Steering rack fault ?

[ben10]

Brought a dc2 a few months back and have had it sat up whilst I have been fitting all my bits, took it out for its first blast yesterday and the front end is really sloppy.

The power steering has been removed and whilst driving it the 200miles home I noticed it was a little stiff but having had several with the power steering removed through various ways I didn't think anything of it. But whilst driving it feels as thou the rack is really stiff to the right and loose to the left which is fine until you come from being on right hand lock to a sharp left turn then it feels like the first initial movement does nothing and then the car lurches to the left.

I have removed one of the bolts on the rack and turned lock to lock and the smallest amount of fluid came out, which I believe is correct as your supposed to leave a little in to keep it lubricated ? There is also no signs of the rack sliding in its mounts.

Any ideas ?

 

[jesse888]

Would a really dodgey alignment cause this? Or accident damaged car?

 

[Jimbo]

I removed all fluid when I looped my steering rack, I striped and greased the internals of the rack though. Your fault sounds like your trying to push fluid on one side of the rack.

 

[ben10]

Would a really dodgey alignment cause this? Or accident damaged car?

I removed all fluid when I looped my steering rack, I striped and greased the internals of the rack though. Your fault sounds like your trying to push fluid on one side of the rack.

Jesse:
Definitely nothing to do with accident damage bud and feels more serious than an alignment issues, would describe it as random violent tramlining.

Jimbo:
I have always left a little fluid in the rack in the past but I will try and take it all out and see if it's any better, don't want it to run dry thou so may have to take it apart and grease it as you have done

 

[Michael Flare]

Is the rack's internals removed? It's supposed to be removed if you're using a power steering rack for manual steering.

 

[jesse888]

If you can't do this ben send it to me and I'll de-power it for you.

 

[kellsled]

Leaving some fluid in does nothing!! Been there and it feels crap, to do it right you have to strip the rack internals and remove the washer in the middle that pushes the fluid but I just pumped mine full of grease and it felt great. Fails mot over here now as the tester says it's dangerous to loop a rack as it can lock or something so I just fitted a proper oem non-power steering rack

 

[Dino-Spumoni]

To the OP's question-

Make sure tire pressure and tire wear is the same, all around.

If that's alright I would get an alignment. I would ask the guys doing the alignment to check every bushing, ball joint and rod while they have the car in the air.

In the US I go to National Tire and Battery and they have 1, 3, and 5 year all you can eat alignment programs where you pay a small fee up front for unlimited alignments for that time period. Look for the same where you are if you can find it!
It saves me a bit of hassle sometimes, trying to find problems myself.

If you've done all of the above it might be time to install a fresh manual rack. That would be the surefire way to remedy the problem. Get new rubber bushings all around when you do it. If you want a quicker ratio rack (since manual racks are slower) there are aftermarket options to re-gear it. If you have questions on changing the rack make a new thread- there are a lot of mistakes to be made.

AS A DISCLAIMER-
Messing around gutting out the internals of your power steering rack can make it really unbearably noisy to use. You really shouldn't remove the white plastic support bushings that hold the rod in place in the middle of the rack tube. I only recommend you go as far as removing the little springs and rods inside the hydraulic housing, and then put the housing back.
PLEASE NOTE- The actual geared parts inside the rack (the rack and pinion) already have grease and are separate from the hydraulic fluid. No need to gut it all out and re-grease it.