shawzy said:

do you mean the steering whell centered with the wheels or the rack centered on the subframe?thanks for the help.ad

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I mean, from the driving straight position of the wheel, do you have exactly the same number of turns to get from centre to full lock left as from cantre to full lock right?

Cheers

D

from driving position i have 2 and a quater turns each way lock to lock but theres so much slack in the steering wheel its hard to tell i had it tracked and the steering wheel was dead straight but already it has creeped to the left so driving straight you have to hold the wheel to the left a bit...what could this be?thanks.ad

Have you checked the top mounts?

Cheers

D

yup there fine no play or movement,thats why im so stumped ive checked everything....
balljoints
wishbones
wheel bearings
track rods
arb
cv joints
all is in good working order,its progressively got worse over the last week so i got it tracked yesterday and the steering wheel was straight again but lastnight and today its crept back to the left.even when i had it tracked there was still play in the steering wheel,what is more worrying is i can push the steering wheel in and out about a inch since its been tracked could the collumn have collapsed?the uj is tight so thats not moving,is there any bearings in the collumn that could have collapsed?thanks.ad

Your list does not say top mounts. Have you actually taken the struts out?

Cheers

D

i had them out about a month ago because the previous owner had cut the springs:bang: so i replaced the strut tops with new units whilst i replaced the springs.gave them a wiggle erliar when i had it on stands and there still as new,thanks.ad

needs new steering rack; not expensive; also sounds as tho' the track control arms (lower wishbones) are shot....

its my daily motor so wana make sure its 100% im going to pick up a rack today,was going to get two wishbones just incase one was tweaked a bit,obviously ill replace as a pair but is it worth me getting the powerflex bushes or not?thanks.ad

The steering wheel should not be free to pull in and out. Does the whole column move or only the steering wheel ( is the nut on ?). Too much freeplay could be rack wear , column not engaging properly or the uj worn. UJs can look tight but when they flip over they give a kick as the slack pops out of the assembly - worth a double check.

Brendan W said:

The steering wheel should not be free to pull in and out. Does the whole column move or only the steering wheel ( is the nut on ?). Too much freeplay could be rack wear , column not engaging properly or the uj worn. UJs can look tight but when they flip over they give a kick as the slack pops out of the assembly - worth a double check.

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have checked the uj and thats all good,can the collumn collapse on these? i no they they can on vw,s ect but never looked into a punto collumn.the nut has been checked and splines are fine too.ive sourced a rack from a breakers for today,wishbones should be with me by about 4.00 today so hopefully it wont get dark too soon.ill get it tracked in the morning again and if all this fails its only going to cost £6 in a can and £0.20 for some matches lol.ad

Let us know how you get on.

Deeme said:

Let us know how you get on.

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got the rack and wishbones now,borrowed a set of tracking gauges aswell if weather is ok tommorow ill get them on,keep you posted.ad

Tracking gauges only set the toe-in/out at the front wheels. They wont tell you if the chassis is out of alignment.

WhiteSei said:

Tracking gauges only set the toe-in/out at the front wheels. They wont tell you if the chassis is out of alignment.

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lol, I have a pet hate for so called "wheel alignment" where they just check toe in/out.

they advertise it as wheel alignment, and people are misled into believing if they have un-even tyre wear this is a proper fix... and you get so many people who lower their suspension...and get a "wheel alignment" done.

Correctly advertised it should just be advertised as a tracking check, or toe in/ toe out check.

Only proper wheel alignment is a full geometry check.. where all 4 wheels are checked for camber, caster, toe.. that kind of alignment even calculates the car has the correct thrust angle.

This link will tell you where you can get it done.

http://classic.multimap.com/clients/places.cgi?client=alignmycar3

and heres an example printout.. you can see how this type of check is far superior to the normal "wheel alignment"

well fitted the new wishbones and the rack,tracked it yes im aware this is not a full alignment but nowhere is open untill monday so thought id give it a shot and im glad to say...............its still as bad,the old wishbones looked ok so did the rack but its no different with the new items the trouble must lie in the collumn so thats coming out today for inspection,i hope this is were the fault lies because ive spent more in fuel using my gt to get the parts than theyve actually cost lol keep you all posted.....ad

shawzy said:

well fitted the new wishbones and the rack,tracked it yes im aware this is not a full alignment but nowhere is open untill monday so thought id give it a shot and im glad to say...............its still as bad,the old wishbones looked ok so did the rack but its no different with the new items the trouble must lie in the collumn so thats coming out today for inspection,i hope this is were the fault lies because ive spent more in fuel using my gt to get the parts than theyve actually cost lol keep you all posted.....ad

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As previous post, i still feel this is a diff problem, seizure or collapsing, will cause when accelerating a severe pull to the right normally and on decelerating will pull severely to left, have had this on numerous occasions. have even had a severe shudder though front of vehicle due to d/shaft spiders wearing a groove in diff cage, not allowing shaft to slide.

regards

Mal

For those less technical of us (ie me!) what's a 'diff'? And if it was a gearbox thing wouldn't this be felt more when using the gears? In my case the gears seem fine.
I'm hoping to get mine booked into the garage tomorrow when it finally re-opens so any info to help them get it fixed quick is greatly appreciated.

To prove the steering column remove its fuses and drive without power assitance. If it still pulls its not the power steering.

The diff (differential) allows the both wheels on the axle to de driven but also turn independently. Each halfshaft has a bevel gear on the gearbox end. The gearbox drives a ring between these that carries two more bevel gears.

Drive goes to the faster turning wheel so when both have grip, power is shared equally, but when one wheel loses grip all power goes to that one.

When diffs start to fail, those idler pinions, that connect the gearbox ring gear to the halfshafts, can fall apart. Debris will smash through the gearbox casing. Its easy enough to check - pull off the diff casing at the back of the gearbox.

If its pulling consistently one way and the tracking has been set then its got to be a chassis problem. If its pulling one way under power and the other off power, the diff or brakes are suspect.

So also check the brakes. A binding front brake will pull under no power but not (as much) when accelerating.