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Ford Explorer Community - Maintenance - Modifications - Performance Upgrades - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street
Explorer Forum Covers the Explorer ST, Explorer Sport, Explorer Sport Trac, Lincoln Aviator, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Ford Aerostar
my front tires when i turn the steering wheel jerk back and forth real bad, so i took off the belt and ran it without the power steering pump engaged and it worked fine. when i hooked the belt back up it did the same thing.
now is that my steering rack busted or now something not allowing fluid to do its job?
I'm actually suprised this information isn't a sticky. Every tech at my shop knew about this issue with most Fords. It was actually a shop rule to make sure every Ford that went on a lift or was pushed into the shop had their power steering system purged before the customer got it back.
my torsion bar in my steering box broke, it was VIOLENTLY shaking between 2-4. im taking my heavy duty mechanics course and my instructor has only seen that once before, because of this reason. its the same thing as if i put my power steering hoses on backwards in a non intrical power system. (if you havent seen that youtube it) its was so fast between 2-4 that the instructor said he could barley keep his eye on it. its not the purging of air in system.
Gmanpaint - i tried what you mentioned last night with my instructor there and it still happened when it would get to its relax point when my wheels were centered.
so thats when we took off the belt to try it with out the power steering.
my torsion bar in my steering box broke, it was VIOLENTLY shaking between 2-4. im taking my heavy duty mechanics course and my instructor has only seen that once before, because of this reason. its the same thing as if i put my power steering hoses on backwards in a non intrical power system. (if you havent seen that youtube it) its was so fast between 2-4 that the instructor said he could barley keep his eye on it. its not the purging of air in system.
Gmanpaint - i tried what you mentioned last night with my instructor there and it still happened when it would get to its relax point when my wheels were centered.
so thats when we took of the belt to try it with out the power steering.
haha i was waiting for that... torsion bar probably isnt the right word @ all, but where my rack connects to my steering column, that shaft thats inside the rack, which has the holes for the oil to power assist it to the left or right, that piece is messed up. (ill get the right name of the piece for ya)
you know of something else or seen this b4?
*edit* actually ill bring my camera to school tomorrow and take pics.
we actually wished we had a camera to videotape it cause its quite the event lol....
already got the rack out, waiting on new one which will be here tomorrow. already got the "culprit" out so can easily grab a pic, my steering rack was pretty much the topic of the class lol.
that piece was held in by a snap ring and 3/4"nut behind a rubber cap.
haha i was waiting for that... torsion bar probably isnt the right word @ all, but where my rack connects to my steering column, that shaft thats inside the rack, which has the holes for the oil to power assist it to the left or right, that piece is messed up. (ill get the right name of the piece for ya)
ya it royally sucked, my instructor said he hasnt seen that in a very long time and only once before. i wish i wouldve gotten a video of it, everyone in the shop ran over to see what was going on it was definately quite the event
Finally someone has had the same experience as me.
Going down the highway at 70mph and this happens it is really scary. When you hit a small bump the steering wheel starts going back and forth at hyper speed violently and the front tires start hoping like crazy, it only happens to this extent when my truck has been up on a lift or on jack stands and there is air in the power steering system. The damn steering wheel pulls right out of your hands
In an everyday scenario the steering wheel calmy sways back and forth from 2-4 at highway speeds above 60. I have replaced the steering wrack with a new one from Ford and the steering shaft with a new one, flushed the system several times, installed new tie rods and it did not solve the problem. I have been trying to track it down for years.
I always was suspicious that it was something in power steering box like a leaky gasket or worn gear. I had to take out the mounting bolts from the power steering pump once to remove another part then re-install them and that fixed the swaying problem for a few days.
When I was under the truck the other day, I noticed that the piece you are describing looked really bad, rusted and coroded but it was not leaking.
If you could post a picture of this it would be very helpful.
Have you done the procedure to purge the air from the power steering system?
(ie: turn wheels lock to lock with the resevoir cap off, add fluid as needed, do this until there are no air bubbles. Keep in mind that if you have alot of air in there, it may take several attemps to get the air out because the action of the pump will create very small bubbles in the fluid. If that is the case, you will have to let the fluid sit at a rest until the air works it way out of the fluid, then do this procedure again. Continue doing this until the fluid is clear.)
Have you had the tierods checked? OOPS, i see that you have... disregard
I purged it twice this way, but it seems as if I will have to do it a few more times just to be sure.
Has anyone used the vacuum pump as Ford describes in the repair manual? Is it enough just to have the top off the power steering resevoir or is necessary to have the 15 or so psi of vacuum to assist in getting out the bubbles??
