I am having sever problems with my Ford Explorer. I will try to give as much detail as possible...
The problem is in my front end and/or steering. When I am hitting bumps, bridge joices, pot holes, etc. in the road, The whole steering feels like it goes loose. Also, it seems if I hit a bump or whatever while I am going through a turn, the steering goes out of whack and the whole vehicle starts shaking horribly and never regains "control" or stops shaking until I pull over and completely stop the vehicle.
On my first visit to my mechanic, he replaced the ball-joints along with the end-link kit for the sway bar. On my drive home, the problem still existed. I called and told him and he said to bring it in the next morning. On that visit, he replaced the shocks/struts. A week went by and I thought the problem was solved, but a few days ago I was on my way to a friends son's b-day party and I hit a bridge joice and the car started shaking horrbibly again. I pulled over and it stopped, I have driven pretty carefully since Saturday and haven't had any major problem with it, but if I hit a slight bump it feels like I the steering is loose. I am taking it to a friend of my father's, a more trusted guy to get him to fix it.
If anyone can possible give me some insight as to what might be going wrong or anything, it would be appreciated. I want to go to my father's friend with some extra knowledge of the situation.
your problem is its a ford.
-Borsty
hahahahahaha, bortsy you're such an ass
on a side note, i concur.
GO PATS!!!
Borsty wrote:your problem is its a ford.
Im a Xbox 360 fanboy...and damn proud of it!!
does it have TCS and/or ABS?
I can see why he did the ball joints first, because it is so common. As for the swaybar endlink kit, it sounds like this is much more of a problem than just the swaybar. Then the shocks... please do not take it back to that mechanic. Maybe go burn down his shop just for fun.
Tie rod ends, would be the first thing I would check. Loose or improperly adjusted could definitely be causing your problem. Centerlink, rack and pinion and worn pitman arm, check next. It doesent sound like its your power steering components, it sounds a little too severe for that.
What year is your explorer? 4wd?
I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, thats as good as they are going to feel all day. ~ Dean Martin
When I had a Ford, same thing happened to me. I hit a bad pot hole and all the sudden the stearing wheel started to shake violently...only thing that would make it stop would be to either turn the car off or turn the heat on. Took it my mechanic and he replaced the fan. Evidently, the fan would make the steering wheel shake like that, dont know how or why but it did.
Doesn't this belong in "other cars"?
Quote:
Doesn't this belong in "other cars"?
don't worry, it'll probably be moved soon
GO PATS!!!
Alex Yingling wrote:does it have TCS and/or ABS?
ABS, yes...TCS, not sure...I bought it used from my mother...kinda the only option I had at the time (for you @!#$ that says my problem is it's a ford)
Graden wrote:I can see why he did the ball joints first, because it is so common. As for the swaybar endlink kit, it sounds like this is much more of a problem than just the swaybar. Then the shocks... please do not take it back to that mechanic. Maybe go burn down his shop just for fun.
Tie rod ends, would be the first thing I would check. Loose or improperly adjusted could definitely be causing your problem. Centerlink, rack and pinion and worn pitman arm, check next. It doesent sound like its your power steering components, it sounds a little too severe for that.
What year is your explorer? 4wd?
Thanks for the insight. I will mention all that to my father's friend for him to check out.
btw, your package shipped yesterday
give it a week, +/- a few days.
Slug wrote:When I had a Ford, same thing happened to me. I hit a bad pot hole and all the sudden the stearing wheel started to shake violently...only thing that would make it stop would be to either turn the car off or turn the heat on. Took it my mechanic and he replaced the fan. Evidently, the fan would make the steering wheel shake like that, dont know how or why but it did.
Doesn't this belong in "other cars"?
As far as the heat, I've had the heat running through 2 of the incidents. Like I said, it only stops when I pull over and come to a complete stop.
My bad on the wrong forum too. I thought I clicked on "Other Cars".
Quote:
When I had a Ford, same thing happened to me. I hit a bad pot hole and all the sudden the stearing wheel started to shake violently...only thing that would make it stop would be to either turn the car off or turn the heat on. Took it my mechanic and he replaced the fan. Evidently, the fan would make the steering wheel shake like that, dont know how or why but it did.
Seriously?? I would like to know how the fan would cause problems with steering the vehicle.
I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, thats as good as they are going to feel all day. ~ Dean Martin
......and yes, it's a 1998and it's 4WD. Have never used it though, hasn't snowed much the past 2 years.
See if it does it when you're in 4wd.
I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, thats as good as they are going to feel all day. ~ Dean Martin
only thing that would come to mind as already stated was the rack and pinion a buddys 99 grand am did the same thing had the ball joints rack and pinion preplaced and also had an alignment and it was fixed
let us know how it turns out will ya
I was thinking it might be the TCS or ABS freaking out when you hit a bumb and it was turning on. Do you hear any noises coming from under the hood?
uhuhuuh... somebody said ball joints.........
BALL joints......... uhuhuhuhu
My buddies truck had almost the same symptoms. Turns out it was a bad steering damper.
Might not be related, but I had a friend with a mid 90's explorer, and the vehicle shook
almost violently at highway speed, seems the motor mounts were so soft, the engine
never settled down, so im wondering if hitting a bump cold set up a vibration that you
feel through the steering wheel. His engine shaking was never resolved, Ford had
no answers for it, he sold it.
And this doesnt belong in Other Cars, its a truck you bunch of sillies.
RatZero, I have had that truck up to almost 100mph...hehe
This problem just started within the past 2 weeks. I live off of a very uncomfortable road and it has never showed these symptoms until just now.
After thinking kind of hard aboot it, the steering does feel loose all the time, like while driving and I jerk the wheel back and forth it barely effect the movement of the truck. When I hit a small bump it jerks the wheel like something is jumping off track or giving loose. If I hit a large bump, thats when it does the horrible shaking. I am beginning to think it might be the steering rack, like a few of you suggested.
Alex, no noises at all...
kinda seems like it would deal with the power steering then if its always loose
Tie Rod Ends would be my first guess, if it's a Rack & Pinion there is no Pitman Arm so that won't be a problem. If it's got a Recirculating Ball steering system then I would go to the pitman arm, if the tie rod ends aren't the problem, after that my next guess would be the steering box, possibly a loose steering gear. After that I'm out of ideas for what you're describing
Yella02-I promise I will return to you in one piece and this will stay up until I am safely home
check the u-joints in the steering shaft from the steering wheel to the power steeering gear box, if the bearings went in there it would give you that ever so worthless control on steering.
could possibly be struts or tie rod ends or steering rack or MAYBE torsion bars, bring it to me and ill have it figured out exactly within an hr
The one, the only, ME.
Just curious but if ur steering shaft going to the ps gear box has a u joint,u should not have any play in that shaft what so ever.That would indicate the u joint on the steering shaft is worn ,a simple check with ur hands to move it with a twist ,if there is play that would indicate the problem.I am not fluent with ur brand but,more so with heavy duty trks and if there is play as saint said the bearings inside the ps housing is prolly shot or really worn.Nothing new with these issues just a diff veh application.U should not have alot of play in the steering wheel itself,no more than 2in on average since u hv done the above work already.Hope this is useful.
most things have vbeen mentioned already... stuff liek that its hard to guess at without actually driving it and checking it out personally, there are alot of tings it "could" be, I fix VW not ford trucks, but if it was a VW the first things I would check is making sure all the lugs are tight, after that the strut mounts, tie rods ends, wheel bearings, ball joints/end links (end links on the 4 link suspension)... honestly I'd say just take it to an actual ford dealership
Mechanic just called, he assured me it was the steering rack....
Thanks to those who shed some light, much appreciated.
