Power Steering Fixed but now its too tight

im looking for some advice from people who might have had this experience:

i had a power steering leak coming from the control valve. I got a rebuilt control valve installed and now my steering is too tight. What i mean by too tight is that the wheel doesnt want to rotate itself back when turning. Im not sure if im being clear so here is an example. When im making a left turn...when im going through the apex of the turn and its time to straighten out...the wheel used to naturally rotate back so to speak and now i have to turn the wheel to the right because its really tight.

is this normal with a new control valve? do they have to wear in? is there an adjustment i can make? or does this mean that the new control valve is not good?

thanks for your help.

davidathans said:

im looking for some advice from people who might have had this experience:

i had a power steering leak coming from the control valve. I got a rebuilt control valve installed and now my steering is too tight. What i mean by too tight is that the wheel doesnt want to rotate itself back when turning. Im not sure if im being clear so here is an example. When im making a left turn...when im going through the apex of the turn and its time to straighten out...the wheel used to naturally rotate back so to speak and now i have to turn the wheel to the right because its really tight.

is this normal with a new control valve? do they have to wear in? is there an adjustment i can make? or does this mean that the new control valve is not good?

thanks for your help.

Click to expand...

Is there air in the lines? Sometimes I've had to cycle repeatedly for awhile and re-fill the reservoir until fully charged...

David,
I agree with Tim. Let it settle in a bit. If you pull the dipstick out of the reservoir sometimes you can see some foaming. Also, if you steer it right to left when stopped the pump will “growl” a bit.

But if this does not fix it, the control valve is more than likely the culprit. I will have to dig a bit, but the movement right to left that I described in the earlier e-mail may be the problem. The stud/ball assembly must move a given distance in the cups and springs in the control valve to go from “pull” to “push” on the ram. The control valve reverses the flow of the fluid to “push” or “suck” on the ram assembly to assist your steering. If it does not move back and forth to complete this “reversal” of the fluid it feels kinda stuck.

Since this is all you replaced it is more than likely the culprit. I may have to dig deep into the fun to find if it can be adjusted. I think the “end” of the control valve has a “large screw” that changes the preload on the springs and cups that changes the distance it moves. I will dig.

Rob

robert campbell said:

David,
I agree with Tim. Let it settle in a bit. If you pull the dipstick out of the reservoir sometimes you can see some foaming. Also, if you steer it right to left when stopped the pump will “growl” a bit.

But if this does not fix it, the control valve is more than likely the culprit. I will have to dig a bit, but the movement right to left that I described in the earlier e-mail may be the problem. The stud/ball assembly must move a given distance in the cups and springs in the control valve to go from “pull” to “push” on the ram. The control valve reverses the flow of the fluid to “push” or “suck” on the ram assembly to assist your steering. If it does not move back and forth to complete this “reversal” of the fluid it feels kinda stuck.

Since this is all you replaced it is more than likely the culprit. I may have to dig deep into the fun to find if it can be adjusted. I think the “end” of the control valve has a “large screw” that changes the preload on the springs and cups that changes the distance it moves. I will dig.

Rob

Click to expand...

thanks for the info. im a little disappointed that after spending over $700 my steering feels worse than it did before i changed the control valve.

Could it be the routing of the hoses? when the steering wheel turns, doesnt the pitman arm move the control valve? if it does then the hoses have to move with it and maybe they are just zip tied together too tight or rubbing against something?

or is it more realistically the new control valve?

I really don't know to much about these things but I am about to replace my control valve and noses. I was told that if I cross up hoses something like you described would happen; just adding my 2 cents worth. Doug

PS I live in Valencia about 30 mins from you.

Doug might have a thought there. I doubt that the hoses would restrict the movement of the control valve enough. As soon as the pitman arm moves it pushes the ball between the cups about 1/4 inch the way you are turning and engages the ram to assist.

Rob

Just a note about the two short control valve hoses. I hooked mine up backwards and the steering wheel would jerk right out of my hands and "pull" all the way to the right. Rendered the car completely undriveable. I posted an inquiry here and Bob Teets diagnosed it. I swapped the hoses and it fixed it. No problems since. One thing that was suggested to me when I hooked up the power steering was to jack up the front end and start the car and rotate the steering wheel back and forth to purge the air out of the system. Hopefully the shop that repaired it did some kind of air purge. Good luck finding the problem.

the car is not completely undriveable. i can drive it but its frustrating...the shop that worked on my car said that they installed the hoses backwards and then fixed it. They also said that they purged the air out of the system

David,
Don't give up yet. I have found one adjustment which is the distance between the centerline of "ball stud" and the first hole of the closet tie rod inner attachment point in the draglink. The control valve "threads" onto thge drag link.

Front end allignment can also cause this, but you are going way to fast for that to be a big problem. And since this occcured right after the new control valve installation that is the culprit.

I guess the backwards hose thing has been elliminated. It they were backward, you would know as it fights in both directions.

My guess is it is still a minor adjustment. The ball stud must be in a "neautral positon" when straight and move a bit to the right or left to activate the ram. Did the shop return you old one as a core??

Does it react the same in either direction or does it work fine one direction and noticeably worse in the other?

Rob is still digging

thanks rob i really appreciate your help. The steering tends to stick in both directions. Yes i gave the old core in for $150. I had the front end alignment done immediately after the installation of the control valve.

Here are some pictures...i guess you could tell right away if the two small ram hoses are backwards...and you can see the routing of the pressure hose and return hose (they are zip tied together pretty tight)

David,

Did the shop mess with your actual steering box at all? Ask them if they made any adjustments to the sector shaft adjustment screw. This is the screw you can see at the top of the box. It has a slot in it for a screw driver and then a nut.

What most people do is loosen the nut, then turn the shaft to tighten up the steering. Except the problem is that's not actually the proper way to adjust it. It's just the way that most shadetree mechanics have been taught to do it. If you just tighten that sucker up it puts more preload on the gears and the result can be very similar to what you describe. (ie. the steering wheel not wanting to return to center because there's so much preload)

No offense, but if the shop you had do the work wasn't informed enough to hook up the lines properly the first time, then I wouldn't put it past them to tighten up the steering box the incorrect way either.

It's probably worth a phone call to find out if they played with the box at all. It's possible that they installed the new valve and during the test drive the steering felt a little loose, so they adjusted the box until it felt tighter.

admin said:

David,

Did the shop mess with your actual steering box at all? Ask them if they made any adjustments to the sector shaft adjustment screw. This is the screw you can see at the top of the box. It has a slot in it for a screw driver and then a nut.

What most people do is loosen the nut, then turn the shaft to tighten up the steering. Except the problem is that's not actually the proper way to adjust it. It's just the way that most shadetree mechanics have been taught to do it. If you just tighten that sucker up it puts more preload on the gears and the result can be very similar to what you describe. (ie. the steering wheel not wanting to return to center because there's so much preload)

No offense, but if the shop you had do the work wasn't informed enough to hook up the lines properly the first time, then I wouldn't put it past them to tighten up the steering box the incorrect way either.

It's probably worth a phone call to find out if they played with the box at all. It's possible that they installed the new valve and during the test drive the steering felt a little loose, so they adjusted the box until it felt tighter.

Click to expand...

Well jon when the shop got the car i had already taken the two small ram hoses off so they didnt see where they originally went to the first time and he even asked me which hose went to which hole and i wasnt sure...and no they didnt touch the steering box at all. The mechanic told me right away that the steering was too tight, so i know he didnt try messing with the steering box to make it tighter.

my question is:

can i use the adjustment on the steering box to loosen the preload on the gears to see if that helps..or is that just a recipe for disaster?

has anyone ever put on a brand new control valve that just wasnt quite right inside?...it seems that maybe the control valve i got is a lemon.

Also, i climbed under the car and watched the control valve move while the steering wheel was being rotated. It doesnt seem to be a problem with the hoses but more like just the new control valve itself..

im planning to drive the mustang over to mustangs etc. and have them drive the car and then ask them if i can work out some kind of deal with them to change out the control valve with another new one to see if that fixes the problem

i mean the car is driveable now, but just imagine every time you turn the wheel, the car stays in that direction until you turn the wheel back the other way and then if you turned the wheel too far it stays to that direction, so your kinda steering back and forth the whole time

David,
Front end allignment is very important. In a perfect world if they removed the control valve and installed the new one with the distance between the closest tie rod end and the pitman arm in the exact same relationship, then you would not need a front end allignment.

It is either a bad control valve or the front end is "pulling" one way enough to keep pressure against the ball stud.

My guess is there is something wrong with the control valve.

Rob

David, maybe I'm not seeing something in your pictures correctly, but are your power steering hoses strapped to your front sway bar? If your hoses aren't mobile, that might restrict your steering. Just a thought.

i slid under the car while i watched my uncle steer it...the fact that the hoses are zip tied pretty tight together doesnt seem to effect the way the steering works...we will find out this week if it was a bad new control valve, but it seems like it to me...thanks to all...i will let you know what happens

Arnold Marks at Mustangs Etc (the shop that sold me the control valve) drove my car today and thinks that it is the control valve so im planning to spend another 500 to get it fixed next thursday

Why do you have to spend another $500 if they installed a faulty control valve?
Neil Hoppe

David: I agree with Neil, why would you have to pay again for a faulty control valve they supplied. They should have test drove the car and determined that before charging you the first time. I'd really fight them on that one. Good luck and I hope you get some satisfaction from the shop.

IMHO - If David supplied the control valve and the shop just installed it then all the shop charges were labor. Mostlikley the shop will say it wasn't their fault because they did not suppy the valve - just labor. The perosn who sold the "faulty" valve should exchange it.

i bought the control valve from mustangs etc...but they did not install it...the shop that i paid to install it was just doing their job...its not their fault that i provided them with a faulty control valve to install. Mustangs etc is going to exchange the control valve without charging me, but they didnt even know that the control valve they sold me was faulty...so i dont expect them to do the job for free...they are going to exhange the control valve which is all that i would expect..the 500 includes parts and labor and another alignment and strut rod bushings and installation and a 2-piece pressure hose...but it still sucks...

seriously how is anyone supposed to know that the control valve they buy is good before installing it on their car? and in my situation it turned out to be no good...so there is duplication of work in removing the control valve and reinstalling another that im just going to have to eat out of pocket...if i had mustangs etc do the job for me and they provided the control valve then maybe i would expect them to redo the job, but even then its a situation that sucks because someone is going to lose money...anyways i hope that the next control valve they put on the car is good