lousy steering

[jacktheboy]

1990 240 wagon. Sluggish movement of steering wheel. No smooth return
of steering wheel after right or left turn. Stiff kind of jerky like
three step motion to turn with literally no correction of steering
wheel. No fluid leaks and reservoir is full.
Pulled Pwr steering pump from my 85 parts car that worked fine with no
leaks, for replacement. 85 said to use brake fluid for pump. 90 says
use proper fluid. Does the 90 take brake fluid and if not can I just
drain and use the 85 pump.
Also can I flush the whole system if I just hang the return line into a
container and keep pouring in the proper fluid while turning wheel back
and forth with the car running.

 

[Mike F]

1990 240 wagon. Sluggish movement of steering wheel. No smooth return
of steering wheel after right or left turn. Stiff kind of jerky like
three step motion to turn with literally no correction of steering
wheel. No fluid leaks and reservoir is full.
Pulled Pwr steering pump from my 85 parts car that worked fine with no
leaks, for replacement. 85 said to use brake fluid for pump. 90 says
use proper fluid. Does the 90 take brake fluid and if not can I just
drain and use the 85 pump.
Also can I flush the whole system if I just hang the return line into a
container and keep pouring in the proper fluid while turning wheel back
and forth with the car running.

One or both steering universal joints are starting to bind up.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

[jacktheboy]

I am getting an grinding, binding noise at the steering wheel, sounds
as if it is right at the joint of the wheel and the cover for the
signal lever.
I know there's a knukle just outside the firewall and one down by the
rack.
How do you check for binding and figure out which one is bad.

 

[Michael Cerkowski]

I am getting an grinding, binding noise at the steering wheel, sounds
as if it is right at the joint of the wheel and the cover for the
signal lever.
I know there's a knukle just outside the firewall and one down by the
rack.
How do you check for binding and figure out which one is bad.

Before you think about replacing it, squirt synthetic motor oil
into both joints, turning the wheel to work it in. Then give it
a couple of days to work. That fixed our balky steering joint, about
5 years ago.
--







http://freevision.org/michael/index.html