Ford - Explorer :: 1997 - Steering Started To Feel A Little Heavy During U-turn
Mar 9, 2016
I drove a '97 with the 5.0 and AWD. I noticed that when I turned around in the neighborhood, the steering started to feel a little heavy during a U-turn. I was pretty close to full steering input to the left, but not quite at the lock. Also, it seemed like the tires might be scrubbing the pavement a little bit. No real binding or hopping, just that feel you get when you have the transfer case locked in your old-school 4X4 and make sharps turns. Is this typical for the AWD?
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I've got an '06 F150 and the steering isn't right with it. It has had a heavy feel and is almost like the power assist is only working half as good as it should. It's been like this for a couple months. I 've had all four ball joints and the steering rack replaced in the last month. It had the heavy steering feel before and after everything was replaced. It also doesn't recover itself on sharp turns, I have to turn the wheel back as I complete the turn. Could it be the power steering pump? I thought it was a mechanical device and it either worked or it didn't, maybe they get weak?
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Have some clunking I can feel through the steering wheel. Starting with checking ball joints.
1999 explorer Eddie Bauer.
Would I jack it up on the control arm to release any tensions? Any tips or tricks after doing a visual to find my clunking?
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Just bought this '08 F250 CCSB 4X4 5.4 Problem is the steering seems heavy, it tends to wander at higher speeds and won't return to center after a turn. I've searched on here and found a few possibilities (axle u joints, ball joints, steering gear, etc). I have an appointment with the dealer on Friday to fix it under warranty but he is convinced it's the u joints in the steering shaft seizing. When my F150 steering shaft began to seize, it would be hard to turn then break free then be hard then break free and this is not what is happening on the SD. I haven't had a chance to check the front end myself but not sure how you would check the axle u joints if there was no play in them. How would you check to see if they were seizing up.
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The steering on my truck has become a little heavy after making a turn and bringing the steering wheel back to center. The steering feels heavy like I had a front tire half way down. There's a lot of drag then once on center it's gone. Could it be the beginning of the end for my ball joints?
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My 97 Explorer 4.0 SOHC has started to bog down when I press the accelerator. It feels like their is interference with the exhaust. I has a new muffler and there are no holes in the exhaust system. When I stop at a light or in traffic, it will stall. I have to keep the RPMs at 1000 while holding the brake. There is no check engine light on. Where I should begin to look?
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I'm in a situation where I may be having to tow my 3500# boat/trailer with my '04 Explorer 4WD (this is well within the max tow limit, per the manual). I have the 4.0L with the 5 spd auto tranny and 3.73ls gears. I've towed the boat a handful of times with this vehicle and had a good experience every time. Now I'm looking at this being my primary towing vehicle, towing once or twice a month in the summer. The car only has 48000 miles on the ticker and is in pristine condition, so mechanically it's sound.
I asked my mechanic what he thought of this arrangement and he hates the Explorers, so he's giving a biased response. Have any of you towed something on a somewhat regular basis with this, or a similar, vehicle? Any issues? My mechanic keeps going on about the transmission seal blowing when under a heavy load.
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The problem makes the car unsafe to drive. The quickest way to describe it is a hard pull to the left after a very linear steering feel. My perception is almost as something is holding on and then just fails and lets go and the car quite abruptly shoots left in a very unsafe manner. Here are the things I have done to remedy the situation, I replaced the struts with factory replacements 15,000 miles ago. At the same time i replaced the left and right axles, drove the car with the problem then last weekend, I replaced the upper tie rod arms, and lower tie rod ends, the sway bar bushings, and the control arms on both sides. I literally feel as though it is a darn near new front end.
Just yesterday I had 4 new Goodyear eagle tires and an alignment done and the problem became more pronounced and worst. I really like this car and want it to be a joy to drive as I know from others these little hatchbacks are a real joy on winding mountain roads.
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My wife has a 2010 Explorer 4.0 with 46000 miles on it. Yesterday the compressor started making a grinding noise when you turn the defrost on. It's only when the clutch kicks in. I'm hoping its something simple but, I fear its not.
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So today out of nowhere the truck starts acting up with the steering. It got tuff to turn the wheel and then would "release" and steer ok. I drained the fluid (brownish and stinky) and added new.......
Crawled under the truck and the rack was damp....... The old fluid (likely original with 120k) had small metallic piec s in it.......Is the rack toast? Or shall I look somewhere else too?
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Have a 97 Ford explorer. Over 270,000 miles on it. Recently had Crank sensor, Crank case vent tube, plugs wires replaced along with intake manifold gaskets. Also had fuel injectors cleaned out. Now i cant get it to turn over. Went to store, truck started fine, came out and click. Thought it might be the battery even though its also brand new but no, had the starter checked, it is also good. Put test light on all electrical having to do with starter and found all hot wires and good grounds. Finally bypassed the solenoid for starter and still nothing but a click. I also checked NSS to see if that might be it but after putting it in reverse, the reverse lights came on, and even jiggled shifter in park and neutral to see if that might work but still just a click. Not sure where to go from here short of buying all new parts but doesn't make much sense to do that if they all appear to be working properly. Don't have a volt meter to check voltage.
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Drove it yesterday no problems. got in this morning tried to start and would not turn over. thought it was a dead battery. Ran jumper cables to my wifes car waited for a while tried again. nothing. bought a new battery put it in. Nothing. I did notice when turning the key the dash lights come on then half a second they go out. interior lights, and 12v outlet work but no headlights. Any issue other than the obvious corroded terminals or loose terminal wires?
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I've checked just about everything, coolant level is good, engine gets hot, heater control valves moves, blend air door moves, the heater hoses don't feel as hot as I think they should, but the gauge reads in the middle, I burped it thoroughly and still no heat , blower works i actually can switch the blend air door manually, but no change! what am i missing? t-stat was changed too. 2001 sport trac....
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While driving whenever we turn a curve to the right the steering wheel jerks and the whole front end jerks and will either quit when we slow down or come back straight. It seems the faster we go the worse it is also starting yesterday day we have noticed that the front end is beginning to make a popping or thumping sound while turning a curve or sometime will pop or thump randomly. It's starting to get pretty scary.
Just some info, tires are fine, no wear, all correct pressure. Had to recently use 4x4 in the snow but didn't have any problems with it. Did however hit a ditch pretty hard on the driver side and quickly came back out on the road from sliding off in the snow. Has a bad leak from the power steering reservoir to the pump (the line is bad but can't change it on my own and top off reservoir daily). Truck has 227k miles on body and 157 k on newish motor that was just put on in September.
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1997 Ford Explorer 4.0L the engine just died while idling. The engine will not turn over at all. Battery and cables are good. Able to get engine to turn over with screw driver on starter relay but still won’t start. Checked spark when bypassing relay with screw driver and spark is Ok.
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I have a 1997 Explorer Sport 4.0 SOHC, 110,000 miles. When I start it in the morning or after sitting for a few hours, the idle is very rough. Most of the time it wont even stay running. My first thought was a vacuum leak. I found four leaks and repaired them, including the EGR valve control and the EGR solenoid. One stem on each was broken off. I bought these parts from the dealer and then tested the vacuum, which I now have vacuum pressure. The check engine light is on and doesnt read the "system evap emission control pressure sensor low" (vacuum leak) anymore, but it now reads "system too lean (bank 1) and system too lean (bank 2). I cleaned the IAC valve and have ran several bottles of injector cleaner through. My mechanic thinks it is the IAC, but when you disconnect the plug on it, the car will barely idle, so it must be working at least a little. I have seen suggestions for a fuel filter, which I am going to replace, but I am really lost here.
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I have a 1998 F150, had this truck for just shy of 200,000 miles, never a major problem and now she's killing me. Turn the key, no crank,no start, the same time this started the radio also quit working. I can start her with a screw driver at the soleniod (new by the way) runs perfect after that. By the way it's a 2 wheel drive with the 4.6 v-8
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1997 Limited SOHC auto.
I just replaced the transmission with a known good one from my XLT but the reverse doesn't work now and there is a loud banging coming from the front when I turn left or right.
It feels like the tyres are slipping on the road, like axle wind up. This happens in auto and 4wd high. What the banging is?
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So I've been away a long time. My sister recently bought a 1997 Ford Explorer with the V8. When she tries to turn on the cruise she says it throws the transmission in to neutral and then locks the gas pedal...
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My blinkers started off blinking a few times then stopped working, now they don't work at all. The fuse says it goes to the brake lamps, hazards and turn signals. The hazards work as well as the brake lamps. I found the relay/flasher box and it appears the relay and flasher is the same for both the turn signals and the hazards. I checked for the wire/connector problem in the column and all looks good there. When I activate the turn signal lever I feel one click in the relay/flasher which leads me to believe the turn signal switch is working. I went ahead and replaced the relay with no results. Is the flasher internals the same for both the hazards and the turn signals or is there two independent sections inside for each?
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2.4l std. The steering started getting hard to turn intermittently. I pushed the fluid and took out the reservoir and cleaned the screen. It was pretty dirty and smelled kind of bad. The belt looks ok and there are not strange noises or leaks. I figure it's the pump but I read a lot of posts where the pump was changed and problems persist. Also, I've never had a bad power steering pump so I don't know the symptoms. Is this simply a bad pump?
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