Serpentine Belt Tensioner/Steering Issue

[rldthreeintn]

While driving down the road, the serpentine belt tensioner broke off and rolled down the road (spring and all). The only driving done beyond that point was to back up about 50 yards to get the vehicle back to our friends yard.

I replaced the tensioner and the belt easy enough. I started up the car and all seemed well.

Then I tried to drive it. As I pulled away from the side of the road, the steering wheel shook and fought back the turn. I noticed that it steered fine at any significant speed and only shook when steering from a stopped or very slow position. There is plenty of power steering fluid, although the condition of the fluid, I cannot vouch for.

I'm no mechanic, but I have no clue as to what could have happened here. My first thought was power steering, but it steers fine at any speed over 5 mph.

Thanks, in advance, for any advice as to where to proceed from here.

 

[shaker1]

Sounds like belt slippage. Did you put on a new tensioner? Maybe the old one is shot, they do wear out and lose tension. Maybe the belt is no good?

 

[rldthreeintn]

I replaced the belt and tensioner with new parts.

 

[shaker1]

And the tension on the belt seems adequate? Try putting on the old belt or comparing sizes (insert joke of your choice here).

 

[floydr007]

If none of the other suggestions regarding the slippage work, you could have some air in the power steering fluid. Just try driving under 5mph on a (quiet!) road turning the wheel sharply back and forth, and see if it gets any better after a few minutes.

 

[rldthreeintn]

Update

Thanks to all for the replies. I'm leaning towards the air pocket theory based on this:

The other belt related items, air conditioning, alternator (based on voltage gauge), temperature (based on temp gauge) all appear to be fine. I was assuming I would have issues with these items as well if its a tension issue?

In addition, I took it out on the highway to check things again and found that things are much worse than I had seen before. Travelling at 60mph, I hit a bump in the road and the steering wheel shook so bad i thought the tires were going to fall off. After slowing down to about 30, it recovered and returned to a smooth ride. This happened 3 times, all after hitting bumps in the road.

 

[explrths]

I had the same problem.. MIne went away after a few miles

 

[Phantomiata]

I had this same problem. I solved mine by moving the steering from lock to lock, while parked, several times with the engine running. I've had no problems since then.

Give it a try.