• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

crunch while turning READ NOW!

C

ContourGuy9817

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Apr 11, 2004
Messages
1,312
Location
Dearborn, mi
well, i just installed my ksports, i still have the same crunching as with the Konis and Ground Controls. it feels like binding while steering but it crunches when it lets go, it does it very badly, just as bad as before, it shakes the wheel and you can see it shake from the top retainer, it sounds like when your goin up on a roller coaster that clicking noise except it lets loose with force! its the reason why its been parked for two months. everything has been replaced except the inners and the rack itself. WTF! i'm also a certified mechanic, and me nor my dealer techs can figure this out. its been getting worse for the last 6 months. so far front retainers, bearings, springs, struts, ball joints, tie rod ends, knuckle with bearing on drivers, sway bar end link on drivers and a new drivers axle and i still cannot get it to stop. i'm gonna be limping it to baggeds tonight, thankfully its only 3 turns for me, but i'm ready to lose it. :( can anyone offer a similar experience, a few words, or some advice, i've never dealt with anything that i haven't been able to solve mechanically and i'm going insane. I HATE MY EFFIN DAILY RUSTANG!
 
Hmm. One time my old roommates mazda ate a wheel bearing along with the spindle so it made noise and vibrated even after we replaced just the bearing. It pressed back together fine but something just wasnt right.
 
its been the same symptom for both wheel bearings. its gotten progressively worse for the past 6 months. became undriveable 2-3 months ago. this is a turning binding with a very apparent crunch after the bind releases. for a 90 degree turn it'll pop like 5-8 times while literally doin 1-3 miles an hour. also it does it much more on lefts but does it in both directions and feels more like its comin from the FL
 
i would also like to add, you can feel it build up force before it lets loose and crunches, it also makes you really hold the steering wheel or else it'll try to rip it our of your hands then BOOM! huge crunch! then again and again and again.
 
eff that! lol. i'm not doin this rack unless i have too...ughhh.

Me and Bagged will be goin over this thing with a fine tooth comb this weekend, i finally got new batteries for my HID flashlight..WOOT!
 
ContourGuy9817 said:
eff that! lol. i'm not doin this rack unless i have too...ughhh.

Me and Bagged will be goin over this thing with a fine tooth comb this weekend, i finally got new batteries for my HID flashlight..WOOT!
Click to expand...

It's the rack. I had the same problem with my car. Then it started pissing power steering fluid. It's the rack man just get one and get it over with. However I would strongly recommend buying a remanf. one from a Ford dealer. All of the parts stores do not have the "SVT" steering rack they just have the standard rack. I tried purchasing one but the numbers did't match up. The one from the dealer did.

Good luck. It's not as bad as you think to replace it. I did it in about 3 hours.
 
well i know bagged has one layin around, although my dad is a service manager at fairlane, i'll check prices if thats what it is.
 
Also just one thing to check... where do you have your spring perch collars set too? Take a look at your springs in the front when you have the car sitting on the ground. Make sure the coils are not touching each other. That may also make the noises you are referring too.
 
CSVT#49 said:
All of the parts stores do not have the "SVT" steering rack they just have the standard rack. I tried purchasing one but the numbers did't match up. The one from the dealer did.
Click to expand...
sorry to go off at a tangent..but you've touched on something i've been trying to get an answer to, for a while. I'm not happy with the weight of my steering. I remember reading in the 'SVT blurb' it saying, the steering has been changed to give more feel. Is this down to the rack or is the power steering pump different too ?..thanks G.
 
I guess ill post it here too.

can you get it to pop or bind without any weight on the wheels, ie. in the air? if so, put it up on a lift and have someone listen and look very carefully at everything on the front suspension, both sides. you should also be able to rule out the rack by disconnecting the tie rods and turning the wheel, carefully feeling for any binding. if it still does it, youve narrowed it down to either the rack or the steering column. you can disconnect the rack from the steering column, making sure to mark it well so you know where it goes, to rule out the steering column as well.

you can check the LCAs and ball joints by removing the ball joint from the knuckle and then moving the wheel through the turning range. you can do the same thing for the strut and bearings (just put the ball joint back into the knuckle first)
 
it seems to only wanna do it with a load on it, if the vehicle is in the air, the way the top spring seat and ksports are it'll spit strut bearings at you. when you hold the ksport straight up with the upper OEM spring seat it chills at an angle until weight is on it. i just lifted up the drivers front and did it very slowly, the springs are proper distance apart, nothing is in contact on the strut tower itself, in a stationary mode at idle, the wheel moves beautiful, its not until your moving that it does this. and it does it way more under 10 than above but it does pop goin over on lefters at 30-60. at least it did before i decommisioned this thing from driveable status. i called my tow guy, its gonna be on its way to my dads stealership. maybe the ford retards can figure it out cuz i'm at a loss on this one. the only thing that i haven't replaced with new in the last 2 months is the drivers control arm, sway bar endlink(off a sad parts car but still tight) and the rack/inners themselves.
 
if it only does it while the car is moving the likely culprits are the wheel bearings (youve replaced), the CV joints (youve replaced the drivers side), and the differential.
 
it didnt happen to start shortly after an axle replacement did it? im suspect of something in the torsen is binding when the wheels are at different speeds (turning). perhaps a small piece of a broken circlip from an axle.

you could try pulling the axles, and pushing it down the street to see if it still has the problem. since you said it does it at 1-3MPH pushing it should get enough speed.
 
i'll let the dealership do it, and i do believe this is maybe the 2-3rd axle on this side since it started. its started maybe a year ago but i didn't get concerned about it till 6 months ago, then its now undriveable at this point.
 
well i just drove it around the lot to get gas at our in house pump. it really doesn't grab the steering wheel like it did, but they're is something binding making that noise and the tow guys will be here within the hour
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top