Steering chatter (?) at low speed

[_Ben]

Hey guys, I'm having a minor problem with the steering in my AU2 Futura.

The car idles a little low (I need to look into this), however when I am doing low speed manoeuvres (ie parking in a car park) the steering chatters / shudders quite a bit. The car also loses revs to be at about 500 or so RPM, so I was wondering if the two were related?
The power steering used to have a leak, however that seems to have fixed itself (Fluid was seeping around the seal where you add fluid), and the fluid level is full.
Any ideas on how to get rid of this steering shudder / chatter?

Thanks, Ben.

[mongrelEF]

Sounds like the rack binding internally. Hard to say for sure without seeing it, though.

[Bushbasher]

My missus wagon has this problem too which started after the rack was changed and it seems AUs' are more susceptible to chatter than most. I was told of 2 likely causes. The first is air in the system. This can be easily remedied by basically jacking the front off the ground and spinning the wheel lock to lock a few times to push all the air out. The second, as explained to me by an old school mechanic, comes down to having used different fluids to top up with. For example, if there was say dot3 fluid originally in the system and you've topped up with dot4 then there are 2 different types of fluid in the system. They don't blend together but rather intermix so when they pass through the pump it's like thick-thin-thick-thin-thick-thin. At slow steering responses it doesn't cause a problem but during fast wheel action like in a car park where you can go from centre to lock or lock to lock quickly the pump can't cope with the change in fluid properties that fast so it shudders. The only cure is to bleed the system and put all new fluid in and make sure it's all one brand and type. When it was explained to me I thought it sounded logical and made sense as when the wagons' rack was changed, the guy who did it would have just pulled the rack, fitted the new one then refilled the system with whatever fluid he had on his shelf without fully bleeding the system to clear all the old fluid out of the lines, hence intermixing different fluids.


Bushbasher

[_Ben]

I aired out the system and it seems to have helped a bit, and I will look into a fluid change at some time in the near future

Thanks guys

[rowan194]

Originally Posted by _Ben

The car also loses revs to be at about 500 or so RPM, so I was wondering if the two were related?

Do you mean when you're doing low speed maneuvering the engine shudders for about a second, like it's about to stall, then comes good? This used to happen to me when the engine was at idle speed in drive but under additional load, like rear view demister on and A/C compressor kicking in. In my case, relearning idle fixed the problem.

I don't have a link to the retrain procedure but from memory you disconnect the battery for a while, then start the engine with 2 minutes each of,

- neutral, no additional load
- neutral, headlights on, fan speed high, A/C on coldest
- drive (brake on), no additional load
- drive (brake on), headlights on, fan speed high, A/C on coldest

(Remember this is from memory. Hopefully someone else will correct me if I'm wrong.)

Basically you're training the ECU to learn the range of loads the engine is going to be under at idle.

After I did this you could barely see (or feel) the change in RPM when the A/C compressor kicked in while idling at the lights. It was a massive improvement.

[_Ben]

Originally Posted by rowan194

Do you mean when you're doing low speed maneuvering the engine shudders for about a second, like it's about to stall, then comes good? This used to happen to me when the engine was at idle speed in drive but under additional load, like rear view demister on and A/C compressor kicking in. In my case, relearning idle fixed the problem.

I don't have a link to the retrain procedure but from memory you disconnect the battery for a while, then start the engine with 2 minutes each of,

- neutral, no additional load
- neutral, headlights on, fan speed high, A/C on coldest
- drive (brake on), no additional load
- drive (brake on), headlights on, fan speed high, A/C on coldest

(Remember this is from memory. Hopefully someone else will correct me if I'm wrong.)

Basically you're training the ECU to learn the range of loads the engine is going to be under at idle.

After I did this you could barely see (or feel) the change in RPM when the A/C compressor kicked in while idling at the lights. It was a massive improvement.

Did this, and now my stereo is asking for the stereo code, which I got a few weeks ago from my uncle who then worked at a ford dealership, but has since retired, and I forgot to write it down. Ford wants $50 for one too

[falconhell74]

sounds like you need to replace your power steer pressure switch ,as it is also a idle up switch. Basicly it sensors when the steering is moved & causes engine to "idle up"

[_Ben]

Got the stereo code (thanks to mum :P for writing it down), steering still does clunk but a fair bit less now, and car idles / runs a fair bit better now

[rowan194]

Originally Posted by _Ben

Got the stereo code (thanks to mum :P for writing it down), steering still does clunk but a fair bit less now, and car idles / runs a fair bit better now

Ok, good to hear, I was starting to feel guilty for not warning you about losing your radio...

Giving your throttle body a clean will also pep up your engine a bit, it will definitely be noticeable if you haven't done it for some time.