Heavy steering wheel

aliff850 · Post by **aliff850** » 30 Jun 2016, 01:50

Hello fellow Volvo owners, I'm having a bit of an issue with my 1996 850SE (auto). I've just got the entire steering rack replaced around a week ago, got the car realigned, and all that. Though having driven it for only a week, the steering has gotten heavy. Accompanied with the heavy steering are noises like clunks and heavy grinding when the steering wheel is fully turned. Could this be caused by something loose in the steering system? Any help would be appreciated.

Post by **tryingbe** » 30 Jun 2016, 06:14

Sounds like your power steering pump have no fluid or it is dead.

PS78 · Post by **PS78** » 30 Jun 2016, 08:49

When you had your rack and pinion replaced,was it a reman. rack or a salvage unit? To your knowledge was the old fluid flushed out of the system and replaced with new fluid? There can be quite a bit of metal particles and deteriorated rubber in suspension in old fluid. When you check the fluid level take a look at the fluid color. If its brownish black and or has any debris it wasn't flushed that can make a PS pump's job very difficult and possibly clog the spool valve within the rack itself resulting in heavy steering. The clunking could be caused by a number of things. If it just appeared after the replacement it may be backlash in the rack and pinion. You did mention you had your car aligned so normally any damaged or worn steering components should be addressed to complete an alignment. Best thing to do would be to take it in and describe your issues with the installer,and go from there.

Post by **scot850** » 30 Jun 2016, 14:31

+1. Take it back to installer and get them to fix it. Remanufactured units can be a lottery. I know an 850 owner that went through 3 before spending more for a Volvo re-man'ed unit which was fine.

As tryingbe and PS78 suggest, check that there is fluid in the system and no leaks that you can see. Also check the rack boots are not full of fluid!

Neil.

aliff850 · Post by **aliff850** » 01 Jul 2016, 15:47

The fluid did got flushed out when the rack is replaced, and there doesn't seem to be any leakage since the power steering fluid is still full. The fluid color is also not brownish or has any debris in it. Also there appears to be two types of clunking noise that occurs after the replacement, one is clunking when the steering wheel is fully turn, as I mentioned above, and the other sounds like something loose in the suspension, specifically the tie-rod. The front suspension also felt a lot harder than before and when I tried to make the front end of the car "bounce", it doesn't move at all. Could it be that my mech had tighten something too hard that it had loosen something else?

PS78 · Post by **PS78** » 01 Jul 2016, 16:50

If you just had the replacement done the first step should be as mentioned above, take your car back and explain to them in detail your symptoms. Did you receive any warranty with the work you had done on the rack and is there any warranty with alignment you also had performed?
A good first step if you are going to pin down the noise and component is to grab a friend, neighbor, etc. And do a dry park check. Have them turn the wheel while you carefully look, listen and feel all of the steering and suspension components. Take note of any play and the area the noise is coming from. If you have the proper equipment raise the front of the car and do the same inspection. Note if any of the clunks or noises change or disappear when the front end is off the ground. Let us know the details after the car is checked. Also is your PS pump still grinding?
I still suggest you return to the shop that replaced your rack and pinion in light of the fact you just had the replacement done. If your rack was from a salvage or remanufactured, there's a good possibility that it may be defective.

aliff850 · Post by **aliff850** » 02 Jul 2016, 01:53

So I sent back the car to my mechanic and he said he'll do thorough checks on the noises. There wasn't a warranty for the rack replacement, but there was one for the alignment because it was sent to a separate shop. The rack could be from a salvage because my mech took it from a halfcut of an old 850 that had done around 500k kilometers, and it was fixed and patched up here and there. Luckily my mech said that if the rack is defective he'll get it replaced with a good one free of charge. Anyway, I also did as you said and asked a friend to drive it around for me, and the clunking noise doesn't seem to be there when the car is moving, though the steering kicks back and does a loud grumble when it's fully turned. The grumble sounded as if the steering was giving in so I immediately sent it back after that.

beigg · Post by **beigg** » 02 Jul 2016, 04:38

A recent rack replacement uncovered a part as the the culprit for rack failure. The rack was being bound by the seized u-joint roller bearings for one section within that coupler. Overtime, that binding forced the steering rack's spline shaft to push in and twist. That is not supposed to happen. Smooth turning is all it's expected to do and the u-joint is to take up the angle movement.

Removed the u-joint and putting it through the motions exposed the bad section (left and right binding) which explained the tough/heavy-loading of the steering. As well as the screeching noise it would permit at times.

PS78 · Post by **PS78** » 02 Jul 2016, 07:52

aliff850 wrote: Luckily my mech said that if the rack is defective he'll get it replaced with a good one free of charge.

That's good news.

beigg wrote:A recent rack replacement uncovered a part as the the culprit for rack failure. The rack was being bound by the seized u-joint roller bearings for one section within that coupler. Overtime, that binding forced the steering rack's spline shaft to push in and twist. That is not supposed to happen. Smooth turning is all it's expected to do and the u-joint is to take up the angle movement.

Removed the u-joint and putting it through the motions exposed the bad section (left and right binding) which explained the tough/heavy-loading of the steering. As well as the screeching noise it would permit at times.

Good point. Hopefully the installer will check everything out so the replacement rack doesn't fail from a preexisting problem.