2004 Lincoln LS Steering Wheel suddenly loses alignment temporarily

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Sexsymbolx

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Hi everyone-

First time poster here, although I've been reading this forum for quite some time.

My 2004 LS V8 developed a really strange problem today and I can't find anything similar in the previous posts.

My wife came home this morning and said on her way to a meeting the steering wheel alignment suddenly shifted, as in in order to keep he car going straight the wheel had to be turned almost 90 degrees to the left. She stopped at her meeting and then when she left the alignment was back to normal. She said that on her way home it did the same thing. I took it out and everything was behaving normally.

We took it in to Pep Boys to have the alignment checked and everything checked out okay, although there was a comment from that manager that the mechanic had said it seemed like one of the wheels might have been locked up when he checked it out. They did say that the struts should be replaced soon, but that everything was tight and the alignment is okay. I drove it home, no problems.

Then tonight we went out and sure enough the same thing happened. It happened after making a pretty sharp right turn. The wheel had to be almost 90 degrees counter clockwise and things just felt a little unsteady in the steering. This time when it happened the Check Advancetrac message appeared and the traction light came on solid. I stopped and tried to disengage the Advancetrac but couldn't. I parked, shut off the car, and restarted it, the Advancetrac warning was gone. I turned the wheel lock to lock and then everything was back aligned straight ahead again. When I hit the brake I did here an unusual noise. It only happened once. After that braking was fine.

All was fine again until I pulled into my driveway, again making a sharp right turn. Same thing happened, although with no Advancetrac warning this time.

I just verified with my wife that both times she had it happen also occurred after a sharp right turn from a stop.

I'm theorizing that I might be looking at a brake caliper hanging up on the right side, which is the only thing that I can think of that could be making these symptoms occur. If not that I suppose that it could be something in the ABS or the power steering rack.

Can anyone tell me if they've seen anything like this before? I'm also wondering if there are any suggestions where to start troubleshooting?

Thanks!
 
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Possibly a brake caliper locking up, but my money is on the lower control arm bolts. If the bolt is loose it can allow the control arm to shift under certain conditions, and then to fall back into place.
 
Never go to pep boys!
Anyway, I really doubt it is a brake issue. If it where, that brake would be smoking hot when it happens. You have something about to turn loose, and the car is not safe to drive. If you can't find it, take it somewhere that can (this won't be pep boys, firestone, or anywhere like that). Find a good local independent. Somewhere that works on Jaguars should be good. Otherwise, you might try a Jaguar dealer. (You can try a Lincoln dealer if you can find one that remembers the LS.)
 
Thanks for the response guys!

What you both say makes sense. I'll have that looked at as well.

If it's a front suspension issue like that I would assume that it's fairly straightforward.

The more complicated things that I was concerned about would be the steering rack and the Advancetrac system. Would either of those be something that could be responsible?

Thanks again for the help! I'm hoping it's nothing too complex.
 
My guess from the limited info and not driving it myself- a faulty wheel speed sensor (fixed by replacing the hub/bearing assy). When you hit the brakes, ABS is engaging on one side because the computer thinks the wheel is locked up, causing the car to dart towards the other direction (the funny noise is the ABS engaging). It will figure out something is wrong, and disable the ABS. This means you only get the noise on the initial stop after restarting the engine, and not on subsequent stops. You would also have an ABS light on if its working, but I didn't see you mention that.

You could also have a bushing that is shot somewhere, and the control arm is popping in and out of proper location. Or an issue with the steering shaft, or yes, the rack itself. Either way, its VERY dangerous to drive until you get it fixed.
 
It's not AdvanceTrac. There's no way it can make the steering wheel be offset. It did react to you having the wheel turned 90 degrees and the car going straight. It tries (using the brakes) to make the car go in the direction that you are steering it in.
 
02LincLS said:
My guess from the limited info and not driving it myself- a faulty wheel speed sensor ...
Click to expand...

ABS (assuming it didn't recognize the fault) would be a momentary tug at the wheel. Turning the wheel and holding it 90 degrees while driving would not correct this. If one brake was tugging, you would have to apply pressure to hold the wheel centered. Instead, they are holding the wheel 90 off to keep the car straight. I'm sure they would have noticed if they were dragging one locked up wheel all the way down the street.
 
90 degrees does seem excessive. In my example, its not one wheel thats locked, its one wheel is doing no braking and the other doing 90% of stopping the car, so it pulls that way. We also don't know how much crown was in the road, etc. But 90 degrees seems excessive for this (I might say 45 if this were the case).

It certainly seems like his wheels are not pointed in the same direction when he has the issue so it really seems like tie rods, ball joints, or bushings. Starting off from a sharp right exacerbates the issue, when the suspension is at its most extreme geometry.

edit: if this difference in direction of wheels from side to side is enough (and it seems like it is) it could trip the advancetrac (and possibly ABS too) because of the difference in wheel speed. This could still be the noise he describes, but he didn't give much of a description of the noise, or stated whether he even hit the brakes at all. Is the top of the lincoln star in fact at the 9:00 position.
 
If it's a control arm bolt or something, would the wheels both still be facing straight ahead in the same direction?

Sorry if this sounds dumb, but I'm trying to wrap my head around it. Certainly not trying to be argumentative.

When it first happened I got out and checked and both tires appeared visually to be facing straight ahead, even though the wheel was turned. After driving away it still had that issue until I turned the wheel lock to lock.
 
They could face in the right direction when you happen to look, and also possibly not. They are free to move out of place if the bushings are gone and it might be subtle enough not to see by eye. They will move around depending on whether you're turning, stopping, or taking off.

How many miles on your 04? What repairs have been done up front so far?
 
Sorry - I wasn't clear about the braking.

Yes. I did hit the brakes. I came to a complete stop and then had to drive around a couple of corners to find a place to pull over.

There did appear to be a slight noise when I hit the brakes at this point, but it was faint. It might have sounded just a bit like when a brake pad is completely worn and you get metal on metal contact, although not as loud.

After stopping, shutting off the car, restarting it, and turning the wheel to correct the problem I hit the brakes again and this time there was another noise, louder I believe. This one seemed to have a bit more thunk to it, but it's hard to describe.

After that the car was fine.

It seems as though the car needs to be turned to the right at close to a 90 degree turn to make this happen.
 
I had the control arms replaced about 6 months ago as I was getting some noise from the bushings having been deteriorated. Aside from that the only suspension work that I can recall in the last 5 years is having the sway bar links replaced.

The car has just over 140K on it.
 
Did they replace uppers or lowers? Sure sounds like something is popping in and out of place. Did the control arms come with ball joints? You really need a competent shop to look at it. Set up a go pro or old phone to shoot video of the suspension and see if you can find it. Right in your driveway might be enough- I wouldn't take it out to the street until you ID it. Tow it to a shop if you have to.
 
They told you don't drive it. I'd jack it up myself and be checking the wheel bearings and brake caliper pins and upper and lower control arm and ball joints area.If you cant detect it, have it TOWED to a reputable garage,preferably a Lincoln dealer.
BTW,a rear tire going wrong can change the steering needed to keep the car straight. Rear toe links aren't that strong on these cars.don-ohio :)^)
 
I thought that they had replaced the lowers, but I'm not able to find the paperwork at the moment. Just tried the mechanic and it will began other hour before they can tell me what they did.

The car is currently at a local Pep Boys. Obviously not my preferred choice, but the only place that was open yesterday to look at it.

They just called and said that the car has a bad rack and pinion and that the need to replace it. They quoted $1025, just over $500 of which is the part.

Does this sound correct? Or should I take it in for a second opinion?
 
I'm sorry you have it at Pep Boys. They are pretty high. I bought an Auto-Zone rack and pinion and installed it for less than 200 bucks.
BUT it was a base 04 LS and the steering might not be as fancy as say on my `03.
I'd get it outta there to where Joe said or Ford/Lincoln. That's just me. don-ohio :)^)
 
Thanks, I'm leaning the same way.

I think that it will need to go down the street to another place. I'll try to find a Lincoln shop.
 
That is a good move. Success to you! Keep us posted on your solution? don-ohio :)^)
 
If it happens again, immediately stop and visually inspect the suspension. You are describing an issue I had on my 2nd car - a 1966 GTO. If I made a slow speed turn on dry pavement that me hard cranked left, the Control/Idler Arm (I can't remember which) would actually pivot into the wrong direction. I would have to get out and push it back into place.
 
Just to get an opinion, if I take it in to another shop and they agree that it's the rack and pinion, would that seem possible?

I'm not really trusting of most of the mechanics in this area, to be honest.

Also, that quote seemed high to me. I'm seeing the part for under $300 all over the place online. And how many hours should a job like that take?

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate it!
 
Ford will probably be truthful to you. An alignment shop can replace rack and pinion,the tie rods if necessary, and align it in 3 hrs. tops. don-ohio :)^)
 
That quote is not that high considering all the work.

I would NOT buy an autozone rack. I did that with my tbird and it lasted all of 2 months. I purged the entire system too. I was out there doing the job a second time while it was snowing on my legs.

On the LS, I got a Motorcraft reman from Rockauto for $600 and had a dealer put it in. It came with a 1 or 2 year warranty too. No issues so far.
 
I had no trouble with my LIFETIME guaranteed Auto Zone rack and pinion,EXCEPT my fault when I switched the wave washers to the wrong side. it's been working fine for probably 40K now on my v6. don-ohio

02LincLS said:
That quote is not that high considering all the work.

I would NOT buy an autozone rack. I did that with my tbird and it lasted all of 2 months. I purged the entire system too. I was out there doing the job a second time while it was snowing on my legs.

On the LS, I got a Motorcraft reman from Rockauto for $600 and had a dealer put it in. It came with a 1 or 2 year warranty too. No issues so far.
Click to expand...
 
Well, I have a tentative update:

I picked up the car and took it to another mechanic - the place that did the control arms about 6 months ago. I told them what it was doing and that it sounded like a loose control arm.

Talked to them about 4 hours later and he told me that I was right. They had found q few loose bolts on the control arm that was letting it shift and causing the problem. He said that they'd tightened them up but would like to keep the car overnight so that they could make sure that I wouldn't have any more problems and so that the alignment guy could take care of it in the morning. He also said that there would be no charge for anything because they had installed the control arms. I asked if everything else was good including the steering rack and he said it's all good and that it was all coming from the control arm.

So I suppose that there is still a possibility that there could be something else found along the way, but it looks like they found and are fixing the issue free of charge, as they should.

Good to know that they're honest.

As for Pep Boys, I could have put $1K+ into a steering rack that I didn't need and would still have had the issue, unless someone thought to tighten everything up along the way.

Putting this one in th "win" column.

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate all the help!

Tim
 
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