Whats wrong with my steering system??

[SHO SPD]

well now when I turn the wheel, and hold it, it will kick back... and if I do just hold it there, it will be kicking back and forth... I am thinking rack, and pinion.. how close am I?

 

[snowwind1990]

That would best be answered by Scott Patterson who just did the R and P replacement.........I have not had the pleasure yet. I would offer guesses if he says it is not the R and P. We could poll the list for experience and you will probably find the suspension ??'s vary from car to car depending on what has already worn..let's see what Scott has to say first. Watch. He will answer.
Marlene

 

[Shoboy3]

My '93 SHO does the same exact thing you describe, and so did my '93 GL. I believe it is suspension related. The GL had 167,000 miles and everything was original (it was in need of ball joints, and tie rod ends), the SHO has 112,000 and I am fairly sure it is all original, although it was aligned before I got it (4-01)!

 

[SHO SPD]

I wonder if inner tie rod ends would be the cause, I think those are bad on mine.. the outers are brand new as of yesterday, and Thursday!

 

[Shoboy3]

Well, let me tell you what my mechanic said: when the steering wheel snaps (jerks) back it is usually the belt slipping. It is worth looking into, but I don't think thats the problem.

 

[sdpatt]

Post it and he will come....

Thanks Marlene.

There is a chance you have some air in the system. First check the fluid level in the power steering reservoir. The manual specifies Type F ATF, but you can use power steeing fluid to better effect. Try purging the air by taking the steering wheel from full lock left to full lock right several times. Do not force the wheel when the travel stops.

If this does not improve the condition, you probably have a worn out steering rack. My rack behaved similar to this and only its replacement corrected the problem. I got a rebuilt A1 Cardone rack from O'Reilly auto parts for $79.99, but the biggest part of this repair is the installation. It took me a tough 4.5 hours to swap the racks. I hope not to have to do it again.

 

[snowwind1990]

You are welcome, Scott.
Succinct and to the point, prompt and courteous as usual.
Sergio is in New Orleans, and it is raining there.
Martin, Gil and I had the three Greens in Gil's driveway, doin' a little pre-St. *****'s Day prep. The wind blew all day!

Marlene,LSSHOC>Houston

 

[olympic]

I am using Mobil 1 ATF in the PS system. Would the Type F be better? I've researched it a bit and I've found that Type F doesn't have friction modifiers which helps clutch packs lock up faster in older Ford transmissions. I cant see what benefit this would be in a PS system but does anyone know?

 

[MilTownSHO]

SHO SPD:
well now when I turn the wheel, and hold it, it will kick back... and if I do just hold it there, it will be kicking back and forth... I am thinking rack, and pinion.. how close am I?

I just got rack and pinion installed in my 91 because it blew out 2 weeks after I got it and I had the same symptoms and now its doing it agian with the new rack I got (well not new from a junkyard) so I cant belive it would be that agian and if it is...well IDK..I think it might be my belt slipping because there is like a point when I turn to the left when it gets hard to turn but I can turn it more but it requires effort and when I turn it back i can feel like my petal pop...you can hear it to...idk im just praying its the belt or a tie rod..because i cant afford another rack and pinion...because the install fee is deadly ....good luck

 

[projectSHO89]

I asked this same question on the SHO Times mailing list awhile back and received the following response from Steve Vandersloot:

I have this problem also. Solution is a new rack, or at least new seals. What is happening is the seals in the rack that separate the high pressure side from the low pressure side are leaking, allowing the pressure to bleed off. The pump restores the pressure, only to have it bleed off again, producing that sensation. You'll notice foamy ps fluid and possibly burned smelling fluid. John Hrinsin described in better detail awhile ago. I asked him if it was possible to replace just the seals, but he didn't know. I've been changing the ps fluid frequently which has minimized the problem, but it's still there. One of these days I'll have to replace the rack.
On mine, the symtom is readily apparent when making a sweeping turn where the steering wheel is held turned for several seconds at a time, ie, a freeway cloverleaf. I feel the power steering trying to straighten the wheel back out, which is something I don't want it to do at that time. The same symptom can be re-created at a stop.

A new rack is on my TO-DO list this year.

Steve

 

[SHO SPD]

Great, not looking forward to replacing this, especially if Scott doesnt even want to ever do it again! I dont know, if its anything like a power steering pump FU**... Thats the worst thing I have done on my car yet... eek!

 

[SHOMEUP]

Sux i have that same problem- i really didnt want it to be a bad rack but i know for sure that my ball joint is bad can that cause all my problems or can the rack have something ot do with it....im still ****** from my struts i stripped the head off the rears and driving it - the blot that goes to the hub and retains the strut tight...its like its becxome one with the hub it sux...nehow i hope it dont come loose...

 

[sdpatt]

Buy the A1 Cardone rebuilt Ford rack and take it to a shop that works on steering systems. I'd pay somebody $150 not to have to do that again.

Memories (not fond ones though)

Scott

 

[SHO SPD]

Is the seering Rack that thing with the tierods on it? or is it like the shaft that goes to the steering wheel? If it has the tierods on it, I have to take mine off, they are brand new.

 

[SVTTroy]

How are your sub frame bushings? My car exibits the same symptoms as you explain. While I was under my car last weekend I noticed the front bushings are actually torn and there are scratches on the underbody that looks as if the cradle is shifting site to side. I assumed this was causing my steering concern.

 

[sdpatt]

SHO SPD:
Is the seering Rack that thing with the tierods on it? or is it like the shaft that goes to the steering wheel? If it has the tierods on it, I have to take mine off, they are brand new.

The steering rack includes everything between the tie rod ends. Yes, you have to remove the tie rod ends from the old rack and install them on the new rack. This will absolutely require a realignment to set the toe-in. The top photo shows the old rack with the tie rod ends above and the new rack below. The other piece is the intermediate steering shaft that must also be removed from inside the driver's footwell.
The racks are removed and installed through the driver side wheel well and I found the best leverage was directly beneath the car. This was a very dirty job on a 256,000 mile car. Wear eye protection.

Scott

 

[SHO SPD]

Scott, after I got a bunch of new parts on the right side of my car because of the hit curb, they have aligned my car to the best of their ability, my camber on the right wheel was 3.5, and they were able to pull it all the way in to 1.3, they tried everything, but something just wont let it come in anymore, its still .75 degrees out of spec... with the new rack is there a chance that it is bent, and it will bring the camber back to normal? could it have something to do with the inner tierods maybe?

heres the new parts
outer tie rods (both sides)
lower control arm
lower balljoint
new strut spring assy.
and one massive alignment job was done... they drilled out the welds up top to move the strut, and they moved it almost a whole inch over, but they dont dare move it over any farther...

any ideas?

 

[SHO SPD]

Scott?

 

[RStalveyARFF]

Hey, I'll answer that one for you. Tie rods (IE rack parts) only effect toe. The possible reasons for your camber being out of spec are a bent strut, malformed spindle, or bent control arm, and I'm leaning on the strut or the control arm as being the reason your camber is whacked. If you want a cheap solution, get a set of eccentric strut mounts, and you'll have an extra 2 degrees of adjustment, but have a mechanic go over the car and put something straight all around the strut, I've already had a couple SLO's come into me with bent struts... Usually if a ball joint goes it will have negative camber, but if the control arm is bent it will have positive camber. the strut can go either way to effect camber.

 

[SHO SPD]

I alreday replaced all that stuff.. look up a little, it lists all the new parts to correct the camber...