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Steering rack help

G

gorman

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Messages
1,919
OK guys....

could i ask for someone who has swapped out their steering rack and who knows, to help me out please ?

i have just swapped out the rack on my v6. A little (what i'm guessing is a pressure valve) has fallen out.

The valve is the size of a watch battery.

Can someone tell me please, which line it goes in (out of the two large lines on the rack) .... and which way up.

Thanks ...... G.
 
I should know this off the top of my head...... IIRC its the top one. but if you wait a few hours Ill tell you for sure.
 
svttour said:
I should know this off the top of my head...... IIRC its the top one. but if you wait a few hours Ill tell you for sure.
Click to expand...

thank you for that. Later is fine.... i've finished outside for today..... G.
 
just checked the rack,

bottom connection goes to the cooler

top connection goes to the pump

also need to know which way the valve faces


thanks .... G.
 
Hmm... Did you figure out what the part is? I'd like to check this out on mine.

I had my rack done at a shop a bit ago, and have had a fluttery/hiss/rattle sound on acceleration ever since (may be coming from steering area); get it when I coast downhill, too. We were already going to drive it on ramps and listen today.

Just asking on the off chance this could have been left off mine, though my car drives okay (no power loss). I don't want to hijack, but if the part is that small and fell out perhaps others might run in to this, too. My car's a V-6 ('95 SE MTX). Thanks!

Edited to say: Just noticed the document posted above but can't seem to open it :(.
 
Ferret II said:
I had my rack done at a shop a bit ago, and have had a fluttery/hiss/rattle sound on acceleration ever since (may be coming from steering area); get it when I coast downhill, too. We were already going to drive it on ramps and listen today.

I don't want to hijack, but if the part is that small and fell out perhaps others might run in to this, too. My car's a V-6 ('95 SE MTX). Thanks!

Edited to say: Just noticed the document posted above but can't seem to open it :(.
Click to expand...

hijack away... the part is the size of a thick watch battery. When you turn it over you can see a spring inside .... that's why i guessed it was a pressure relief valve.

Not sure about your hissing sound; i would think without that valve, your steering might feel very heavy when stationary or very light at higher speeds .... G.
 
Thanks!!

I noticed a difference in the steering feel immediately after the new rack was installed, and while the wheel was pretty straight there was still play. It's as if the front end is stiller or duller (maybe heavier), lacking that great "road feedback" of a '95 SE. I got new front LCA's at the same time. Higher speed on curves is still great fun. Also, there was some white/gray smoke after the job (my car's never over-heated).

Mechanic re-checked things and said the steering column was okay. He installed a new gasket at the front of the middle cat that took care of the smoke, but not the slight rattle/hiss/flutter noise under load on acceleration, or when coasting downhill.

Is that little part with the spring accessible to check, or is it buried under the sub-frame?

Thank you so much for letting me ask about this! While I've more or less accepted/discounted the steering feel (though not lost hope it could be improved) the noise has really been bothering me.
 
the noise seems like it could be an exhaust leak somewhere. If they dropped the subframe to do the rack, the exhaust would have been dismantled.

I have no engine in my car, so i can't see exactly how difficult it would be to get at the pipe unions with an engine there. The unions face forward and are in line with the steering column..... G.
 
Thanks. We were planning to listen for an exhaust leak today, but then your thread caught my eye and I thought (sort of a long-shot) my rattle/hiss/flutter noise, combined with my perception of a change in steering feel, might be related to that small part that fell out. Thanks for the description of the part and location; will see if we can look there.

Someone (actually CEG founder Lance) posted on another thread that after they'd had their transmission done they noticed the steering feel was gone; said he took the '95 SE back to the mechanic and a five-minute adjustment by the shop's steering specialist to something on the steering column (coupler? need to find thread to find the exact wording) restored the feel. I asked, but didn't get more details.

Again, not meaning to hijack but thought my noise could be related to that part; noise really bugs me but am trying to get more info before talking to the mechanic again (or, alternatively, to just fix it).

I hope your job goes smoothly! Still love the way my '95 SE drives.
 
..... i had the steering column apart under the dash and i didn't see anything adjustable.

Adjusting the toe on the track rod ends is a possible way of changing the feedback in the steering ... G.

p.s. my ST24 is the same spec as your SE... or was.
 
A Mondeo - nice!

Is "adjusting toe on track rod ends" any different than getting an alignment? Sorry if that's a dumb question.

I had it aligned after the rack was put in, and have been fiddling with my directional tires trying to get rid of what seems like a bit of radial pull... thinking of swapping the tires out but like how sticky they are (Michelin Pilot Exaltos; no more directionals for me after these' too much trouble).

At 102K, my '95 SE is within specs, but camber has settled to far end of negative, and caster to far end of positive. I read somewhere that's a performance alignment, if you add "agressive toe", though didn't say which way aggressive. No idea if that's true. I do like the way it drives, but for more sensitivity to road crest than it used to have. Front toe's -.15 (l) & -.18 (r); steer ahead's .02, and back toe is .16 (l), .15 (r), with thrust angle at zero. Been wondering if adjusting toe could help with road crestiness - topic for another post.

Hope the rack job is going well. My mechanic charged a bushel of cash.
 
i think getting an alignment would set everything to factory spec. Having a custom toe setting might not be company policy.

As for diagnosing your steering issues; i understand what you are talking about, you really need to talk to someone who does this for a living and has practical experience ... G.
 
Is "adjusting toe on track rod ends" any different than getting an alignment? Sorry if that's a dumb question.
Click to expand...

That's how the alignment shop will adjust toe.

The little spring-loaded valve goes on the pressure inlet of the rack. That would be the hose connection from the pump.

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.
 
Thank you so much, pS89!! Exactly the kind of info I was hoping for.

Sorry if I seemed to ask for diagnostics or was irritating, G. - I didn't mean to be. We do some of the work on my car and leave some to mechanics, but sometimes things don't seem to get done quite right, and with parts hard to come by and the car difficult to work on I try not to be too demanding with mechanics. As wonderful as these cars can be to drive, they can be so frustrating. Thank goodness for CEG, FCO, and those willing to help!
 
Ferret II said:
Sorry if I seemed to ask for diagnostics or was irritating, G.
Click to expand...

not at all mate ... you're fine. I was assuming that your loss of steering feel was because of something that was altered during the rack swap ... G.
 
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