Hi & appreciate any help and advice what so ever!

I bought a nice 02 Ford Windstar SE minivan about 1 month ago with 99,000 miles well taken care of. I bought it from a private small dealer, and it comes with a 1 month/1000 mile warrenty.

RE: The van drives pretty good, but there is a slight drift or pull to the right at various times but not all the time.
I also noticed that with it running in park, that while turning the steering wheel back & forth slowly about the span of 4 inches left or right, that you could feel in the steering shaft an area of (Rub or bind or wear play) that seemed to be about 1/2" of play or what ever one could call it, but wasnt real pronounced, and could just barely feel it.

(Inspection of front suspension & components)
So I mentioned this to and took it to a Midas Shop to have an inspection dowen of the under front suspension. They said all looked fine except for maybe a slightly worn inner right passinger side tie-rod that only has a slight amount of movement in it.
I then took it to a Ford dealership and they did the very same inspection, and they said the same thing, all looked very good and maybe a slightly worn inner right side tie-rod.

So I told the small dealer that I bought it from, he said I'll have the tie-rod replaced and an alignment done.

(Whats been done)
1. The tie-rod was replaced at a small 1 man shop.
2. The alignment tech at (another shop) said he noticed the person that changed the inner tie-rod left the inner boot strap off it and the boot would need a strap installed to protect it from dirt/water damage, and he said
3. He said an area in the steering wheel could be felt that seemed to be a worn or loose steering knuckle down near the steering box, and that an alignment would not hold or be right unless that was corrected first. He told the dealer this on the phone, but the dealer told him to go ahead and alignmn it anyways. (I asked him what that is? He says it's like a small universal joint down in the steering shaft at or near the rack)

I then drive the van & its worse now with a pull to the right than it was before anything was done!....even the wheel is now off centered somewhat.

I drove to the small selling dealer, he says that he will make a few calls and see if he can get it taken care of.

He then says next Friday to have me bring it back in to have the steering knuckle replaced, but not by an authorized Ford dealer.

My question to you alignment/steering/suspension pros:

1. What seems to be your take on what the problem is with-in the steering or suspension parts of this van that may be or is the problem?
2. What suggestions or advice can you give me here?

Many Thanks, and I dont want to have something touched or fooled around with that might not be the real problem, and surely dont want to have it come out even worse than it is now.

Jimmy

 

Has anyone checked to see if the wheel bearings and struts are good or not. If the wheel bearings are worn there will be play in the hub and the vehicle couldn't be lined up properly. If there's a bad or leaking strut on one side and the one on the other side is good that could probably cause it pull to the weak side. If there's nothing wrong with the steering or suspension system there's no reason the vehicle can't be lined up properly. If the front end has been inspected by a Ford garage and an independent garage and both said there was nothing wrong other than the inner tie rod I'd be laying the blame on the alignment shop not doing a good job on the alignment. As for the steering wheel not being straight after the alignment that's pretty common. The pulling could also be caused by wear on the tires. The alignment shop is right about the boot strap on the inner tie rod boot needing to be on it and secured. If the van can't be lined up properly the front end experts should be able to tell you exactly what needs to be done to correct it. The only joint that I can think of that he could be talking about is possibly the swivel joint where the steering column connects to the steering rack. I'm not sure how they are on the van, but I would imagine they are the same as on my Escort the steering rack and the swivel joint are splined and the steering rack has a notch in it that once the swivel joint is down on it far enough a bolt goes through it to hold the swivel joint onto the steering rack. There's a possibilty the bolt has got loose and caused the splines to wear and the steering to slip. I'd make it a point to talk to who ever is making the repair and tell them if the splines are worn off of the steering rack or the swivel joint to be sure to replace one or both if needed otherwise the steering sector could slip when steering causing no control or loss of control of the vehicle.

 

and struts appeared to be fine. They actually checked them first as far as I know, and I asked and they said they seemed okay.

Tire wear is about the same on both front and even the rear tires, so that at best would be a minor concern with this situation I think, but your exactly right about one tire worn more than the other would cause a pull, but these are okay and within the same wear patterns.

News:
Okay well that slight area in the steering wheel when cycling the wheel back & forth from one side to the other?

The area of wear or rub or what ever it is, it's like a click or rub spot about the area of about 1/4" or so that is felt in the wheel down near the rack I'm told, you can feel it while touching the rack and the tie-rods with the weight or front end touching the ground.

>But, with it running and lifting the front end just off the ground, you cycle the wheelback & forth and you don't feel or hear the click or feel it in the rack or swivel joint, (so it appears that it's in the rack) I was told by the long time Midas tech that did hear and feel what I was telling him about the noise in the sterring, or atleast that what he feels.

So what are your thoughts and best judgments with reading this new info we found out?

Thanks and look forward to hearing back from you Sir, and by the way, North Carolina is a great state, my Moms from Wilmington.

Jimmy

 

I really don't know, but if the technician thinks it's a fault in the steering rack I'd try to get the seller to replace the complete rack and realign the van.

 

I would definitely check all bushings and steering control arms and things of that nature- if you DO end up getting new struts you should check out completestruts.com because they have the assemblies that just pop in. I got mine from there and they work great. They don't come with any bushings for control arms, though, so make sure you pick those up elsewhere.

-Sam

 

I have been working on cars for roughly 20 years learning from multiple people including my father and completestruts.com is a total scam. The struts I got from them ruined a tire and they refused to pay for the tire their part screwed up or send me a refund for the wasted money on their cheap, knock-off, Chinese made crap. The metal that they are made of is nowhere near the cold rolled steel they should be made of. After 20 miles, at most, the locator tab in the back that the bolt goes through was bent at 2 90° angles and you could plainly see that the coil spring was not lined up properly against the top and bottom plates. The following pictures are the struts through them and the damage they caused to a tire as well as the original that I removed. O'Reilly's is more expensive but at least you get the correct quality of parts. If you buy through completestruts make sure you find a garage that will install them for you so you are covered against their crooked bs.

Locator tab that should be straight


Damage done to my brand new tire due to the strut bought from completestruts.com

Left is the original strut, right is from completestruts.com with a bent locator tab from low quality metal

Left is completestruts and the right is the original.