Steering rack help

[Ferret II]

"Road crestiness". Sorry, that was an odd way of putting it. I was meaning to say that my '95 SE is more sensitive to road "crown" than it was when it was younger (and as compared to my '96 Mystique, which has 53K miles).

Sorry If I got off track, though. I was mainly wondering if something might still be adjusted related to the new steering rack installation in the '95 SE. The mechanic says all is as it should be, and it does steer okay, but I still think there's a bit of play in the wheel, and that the old Contour feel (great steering feedback) isn't quite there.

I was thinking there might be something we could check related to the feel of the steering when we have it up on the ramps to scope out a noise I've had since the rack job (possible exhaust leak). We may talk to the mechanic again, but thought first to have a listen/look ourselves first. We do some work on the cars, but due to lack of space and time have to take bigger jobs to a mechanic.

 

[Ferret II]

Check for mechanical play on the column by comparing the steering wheel motion to the motion at the rack's input shaft. There should be not "slop" between the two points. Also, verify the coupler's clamp at the rack input was properly tightened.

If the input side of the steering system is tight (no play), that means any play in the steering is either in the rack (let's hope not!) or in the tie rod ends, wheel bearings, sub-frame to body bushings, or the front suspension.

Had the '95 SE up on ramps today and the steering wheel motion to motion at rack's input shaft seems okay, and my husband thought the coupler clamp looked attached right. I also found the comment I'd referenced before that Lance (CEG founder) recently made about this over on FCO: "Actually, it sounds like they didn't get the steering column spline tightened up right. When Cassandra came back from the shop in 2000 with the tranny rebuilt, it had some play in the steering and the feel was all gone. I drove it back the shop and the guy who specialized in steering racks had it fixed in 5 minutes."

Will also look in our Ford manual, but can someone tell me if the steering column spline the same as the coupler clamp? So the spline or coupler can be functional (i.e., steering works okay) but not tightened correctly? How do you tell? Again, I've already asked the mechanic to re-check this, but I still sense there might be room for improvement.

We also found the source of the exhaust leak noise. I'd already taken it back for the same noise to the mechanic after the rack replacement. He ended up putting a new gasket on the front the three-way cat (he hadn't replaced the front or back gaskets during the rack job). The current noise, and some water leakage, is coming from the back gasket, which he didn't replace. Will be taking it back for a new back gasket; don't quite get why both weren't replaced.

 

[projectSHO89]

I don't recall the specifics of the Contour steering column, but, for steering columns in general, there is a splined section on the driver's side of the firewall that is part of the "crush" mechanism incorporated for driver survival in the event of frontal impact. I remember that section well from my SHOs, but I just don't remember if its there and had to be disassembled back when I did my rack replacement on my 98 back in 05.

The coupler clamp is where the column mechanism is attached to the rack's input shaft.

 

[Ferret II]

Thank you again, pS89. We'll look into the steering column spline and if that's tightened properly I'll accept the steering as is.

I hope driving it siven weeks with an exhaust leak to the gasket behind the downstream catalytic converter hasn't caused any damage. At least '95 SE's don't have downstream O2 sensors. Turns out the mechanic did change both gaskets (I re-checked the invoice today), both in front of and behind the three-way/downstream cat, but the rear gasket is leaking. I'm not thrilled, because I said I was still hearing the fluttery/rattle/hiss noise after the gaskets were replaced and I went back, but was told to wait and see if the noise gets louder or more consistent; and it's same noise I'd identified right after the steering job (on the way home, actually), which prompted the gaskets to be replaced. I hope there is only one exhaust leak; I don't think you have to disassemble anything closer to the manifold for a steering job, though.

Same wait and see attitude on a replaced alternator (Ford re-man, since new OEM alternators aren't available), though I returned right away due to a high whine that starts at 2500 rpm and rises in pitch with higher rpm. We ended up troubleshooting. We turned on the engine without the drivebelt (whine gone). Then we installed a belt for a 2.5 l without A/C (whine still there, ruling out A/C). WE replaced the battery to make sure it wasn't causing resistance (it was at about 75% capacity and three years old, and we put it in the Mystique). We also discovered the RF noise suppressor had been left disconnected, but re-connecting it didn't suppress the whine (didn't really expect it would). The alternator seems to work, for now, but I worry it may fail and the noise is very irritating. I know it's a terrible job to replace, but I don't think it should make a noise the two former alternators (OEM and Ford re-man) didn't.

Sorry for getting so off track in this thread, but this is farily stressful. (Also, after the Ford's steering & altnerator job, I came across a '96 Mystique for sale with 53K miles, and since I'd wanted a second car I picked it up, so we've also been taking care of issues on it.)

I'm not looking forward to calling the mechanic to request more follow-up work, but I guess we'll need to.