Technical Advice on multiwagon wheel alignment please

[yampug]

Had my stilo for about five years now and i'm sick of the steering it drives me up the wall all it seems to want to do is wander where i don't want it to. I recently changed the front springs as one broke before christmas it's got new track rod ends new wish bones and just had the wheel allignment done but its still bloody awful to drive.

Here's the print out from the wheel allignment place. Any ideas any advice appreciated i wish i could get to the bottom of this as it's a great car apart from the steering which is kind of a vital part in a car.

 

[Deckchair5]

The most important thing, your tyre sizes and pressures, you haven't mentioned. Mine wandered off all the time and needed constant attention when I first bought it and I used book recommended tyre pressure. Like you, I checked everything first but then I moved it up a few psi and it never wandered again.

What mileage do you have? engine size? have you modified any suspension parts?

 

[yampug]

The most important thing, your tyre sizes and pressures, you haven't mentioned. Mine wandered off all the time and needed constant attention when I first bought it and I used book recommended tyre pressure. Like you, I checked everything first but then I moved it up a few psi and it never wandered again.

What mileage do you have? engine size? have you modified any suspension parts?

standard 17inch fiat alloys with falken tyres i've tried pirrelli's and goodyear f1's prior to them. tire pressure front is 37psi all suspension standard, mileage is 75 thousand, engine 1.9jtd 8v.

 

[Argonought]

Had my stilo for about five years now and i'm sick of the steering it drives me up the wall all it seems to want to do is wander where i don't want it to.

Something odd with the tracking. You're showing positive toe whereas it should be negative (at least it is on the 5 door). Best to have it set 0° (doesn't matter then )

Are you saying you've had this issue for 5 years

 

[yampug]

Something odd with the tracking. You're showing positive toe whereas it should be negative (at least it is on the 5 door). Best to have it set 0° (doesn't matter then )

Are you saying you've had this issue for 5 years

yep had the car since new got it with 10 miles on the clock always thought the steering was odd even asked my local fiat dealers if there was something wrong with it, they said no it's fine, everytime i get the tracking done it doesn't get any better, but trying to find out the correct setting for the tracking i've found hard as no one seems to know anything about multiwagons.

when you say positive toe you mean that both front wheels are pointing out at the front? or in at the front? is positive toe equivilent to toe in?

where do you get your tracking done argonought as your not that far from me.

 

[Deckchair5]

I think the tracking (toe in) is near enough to not be causing your seemingly dramatic problems. Stilo should be as straight as an arrow, I know mine is. Even with a wishbone gone, damper leaking fluid it still kept straight

Have you checked for play at the steering rack inner tie rods?
Does it steer off when you change gear or on/off power?
Does it always wander one way?
How about the rear wheels? Any bearing play? Any looseness at the rear suspension bearings?

What about tyre wear? Any uneven wear?

 

[yampug]

I think the tracking (toe in) is near enough to not be causing your seemingly dramatic problems. Stilo should be as straight as an arrow, I know mine is. Even with a wishbone gone, damper leaking fluid it still kept straight

Have you checked for play at the steering rack inner tie rods?yep no play in those
Does it steer off when you change gear or on/off power?nope doesn't happen more when i brake or accelerate or change gear
Does it always wander one way?nope it can wander off any where it feels like depending on the contours in the road
How about the rear wheels? Any bearing play? Any looseness at the rear suspension bearings?no bearing play no looseness in rear suspension bearings.

What about tyre wear? Any uneven wear?no uneven tyre wear. tires last approx 10000 miles

.

 

[yampug]

found this thread what do you think of the members suggestion that the steering has an ecu that needs resetting?

https://www.fiatforum.com/stilo/175681-feels-like-steering-has-life-its-own-2.html

 

[Argonought]

when you say positive toe you mean that both front wheels are pointing out at the front? or in at the front? is positive toe equivilent to toe in?

where do you get your tracking done argonought as your not that far from me.

Yes; the default setting for the Stilo is toe-out (wheels pointing out very slightly) so it's not surprising many suffer from inner tyre wear on the front but as Decks has suggested that's not likely to be your issue.

I use Protyre (7 Cabot Lane, Poole - 659911) as they only charge something like £15 for checking.

If you've had this from new I'm wondering if you're purely talking about tram-lining which the bigger wheeled (and wider tyred) Stilo's tend to suffer from - although increasing tyre pressure should always overcome this :chin:

 

[yampug]

Yes; the default setting for the Stilo is toe-out (wheels pointing out very slightly) so it's not surprising many suffer from inner tyre wear on the front but as Decks has suggested that's not likely to be your issue.

I use Protyre (7 Cabot Lane, Poole - 659911) as they only charge something like £15 for checking.

If you've had this from new I'm wondering if you're purely talking about tram-lining which the bigger wheeled (and wider tyred) Stilo's tend to suffer from - although increasing tyre pressure should always overcome this :chin:

I'm confused are you saying my tracking is set wrong at the moment?

If it is what setting should i have it set to in degrees? When you got to protyre do you ask them to set it to your specific settings or do they know how to set up a stilo? thanks

don't suppose anyone else has got a tracking printout for a stilo 5dr or mulitwagon that they're happy about the steering on they could post? please.

 

[yampug]

that it then no more replies?:spin:

 

[Davren]

I'm confused are you saying my tracking is set wrong at the moment?

According to your print-out, your tracking is now within limits at 0.16°.

Fiat originaly specified the Stilo front toe in as -1° (1° toe out). This was changed in service bulletin SN44-01.03 to 0° i.e. parallel, however, the service bulletin was issued to deal with complaints of early tyre wear, not steering pull or wander.

 

[Deckchair5]

As it's done it since new then wear can hardly be an issue, your tyre pressures are good and your tracking is fine so I'd take it in to Fiat and have them check the steering calibration. Make sure you make them aware that it suddenly steers off course and that it's dangerous
It sounds like something is up with your torsion sensor

 

[john55]

My MW is very wandery at speed. Always has been. Mind you it has 124K miles. I just live with it.
I dont have any failed bushes etc. I think it is just how they are as I can find no reason for it.

 

[yampug]

As it's done it since new then wear can hardly be an issue, your tyre pressures are good and your tracking is fine so I'd take it in to Fiat and have them check the steering calibration. Make sure you make them aware that it suddenly steers off course and that it's dangerous
It sounds like something is up with your torsion sensor

Whats a torsion sensor? is that in with the power steering ecu?

something i did notice the other day while playing with it is that if you central the wheels then full lock left then full lock right it appears it uses more lock to get to full lock one way than the other something i would have though would be apparent if the steering wheel has been taken off a car then put back on wrongly. would this confuse the power steering ecu?

 

[Deckchair5]

Torsion sensor measures how much and how fast something is turning by comparing rotation at one end of a torsional twisting shaft and comparing it with the other end. It's integral within the steering column but it sometimes needs calibrating or recalibrating

In a nutshell it measures how much force is being applied at the steering wheel and how much feedback force is coming back from the wheels

 

[yampug]

thanks for that info deckchair i will investigate and report back.

 

[yampug]

Problem sorted

thanks for the replies on this thread all advice was much apreciated

having replaced all the mechanical items on the stilo apart from the actual steering rack i looked into this fiat ecu software available on the fiat forum, downloaded that got the right cable to go with it off ebay, spent most of yesterday swearing at my laptop trying to get it to recognise the cable finally got it to connect to the ecu, did the cable mod on the website of connecting various pins together so that i could connect my laptop to the power steering ecu and what a surprise when i got it connected it was showing a fault, cleared the fault re-calibrated the steering and it now drives like a new car.

thanks soo much to the fiat forum, five years fiat dealers/garages telling me there was nothing wrong with my wonky steering has nearly driven me up the wall. but it's finally sorted.

 

[john55]

I have to try that on my MW then.

 

[Deckchair5]

Brilliant! Glad you got it sorted
So many years having to put up with rubbish steering and such a simple cure. Great stuff!