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    #1

    My steering wheel got randomly stiff when turning?

    Hello, so I was pulling out of a parallel parking spot yesterday. I turned the wheel all the way to the left and then pulled out and went to turn the wheel back and then the steering wheel got REALLY stiff (hard to turn back) and that almost made me go head on into a truck driving the opposite direction.


    I was thankfully able to forcefully turn the wheel back in time. If feels like my power steering cut out... I noticed that there was no noise when this happened.

    Could this been because I was turning the steering wheel all the way left then back to the right too fast?



    ____________________________________________

    2001 Mercury Grand Marquis GS 62K miles
    Tags: None
    #2
    Originally posted by seeforyourself View Post
    Hello, so I was pulling out of a parallel parking spot yesterday. I turned the wheel all the way to the left and then pulled out and went to turn the wheel back and then the steering wheel got REALLY stiff (hard to turn back) and that almost made me go head on into a truck driving the opposite direction.


    I was thankfully able to forcefully turn the wheel back in time. If feels like my power steering cut out... I noticed that there was no noise when this happened.

    Could this been because I was turning the steering wheel all the way left then back to the right too fast?



    ____________________________________________

    2001 Mercury Grand Marquis GS 62K miles
    Possible! I would still check your power steering fluid (level) and all front end parts for damage/wear.


    "Hope and dignity are two things NO ONE can take away from you - you have to relinquish them on your own" Miamibob

    "NEVER trade your passion for glory"!! Sal "the Bard" (Dear Old Dad!)

    "Cars are for driving - PERIOD! I DON'T TEXT, TWEET OR TWERK!!!!"

    Comment

      #3
      Might also check the belt. and tensioner. If the belt is old or loose on tension when you turned back fast maybe it slipped just enough that the PS assist cut out.
      These are highly engineered precision vehicles, the first step in diagnosing the problem is to strike the suspected offending part sharply and repeatedly with a blunt object, then re-test.

      Comment

        #4
        Originally posted by FordMan77 View Post
        Might also check the belt. and tensioner. If the belt is old or loose on tension when you turned back fast maybe it slipped just enough that the PS assist cut out.
        There's a good thought!!


        "Hope and dignity are two things NO ONE can take away from you - you have to relinquish them on your own" Miamibob

        "NEVER trade your passion for glory"!! Sal "the Bard" (Dear Old Dad!)

        "Cars are for driving - PERIOD! I DON'T TEXT, TWEET OR TWERK!!!!"

        Comment

          #5
          I changed the belt on my 2000 MGM some years ago because of all the cracking on the ribs, though I kept the old one for emergencies. I never gave any thought to the tensioner, and the bearing on it ended up disintegrating. I lost power steering on an exit ramp intermittently. Luckily, what was left of the belt still managed to hang on, and I was able to get to a convenient parking lot. The tensioner was expensive, but at least I got a replacement belt under warranty. Moral of the story: don't neglect your tensioner.

          2000 Grand Marquis LS HPP, a hand-me-down in 2008 with 128,000 km; 175,000 km as of July 2014
          mods: air filter box 'tuba', headlight relay harness, J-mod (around 186,350 km), 70mm throttle body, KYB Gas-A-Just shocks, aluminum driveshaft, ARA3 PCM

          Comment

            #6
            Call ford and ask if your car is elligible for any steering shaft recalls or TSB. There is more than one and they can cause bind.

            85 4 door 351 Civi Crown Victoria - Summer daily driver, sleeper in the making, and wildly inappropriate autocross machine
            160KMs 600cfm holley, shorty headers, 2.5" catted exhaust, 255/295 tires, cop shocks, cop swaybars, underdrive pulley, 2.73L gears.
            waiting for install: 3.27's, Poly bushings, boxed rear arms, 2500 stall converter, ported e7's, etc

            06 Mazda 3 hatch 2.3L 5AT (winter beater that cost more than my summer car)

            Comment

              #7
              Originally posted by johnunit View Post
              Call ford and ask if your car is elligible for any steering shaft recalls or TSB. There is more than one and they can cause bind.
              X2 on this. Stop driving the car until it is replaced ! Especially if you live in the rust belt areas of the US.

              Comment

                #8
                +1 steering shaft.

                Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
                rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)

                Originally posted by gadget73
                ... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.

                Originally posted by dmccaig
                Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes.

                Comment

                  #9
                  Mine was JUST doing this, except the wheel wasn't just stiff, it was LOCKED to the left. Had to to crank the wheel to the left as hard as I possibly could and move the wheel back to the right quickly. At first it would just do it at slow speeds making sharp lefts in a parking lot or when making a u-turn. Then it started when I was just making normal turns or even going around a curve.

                  -4 ball joints and an alignment later and it handles great!

                  Comment

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