Odd steering issue

[seagreen323i]

I was ripping the car over in the high country when all of a sudden something odd happened. It felt like weight shift, then suddenly the car plowed a corner, absolutely no grip in the front. Now my steering is.... strange.

When I pitch the car into a left turn, all is normal, the car turns in sharply and predictably.

Now when I pitch into a right turn it feels like I'm driving a crown vic. NO steering wheel feedback and an incredibly laggy steering feel.

I naturally assumed "oh man there I go breaking another rear swaybar endlink" nope, those are fine.

"OK that's weird, maybe the tire pressure is low" nada.

After a full inspection of the suspension, everything looks.... fine..... now I did bend the passenger front wheel, pretty good at that. No clue when but when the car is loaded down in a turn these roads here pound the suspension. So I'm not ruling that out as not the issue, it's just that it occurs at every speed, even around 15 mph.

It's like the car just does not turn in at all until around a quarter turn of the wheel. Steering linkage is tight, no cracks or tears on the thrust arms, with that wheel being bent I could see how that could cause handling issues but that wheel is the opposite wheel of the weighted wheel in a right turn, and if that shock was blown out I feel as if it would be the opposite effect, right turns feeling squishy and left turns feeling fine.

Maybe the alignment slipped, but I'm not really getting any pull in a straight line.

My power steering pump has been on the fritz for a while (making noise) so maybe that's it?

If anybody has any ideas let me know.



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[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Jeez, you get all kinds of goofy issues, what the hell do you do to that thing???

[seagreen323i]

Jeez, you get all kinds of goofy issues, what the hell do you do to that thing???

Henious things

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[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Check your idler and pitman arms, check the whole assembly, all the ball joints, the bushings, hell, check everything, stop abusing that poor car.

[seagreen323i]

Check your idler and pitman arms, check the whole assembly, all the ball joints, the bushings, hell, check everything, stop abusing that poor car.

I bought it for pennies, I'll keep running it into the ground.
I've got a 40k mile steering box, brand new power steering pump, and new lines waiting to go on with the front sway bar.
Running theory now is I may of blown out a coilover. I'll pull the fronts and check.

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[ross1]

Sounds like a sudden change in alignment which means something broke.
Pennies or not that car is hurting and sounds unsafe.

[JimLev]

Mike, whenever you decide to sell it give us a heads up that this isn’t the car any of us want to buy…..just razzing ya buddy.

[seagreen323i]

Car is unsafe? Well why do you think I parked it. I don't want to be driving it.

In all honesty I wasn't really pushing the car that hard, I had the 500 tread wear all seasons on it so it was nothing crazy. More of a spirited cruse if anything.

I'm sorry that I expect the suspension that I have fully refreshed once and then partially refreshed again to be up to snuff to handle basic kw v1 coilovers, stock sway bars, and 500 tread wear 255 tires.

I'm not sitting here running R comp tires with ridiculous 10k 12k spring rates. So realistically, the car should take it.

I have kept up on the maintenance, and at the end of the day, it's a car. My car.

I'll drive it into a tree if I want too. I never bought it to re sell it. And while I bought it cheap I guess I never considered the fact that I've put 10 times what I bought it for back into it.

It was 1000$ and I've put at least 10k into it, I guess that makes me a fool.

So I guess I'll throw it back up on my buddy's lift and check everything again. The only thing that might be iffy is the idler arm bushing, I can't recall if I changed that one when I did the entire steering linkage

But I know all rear control arms, rear ball joint, rear integral link, front lower control arms, drag link, tie rod ends, coilovers, and strut mounts have less then 40k miles on them.

The thrust arms have around 5k

Only thing I haven't changed would be the lower H arm bushings, maybe I tore one.

This sounds mean, I don't mean it that way. I'm just sick of this car and sick of trying to make it something it isn't.


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[E39 Newbie]

And while I bought it cheap I guess I never considered the fact that I've put 10 times what I bought it for back into it.

LOL Where have we heard this before? The story of every owner of old BMWs!

[seagreen323i]

LOL Where have we heard this before? The story of every owner of old BMWs!

Story of my life right, eh I'll figure it out. I've got 2 other cars to drive for the meantime. School is more important right now anyways.

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[StephenVA]

A few thoughts.

Put a torque wrench on all the suspension bolts and see what if anything is turning. Sometimes the bushings fail under load right out of the box due to poor adhesion of rubber o the steel parts.
Check the bearings to see again any movement.
Tire belt failure?

[seagreen323i]

Ohhhh, didn't consider tire belt. The wheel did take a hit. That could very well be it.

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[seagreen323i]

Issue solved, Pittman arm slipped up the splines on the steering box, that in turn made the geometry wonky. It ripped the boot on the center link in the process. Going to put a new center link in it and throw on new tie rods because I've got the fcp euro warranty.

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[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Ding ding dong! Do I get a prize?

[E39 Newbie]

Pitman arms. How quaint.

[Mike WW]

On the second or third read thru, I was thinking tire. I guess it shows what I know.

But how did it come loose? Had you been in there? I thought those things usually needed either a puller or a press to move them. If you haven't been in there I'd go thru the whole front end not knowing who did what when.

[ross1]

Issue solved, Pittman arm slipped up the splines on the steering box, that in turn made the geometry wonky. It ripped the boot on the center link in the process. Going to put a new center link in it and throw on new tie rods because I've got the fcp euro warranty.

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That's a first. These are usually quite a snug fit, requiring a puller to remove.

[seagreen323i]

I've been in there before, upon closer inspection it appears as some monkey (me) managed to booger the pinch bolt pretty good. I'm assuming that in combination with the power steering line busting a serious leak in it and hosing everything with atf caused a pretty slick surface.

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[ross1]

I've been in there before, upon closer inspection it appears as some monkey (me) managed to booger the pinch bolt pretty good. I'm assuming that in combination with the power steering line busting a serious leak in it and hosing everything with atf caused a pretty slick surface.

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I suspected something like "installer error". Kudos for fessing up. Maybe time time for a nut and bolt check, eh?

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Like I always said, always check the big nut behind the steering wheel!

[JimLev]

Ding ding dong! Do I get a prize?

Pretty sure you’ve already got a few “get out of jail” cards from some of us Mods…LOL.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

I’ll settle for a lollipop

[seagreen323i]

Hey I'll call myself out when need be. I'm gonna give the girl a full nut and bolt check when I change the linkage. I'll even borrow my buddy's fancy digital torque wrench instead of my most definitely out of calibration clicker. I marked all the bolts when I did the suspension overhaul so I'll have an easy eyeball reference.

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[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Maybe a good idea to have a nut and bolt list from the tear downs, and upon placing things back on, check off on the list. Even I, can forget stuff every now and then.

[StephenVA]

Maybe a good idea to have a nut and bolt list from the tear downs, and upon placing things back on, check off on the list. Even I, can forget stuff every now and then.

Say its not so!!!!!