Power steering going in and out?

nelliott500

nelliott500

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Just drove the car this morning and noticed the power steering seems to be going in and out. The steering will randomly (pretty sure it's random -- I need to play around with it a little more to see if it sticks in the same positions every time) get stiff and then go back to normal. If you take a turn and let go of the wheel, it still start to come back to center and then stick in a spot until you help it continue centering.

Fluid level is fine. Is this a sign of the pump failing? There's no whining, no noises. I drove the car on Saturday and didn't notice anything like this and my wife hasn't mentioned it (she's the one that usually drives the car) so it must have just recently started. Maybe the pressure solenoid going bad?
 
Check the U joint on the steering shaft. Same thing happened to me, new steering shaft fixed the problem... one of the quickest fixes on this car to for what its worth...

Think it took me all of 20 minutes to pull the old one off and put the new one on.
 
Is it the intermediate shaft? What am I looking for when checking the U joint?

My repair manual says the steering wheel needs to be held in a centered position with something. Any recommendations on what to use to hold it in place?
 
just make sure it doesnt spin.

It can move quite a bit while you install the new shaft, as long as it doesnt do a full rotation.

Yes it is the intermediate shaft.
 
nelliott500 said:
Is it the intermediate shaft? What am I looking for when checking the U joint?

My repair manual says the steering wheel needs to be held in a centered position with something. Any recommendations on what to use to hold it in place?
Click to expand...

The concern is that you don't want to let the steering wheel do a full rotation and get reconnected one full turn out of place. If so, the clockspring will be destroyed later when you turn the wheel lock to lock.

The typical way to keep it in place is to hang a weight from the bottom of the steering wheel.
 
Any place to order the replacement shaft online or is a dealer the only source?

What am I looking for when I check the u-joint before purchasing a replacement?
 
I pulled one from a yard temporarily then ordered one from the dealer, as I couldnt have the car down for more than a day.
 
How quickly should this part be changed out? The car doesn't get driven a whole lot. Probably 10 miles a week on a standard week. If the part is a little pricey, I'd prefer to get it from Maxx since it will cost less.
 
nelliott500 said:
How quickly should this part be changed out? The car doesn't get driven a whole lot. Probably 10 miles a week on a standard week. If the part is a little pricey, I'd prefer to get it from Maxx since it will cost less.
Click to expand...

How important to you is it that the front wheels point in the direction that you steer?
 
Well........ :lol:

I guess I'll go to the dealer tomorrow. This part seems pretty expensive. On http://www.fordparts.com/ it's listed for $229.50. Ouch.

I'm starting to regret buying this car. I've spent more on this thing in a few months than I have in the 5+ years I've owned my 1989 Prelude.
 
Awesome. The dealership doesn't have one in stock in any of their warehouses. I emailed Max to get a price quote. Carquest can't find anything about it in their system. I'm seeing some listings on eBay for the part but not my exact part number.

The guy at the dealership told me the full part number is 5W4Z-3B676-AA but I can't find any place to buy it online other than http://www.fordparts.com.

Holy christ. According to Max, the part is discontinued... is the part the same for 2004-2006?
 
So, the part number is 3B676 (full number is 5W4Z-3B676-AA) and there's a handful of listings on ebay for 3B676 but would those parts fit?

A local junkyard has one but they only sell the whole column and it's $210 which seems really expensive for a used part that I only need a section from.
 
Call around - I had to call a few places, as they usually sell the intermediate shaft with either the rack or the column, so I had to bug a few of my junkyard friends to find one that was still on the car and had to go pull it myself. IIRC he charged me like $20 for it.

All you really need is the lower half, from the steering rack to where is slips into the shaft that goes through the firewall.
 
We don't have many junkyards in town which doesn't help. I called three and only one has the part but will only sell me the full steering column, not the shaft.

I contacted three people on here doing part-outs so hopefully they can help me out. The car doesn't really need to be driven much if at all so I'm not too worried about it taking a week or so. This is just absolutely frustrating. I'm beginning to regret even buying this damn car if Ford is discontinuing parts for a 6 year old vehicle.

I'm still not even 100% sure on how to do the repair. My repair manual is pretty vague but it's only a few steps. I've never done any repairs on a steering column. I've done some PS work but that's not really a big deal. It says to discard the bolts as well. Are they one-time use? How would I replace them with new bolts if I had to?

Below is some snaps from my repair manual. Where is that second diagram supposed to be? Up towards the top of the engine where the shaft goes through the firewall? And I assume the third diagram is under the car near the oil filter.

zSUrJ.png

cii1h.png
 
Are there any other vehicles that use this same part? I see a few options for 3B676 show up on eBay but the first four characters in the part number (XXXX-3B676) all show up different. The one for the LS is 5W4Z but I'm hoping that at least one other match on eBay is the same part but with a slightly different first part of the part number.
 
nelliott500 said:
... It says to discard the bolts as well. Are they one-time use? How would I replace them with new bolts if I had to?

Below is some snaps from my repair manual. Where is that second diagram supposed to be? Up towards the top of the engine where the shaft goes through the firewall? And I assume the second diagram is under the car near the oil filter.

...
Click to expand...

Yes, they are one time use and should be replaced.

2nd diagram is under the dash.
3rd (last) diagram is at the rack under the hood, on the driver's side.
 
Where do I get replacement bolts? If I order a new part, should I assume it comes with replacement bolts?
 
nelliott500 said:
Where do I get replacement bolts? If I order a new part, should I assume it comes with replacement bolts?
Click to expand...

I've been getting them from Max. My experience has been that they don't come with the new parts.
 
Well, that could be a problem. If the part is discontinued, what are the odds the bolts can still be purchased? I'll email Max about them. Thanks for the help, Joe.
 
Is there any way to just repair this part? Maybe replace the u-joint?

I'm still waiting to hear back about a couple part-outs on here but I'm not sure how promising it is.
 
Finally got the part yesterday, but he only sent me the bottom half of the shaft. I swapped it in and I still have the same problem so it must be the upper u-joint. I just called the guy about it and he said if it's binding up, you can fix it by taking it out, finding out which piece is binding, hold that end against the ground, and give it a smack with a hammer to break it loose. Said he's been fixing u-joints like that for 30 years. Just did it recently for a guy in his Mercedes.

Guess I'll give that a shot this week. Can't make it any worse since the car isn't being driven. He still has the rest of the car so he said he can pull the other half if I need it but it sounds like he wants me to pay for the other half even though I never specified just to send me the bottom section.
 
So, I'm looking at this diagram of the steering system:

3B1mP.png


Trying to figure out how to get the top half of the steering shaft out. Once I remove the bottom half, does the top half just slide out of the column?

The service manual (I posted pictures of it a few posts above) mentions a pinch bolt at both ends but there's only a pinch bolt at the rack side and nothing up top.

From the schematics I can find online, I don't see any way of fastening the top half of the shaft that slides into the column.
 
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