all once the car is warm. Any ideas? Thanks!

how "cold" is "cold" where you are at?

I just got back from florida and it was 60 degrees at the coolest there, here in Iowa its below 0 almost every night for the last few weeks

It's about 30-40 degrees where I'm at, but I am starting to feel temperature has nothing to do with it. I felt the knock when the wheel is tilted in "driving" position, and the knock was completely gone with the wheel tilted all the way up.

I'd check to be sure there isn't any excess play in the full length of steering linkage and to make sure that it's all lubricated properly especially at the first knuckle/joint where the steering column and the rack tie together.

I had the dealer look at it 2 weeks ago and they found some loose bolts in the rack. Seemed better when I drove it home, now it seems the clunk/knock is back.

Like I said, it does it more when the wheel is tilted in the middle (less when tilted all the way up or all the way down). When I have the car off, I can hear/feel the clunk when I turn the wheel to the right slightly but I don't feel any skips while turning the wheel and hearing the clunk.

--UPDATE-- I think the issue is somewhere between the firewall and the coupler (seems like the sound is right by the firewall). I jiggled the steering u-joint coupler under the hood and was able to replicate the knock when jiggled up and down (did not clunk left to right, and I was able to see the steering wheel turn at the same time as I slightly rotated the shaft).

One more thing I noticed....there is some steering play when the car is cold (the play goes away when warm). What could that mean?

I hope it isn't the rack since the car only has just over 25000 miles and I don't do any aggressive cornering or oversteering which would make it necessary for me to constantly steer the wheel back and forth.

Well, it still happens when cold, goes away after the engine was running for at least 5 minutes. When cold, the clunk will happen no matter the position of the wheel.

Last time I had the dealer look at it, they said they don't see anything wrong with it. Can I trust them?