control and acceleration issues

[allmine!]

A few months ago my Ford shop determined that my power steering pump needed to be replaced because I told them there was a groaning noise present when I made turns, most notably in parking lots. But, since my insurance company was paying the bill, the replacement of the pump was denied and the power steering system was instead drained, flushed, and refilled. When I got the car back I noticed that the groaning noise had gone away and continues to be absent. But in the past few weeks I have noticed that the car has become diffucult to manage especially when driving on the interstate. When I say this I mean it is somewhat hard to keep it in the lane and I have to constantly correct myself. This really doesn't happen when I am driving on a regular road, but steering is still somewhat hard. I am wondering if this is a power steering issue or if the car simply needs an alignment. Oh, and the car wasn't in an accident recently, my insurance company was paying for this for other reasons.

But alas, my problems do not end, I also told the shop of problems I seemed to be having with acceleration, but they found that nothing was wrong. The engine has decent get up and go, even when I am trying to merge into traffic, but if I am driving along, whether on the interstate or not, sometimes I have to press down hard on the accelerator to speed up, much more than what is necessary. I also seems as though the car is sometimes stuttering along to try and catch up. What could be causing this? The throttle body? MAC? I'm clueless!

hint

96 limited

 

[allmine!]

I'm hurt.....no one likes me. The main point that I was getting at in this post was if the act of simply draining and refilling the power steering system would be enough to "fix" it instead of getting a new one. To me it seems as though if the pump needs to be replaced, then draining the system would be pointless, but alas I do not know for sure.


hint

 

[section525]

Ford power steering systems are all pretty noisey and loud. Whining and groan is pretty normal for them. My GF was complaining about it in her 98 Sport, so he flushed the system and used some Synthetic PS fluid. I didn't drive it since then but she did and she said it was 102% better.

What motor do you have? Has it had a recent tune up? Plugs, wires, coils, all that jazz?

 

[X~FACTOR]

Originally posted by allmine!
it is somewhat hard to keep it in the lane and I have to constantly correct myself. This really doesn't happen when I am driving on a regular road

This might have something to do with the irregularity on the road. I experience the same thing when driving on the highway. The fast lane usually slopes to the left thus pulls the steering to the left. On a perfectly flat road my eXplorer is fine.

You might also want to check if they fill the steering fluid container to the right amount.