My lad’s Clio developed a vague steering issue when doing above 50mph, the steering became noticeably lighter and cornered as if you were driving a sofa, soft and woolly almost. I changed the tie rod ends, no difference, changed top link and noisy front bearing, no difference, checked inner tie rods, they are good. Scratched head and checked shockers, they seem okay, scratched head some more and checked previous mot reports. Advisory for anti roll bar bushes, put some on order, but they aren’t here yet. Then the weather turned very cold and the steering became perfect, no vagueness, no wandering on cornering nothing wrong. Weather warms up above freezing back to vague steering over 50 mph? Any thoughts, steering rack or fluids possibly, or would the anti roll bar bushes stiffen up in the cold and be stiff enough to reduce vagueness. I’m thinking of ordering a new rack, but thought I’d check with the TLB brains first.
Could be play in the steering box, grease in box stiffens up at very low temps then as it warms up through use the wear on the box appears again? Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk
You might have hit on it there with rubber stiffening up when cold. Tyres will drop a couple of Psi when colder too, but unless they were over-inflated you’d think it would get more vague when softer at lower pressures... Just thinking out loud.
Is it electronic PAS? I ask because I once had a car that would stiffen up considerably when under braking, noticeable more at night when headlights were on. I figured out it was due to increased electrical load from brake lights while the engine speed dropped to idle as you lifted the throttle, so the steering was getting less assistance. The headlights dimmed as well. Sounds weird I know. Another far-fetched guess, some alternators have dual-load outputs, they’ll save engine load while the electrical load is low and kick out a lower voltage, but switch on heated rear window, headlights and stuff and it’ll switch modes and raise the output. If it’s Electronic PAS maybe...
Electric motor in the column or traditional hydraulic pump? I'm thinking along the lines of old fluid maybe with water contamination.
If it's electric, the PAS may need "recalibrating" (by turning the steering lock to lock while standing on one leg whistling "Dixie", summut like that). If I leave my Golf with the battery disconnected for while, the PAS loses its cal and feels really funny.