Cant turn left.

[rcsavage]

i figure this will get more views then the emergency section:
I was parallel parking this morning and the steering locked up. had a friend come by while i was working and try to see what was wrong. he said it steers to the right fine and back to center(from the right) fine. but when u try to go left at all, it becomes incredibly hard and does not want to at all. i manged to get it home(made all right turns ) but i need it for the rest of the weekend. its all lefts to my job

Edit: i had to car in the air and with both front tires off the ground and with the engine running, the car turns fine. there is nothing binding up the wheels from turning. this a new rack put in about 1 month ago. possible its bad?

 

[St Louis SHO]

Rack is binding on left turn only. Remove tie rods from spindles and try again.

James

 

[shoson]

Check your sub frame bushings for broken bolts. Same symptom on my 91+ both left hand bolts were broken.

 

[rcsavage]

thanks both of you. this rack is brand new as well as the subframe bolts and bushings(ALSB) i just did a 3.2 swap and i replaced everything i could while i was in there. ill check those and report back.

 

[rcsavage]

there are no broken bolts, bushings or nuts. its tight up against the frame.

the steering rack to subframe nuts are tight.

the car is up in the air with both wheels off and both rods disconnected from the spindles. the rack can turn from lock to lock so theres nothing physically stopping the car from turning. (i turned the whole spindle assembly when i disconnected the rods.)

turn right is fine and feels smooth, but when i try to turn left, it get the smallest amount harder.(maybe im imagining it)

the way the rack works in these cars, is there a way that maybe a valve or a hose is clogged that only affects flow when i try to go left? this is what it feels like, because its not being stopped from turning, just very difficult.

TIA

 

[St Louis SHO]

The valve is built into the rack. Time to replace it again.

James

 

[rcsavage]

is this a common thing? this thing was just rebuilt. has about 1000 miles on it. did i possibly do something wrong?

 

[projectSHO89]

If the rack was a rebuilt from Cardone, I'd suspect it.

I've only gotten one rack from them (and it was for a Contour) that I was happy with in over six years. Every Taurus rack I've installed that was rebuilt by Cardone has been disappointing.

Also, it is imperative that you install an inline filter in the system along with a hose flush, otherwise the spool valves inside the rack will do the filtering for you.

Steve

 

[rcsavage]

alright guys, i had an idea. thinking that this valve might be clogged in some way, what if i was to try forcing fluid through it in the reverse direction of the flow? would this do anything or would i be wasting my time and making a mess?

 

[93rev2sev]

Your subframe is mis-aligned. Align your subframe with the wheels on the ground...or hoist.

Edit...or ramps

 

[rcsavage]

if my subframe was mis-aligned, wouldn't it bind when i turned the wheel back to left, after making a right turn. its the exact same postition as if it was centered and trying to go left, so why wouldn't it bind then? this is what leads me to believe that its not an alignment issue.

now if only my rack would sho up from shobros. does it take anyone else this long for parts? I ordered on the first and it still says pending. its always like this when i order.