Hello All!

I have a 1998 E150 Conversion van with some front end/steering issues I'm trying to pinpoint. The steering has quite a bit of play in it, and it wants to pull to the left, although it's sensitive to road camber, meaning that when the road slopes slightly toward the right (as it often does in the right-hand lane) it pulls less.

It has a steering wheel vibration at freeway speeds that appears to be truly random. Sometimes it does it, sometimes not, andI can't tell that the speed, steering angle, road surface, or tire temperature have anything to do with it.

When you turn the wheel back and forth all the way to the stops, as I often do when parallel parking, the whole van leans noticeably in the direction opposite from the way the wheels are pointing.

Also, when making a very sharp left-hand turn, like a u-turn, there's sometimes a thunk from somewhere down in the works, and the van lurches, as if the tire moved on its mount suddenly. And on softer turns, it sometimes shudders a bit from what feels like tire slippage, almost as if the differential were locking up.

I also hear rattles and thunks from what sounds like somewhere under the passenger footwell when driving on bumpy roads, though I don't know if that's related. And, it returns about 10 MPG from the 5.4-liter, which suggests to me that it may be having to work a bit harder than normal, so maybe something's out of alignment. I know it's not a Prius, but 10 MPG is a little low for this thing, when driven at 65 mph with the cruise control set, right?

I've heard that the ball joints are prone to failure, but they were replaced at 80k, and the van now has 107k on it, so it seems (to me, at least) like the failure would be a little premature. I live in Chicago, with all the bad roads and road salt, if that makes any difference.

Hopefully, some of you have some thoughts on this. Otherwise, I'm gonna have to pay some rip-off artist to start replacing parts *****-nilly 'til he drains my bank account and never gets it fixed.

Thanks for any advice.

 

You shouldn't have to pay a rip-off artist. Find a good alignment shop and have them check it out. From what you are describing it will not be hard to figure out what is worn/bent/broken or whatever. Relying on advice here is kinda like paying the ripoff artist, you may get told it is any number of things, then when you replace those and it isn't fixed, who do you blame? Get it checked out and give a starving mechanic a chance to fix it for you. We are not all rip off artists (your term,not mine).

Your kinda problem can only be figured out by actually confirming the problem and tracking down the cause phsyically.

 

I apologize - I know all mechanics aren't rip-off artists, and I didn't mean to broadly disparage the profession. But since I don't knowthe first thing about what might be wrong, I was hoping to get an idea, and I'm new to the area and haven't found a trustworthy repair shop yet. If the shop tells me I need a new control arm, well - I don't know, does the thing even have those? Are they common points of failure? I'm just looking for people with experience and more knowledge to say, "It's probably X, Y, or Z." But you mentioned that this kind of problem has to be examined for the specific point of failure, so maybe that's not possible.

Anyway, again, I apologize if I offended.

 

No offense taken. Give me an idea of where you are, I will check the IATN network and give you some recommendations if you like for shops to check out. IATN is a technician only website, worldwide, with some of the best techs who will treat you right. In fact, I think you can run a shop check yourself. Check it out at ITAN.net, let me know if you find something in youre area, and I will tell them I sent you.

Your issues could be ball joints, bushings, steering linkage, anything related to suspension or steering.

 

Hi Dennis,

I'm in Chicago; zip is 60647. If you're able to steer me towards a reputable shop, that'd be a great help.

Thanks

 

Here are two glowing recommendations:

Scott Ritchey spoke highly of Garcias Auto Service. He says the owner, Jose Garcia, is honest, reliable, and a good guy to deal with. Unfortunately I lost Scotts email so I don't have the address, but he is in your area.

Also received this strong recommend from another IATN member. Please let me know how this works ouot for you.


Dennis,

Greatest guy's on the north side of Chicago....oh...and a
quality shop.

http://www.bjsujoint.com/ [bjsujoint.com]

Dave
David Becker
Owner
Wheeling Auto Center
Arlington Heights, Illinois, USA