The steering on my new 91+ has......issues. When I turn left, it kinda hesitates, clunks, then jumps over to the left, leaving the wheel off center to the left when turning back straight. It does it when turning right which then leaves the wheel off center to the right. The clunk can be felt through the steering wheel and column itself. And it feels vague, with a lot of pushback. When I got the car the PS fluid smelled rotten and felt gritty. It was almost empty and started growling so I threw some regular PS fluid from a gas station (i was traveling) in there and it quoted down and somewhat helped the feel. I'm pretty sure the tierod Sens are busted (i have new ones sitting here) and the rack is leaking. What else should I look at? Could the shaft going down have something wrong?
Vague steering
- Thread starter blk\blk90
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Flush the system then go from there. If the rack is leaking then you'll be replacing that soon. Good luck.
I'd hold off on the tierods until you verify if it needs a rack or not. A new rack will come with tierods already installed in most cases.
PaulTAutoX
SHO Member
Wow, sounds exactly like what happened on my 92. Had just had a bunch of work done at my mechanic's shop, which included the front tension strut bushings being replaced. But he had left out one of the washers that captures the rear bushing on re-assembly so a hard turn on the wheel would result in pulling the rod through (sorry, it's been fifteen years, don't have the full mental image in place anymore). A very slow drive back through town to his shop and a very embarrassed diagnosis/fix later, all was good. I will see if I can upload a snapshot of the relevant bushing/washer. View is from under the front right corner, looking back at the right front wheel, arrow shows what got left out that time.
FWIW check the threads here but I think you want to use Ford ATF type F in the PS system! And get it all flushed out, then burped (there is no doubt a procedure online here about this process). Good luck.
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DJSHO91
SHO Member
I had some similar issues with my 91. The rack was leaking, so I replaced the rack with one from AutoZone. I had to order it, but it came with a lifetime warranty. The steering is back to being taut and responsive!
I got the car up on the lift to replace the motor mounts and saw p/s everywhere. Bad enough it was dripping off both sides of the subframe. Snapped a few pics that may be of relevance.
And I cant load any pics. Awesome. It seems like when I take pics on my phone it does that. Weird.
So up by where the p/s lines are is covered in fluid. The steering box(?) Doesnt look to be leaking, so could it be the high pressure lines fittings? And the strut rod bushings are completely shot. The front one on the pass side is in pieces. The others are dry rotted. The subframe bushings look.... funny. Like there's a gap in them between the bottom plate and bushing part. And every bushing under there is done. EVERYTHING is shot. Front and rear. And the pass side abs tone ring is ground down on the front like a rock got stuck in there. That and the heavily glazed rotor and awful looking pads are confidence inspiring. I've got my work cut out for me.
And I cant load any pics. Awesome. It seems like when I take pics on my phone it does that. Weird.
So up by where the p/s lines are is covered in fluid. The steering box(?) Doesnt look to be leaking, so could it be the high pressure lines fittings? And the strut rod bushings are completely shot. The front one on the pass side is in pieces. The others are dry rotted. The subframe bushings look.... funny. Like there's a gap in them between the bottom plate and bushing part. And every bushing under there is done. EVERYTHING is shot. Front and rear. And the pass side abs tone ring is ground down on the front like a rock got stuck in there. That and the heavily glazed rotor and awful looking pads are confidence inspiring. I've got my work cut out for me.
luigisho
SHO Member
You have access to a compressor and air impact tools? Makes suspension work go way faster. Even my electric impact was really helpful. Doing it all by hand gets old. Especially tension strut rods, changing out struts from springs and about everything under there.
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