Ford F-150 (2004-2008) :: 2006 - Steering Started Going Stiff?
Apr 9, 2012
So I have a 2006 f150 a wile back the steering started going stiff when I would come off the highway. so after some forum searching, I decided to buy a new steering shaft to repace the universals that see up. then the pump started squealing when we turned befor I could install the new shaft. so I replaced the pump and didn't put the new steering shaft in yet. now when I rev the motor past 2000 RPM the pump wines like when you turn the weeks to far to one side on an old truck and it is still stiff when I come off the highway. Could this be the rack
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So our 2006 f150 fx4 has been having an issue with stiff steering... at times like it doesn't have power steering at all.
We recently had the lower ball joints on both sides replaced. Before that the upper control arm on the drivers side was also replaced.
There are days that it is better... other times not so much.
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I have an 06 F-250 5.4 gas w/138k. It had recently had a lot of play on the wheel (15 degrees maybe) and last week I made the move to replace the gearbox with a redhead box. All seemed to go ok, but now the steering is stiff and it won't come all the way back to center after a turn. It turns smoothly and completely with no binding, but it has to be moved the last 1/3 turn back to center.
I flushed the fluid initially with Valvoline max life fully syn. Then second guessed myself after the problem started happening so I switched it back to regular Mercon. No improvement.
I had it on stands today and it was extremely difficult for me to turn my tires left to right manually (at the wheel). The only other thing I did was adjust the sleeve on the drag link to straighten out the steering wheel.
Should I be able to turn the tires left and right from the wheel easily? Every now and then I hear a whine from the pump which I never had before, but 99% of the time it seems fine and is quiet. it just feels like something is over tight but everything should be to spec.
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i have an 04 f-150 with a 5.4 motor. about 2000 miles ago the power steering pump started to whine really loud. I sucked out the power steering fluid and started it up and the fluid that back into the tank looked like it was gritty and rusty. I replaced it out a few times and no change. I then did the job of replacing the power steering pump which was about a 5 hour job.
It was quiet for about 5 miles and the new one started whining. Every week I have been sucking out the old fluid and replacing it and it still seems to be gritty. What could I do to quiet it down? the steering works perfect btw. I am looking at selling this truck and buying an 09 or newer ford and want to quiet it down before selling it. The truck has 88,000 miles on it and i am the original owner.
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I have a 2006 F150 FX4 and after having the 4x4 go out and replaced the front right IWE have fixed the 4x4 but still hearing a clunking noise.
The clunking noise started after the 4x4 went out and was really bad for awhile and then went away and has now come back really bad. It sounds like its coming from the front driver's side wheel area and clunks as fast as the wheel turns.(faster = more clunks).
I'm very new to mechanic stuff but enjoy learning and fixing things myself.
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My '06 Ford F-150, 4.6 V8 is smoking when I start it up occasionally. The smoke color is blue. The only mod is flowmaster exhaust. Bad injector, sticking valve......
Where would you start? I am all for supporting a local mechanic but financially I do not have the money to gamble. Once I can pinpoint the problem I will take it to them to fix.
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What would cause the brakes on my wife's truck to be stiff and not hold?
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I have a Ford F150 XLT. I have 67000 miles on it and the other night it just started running rough out of no where near idle. Once you got over 20mph the rough running would go away. I took it to get an engine change and engine flushed but it came back. It doesnt always run rough near idle or below 20mph. The Ford dealer says my engine has only 22 psi oil pressure near hot idle and cant engage the VCT phazers and they want to replace the whole engine.
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I have a 2006 f150 5.4l, and I have developed a problem. It seems the my truck has started to skip, or "pulsate" when I am accelerating. If I really get on the gas the "pulsate" goes away. This only seems to happen around 45-50 mph. Now this is where it gets weird. I have no check engine light on, and I have checked to make sure my light is working. I brought it to a garage and they told me something about Fords having a misfire issue that sometimes doesn't trigger a check engine light. . . . . now idk about that because every misfire I have seen triggers a check engine light, but I had them replace the spark plugs anyways. And it didn't fix my problem. At this point the only thing I can think of is possibly tranny.
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I have a 2007 GS 350 AWD and when I got into the car yesterday the car wouldn't start. It won't even turn on to turn on the radio or roll down windows. The steering wheel and brakes are stiff and the last message I saw was S/T Lock on the dash. I thought it was the battery since sometimes when leaving the lights on auto mode they don't turn off which I thought killed the battery. I bought a brand new battery after trying to recharge the "dead" one and even with the new battery nothing happens. Just now after hitting the unlock button a bunch of times I tried starting it and the ignition button turned green a load up screen came up but still wouldn't start. Now it's back to doing nothing with the steering wheel and brakes stiff with no green ignition light.
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I have a 2004 GMC Sierra and I have noticed throughout the winter when I ran it in 4WD the steering would get very stiff when trying to turn. Sometimes I could not turn very sharp at all. What the problem could be that is causing this?
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Our 2004 Prius (71,275 miles) has not been driven much for the last 2 years. It is only used when we need to drive further than we can comfortably in our 2012 Leaf. Most of our trips are short.
Today the power steering feels stiff. I'm relying on my memory of what it felt like when it was new. Perhaps I am comparing it to the Leaf.
I started to check the power steering fluid reservoir and discovered that the power steering is not hydraulic but electrical and electronic.
It it a sign of a failing system? Should I expect increased trouble?
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My alarm started going off by itself and my truck would not start so we unhooked the horn but the alarm was still trying to go off making a ticking noise when the horn should have been honking. so we also unhooked the alarm. And it started right up. I've been driving it with those things off with no problem. But today it wouldn't start again and its making a ticking noise like the horn is trying to honk.
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I have an 06 4x4 lariat 4dr. 5.4L.... bought it used about 6 months ago with 107 K on it, and put a few thousand miles on it. haven't really had any problems with it, but I have noticed that when I break about 45 mph, my steering wheel gets shaky, I've tried reading on some forums but haven't really found anything very useful, and I alot of the information is on the '04 models. And honestly I"m just not really sure what to make of it all, and I don't wanna start replacing random stuff just taking a guess. I live in south texas at the moment and the air here it's salty, so I'm hoping that something just corroded and is warn...My guess is a front bearing.
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2006 F150 Triton 5.4 Motor... It's been over a months journey with fixing this truck....
How it started: had an oil change, a while back, on long drive after, check engine light started flashing as I accelerated up hill so I pulled over and in a while it was ok, but couldn't get on the gas too much, or it would cause that flashy light thing.
So fast forward to now, after driving it with an intermittent miss for a while, was driving it to work and the miss became a shudder, and she stopped going over 30-40, and runs extremely rough.
Steady but loud idle.
Replaced all plugs with motocraft plugs and new coils all around. No change.
Finally hooked it up to a computer and got random misfires, now it's saying
P0174 bank 2 too lean,
But it's bank ONE that's the only side misfiring.
Here are the freeze frame details:
Frame 1 Mod $00
MIL Status Off
Troub Code P0174
Abslt TPS 24.3%
Eng speed 1665
Baro PRS 71 kpa
Calc Load 100%
[Code].....
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I have an 2006 Super Cab that has 72,000 miles on it. Stock everything except for Magnaflow exhaust and Hankook Dyna Pro tires. Last month I noticed some weird "hang" ups with the steering when turning and it just seemed to be a bump or something while turning. I was gone on vacation last week and started the truck after a week of sitting and the steering acted like it was binding or hesitating. It almost felt like a tire was down, got out and check pressures, everything was good (high if anything and got it to the right pressures).
After driving it got no better potentially worse. I start a turn and it is fine but at a certain degree it starts to bind and seems like the power steering is not there. It does not return to normal position easily either. I have checked the fluid and it is fine, the belt is normal (and original) with no tears, or rips in it. Not sure where to start, but have a couple thoughts of power steering pump going or front end has issues? Best description of the problem is that it is a binding feel and happens both left or right turns. Have to force it like the power steering is out.
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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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About 15x now over the last year, I get in the car, press the brake, the green light comes on and half way through the start-up, the car locks up. Dead, nothing. The brake feels stiff, the key fob will not open the trunk, nor will it lock or unlock the doors, no more green or orange light on the start button. Completely dead.
The last time I opened the door, closed it again and everything reset. It came back "alive", the navigation system rebooted, the air was off and my clock had been reset.
Some days this happens in a matter of a minute or two and other days it takes ten min. Why? Is it a faulty ground? Not sure why it would automatically reset on its own.
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I purchased a 2006 Lariat crew cab 4x4 back in early feb... since then, I've been on the Interstates a little more than usual ( traveling back home.. dad had a surgery 3 hours away) . . . anyway, the truck gets kinda loose feeling when coming onto bridges and off of them, almost like the back end is swaying and the tires are leaving the ground in the front.. my steering wheel gets loose for a split sec. When I bought the truck I wrote this off as bad tires.. it had some over inflated BFG stock looking tires and where too small.
now, I have new wheels and new tires one size up on the tire. While the ride is great off any bumps.. the second I hit a bump it gets squirmy... I had a guy look at the shocks, he said the seemed ok.. could it be possible to have the wrong shocks on ?
My 2004 crew 4x4 did not do this.. so I know its not a characteristic of the truck. Tired of feeling like I am driving on ice... which is how I lost my 04. My first guess was the Shocks... I bought a level kit for my 04 and never got to put it on... so, it may work out to replace them while I am at it.
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Last week I took my 2004 Honda Odyssey in to Firestone for a rear brake job and they ended up selling me an oil change, two new tires, alignment, an alternator drive belt, and two front engine mounts as well. When I picked up the vehicle late Friday afternoon, I noticed the power steering was making a whining noise and the steering seemed a little stiff. I took it back to Firestone Saturday morning, and they looked under the hood and said my power steering fluid was low, so they topped it off. That fixed the whining, but the steering still had a bit of a kink in it. They said it might be an air bubble in the line that would work itself out. Monday morning on my way to work, the whining was back and the steering very stiff and getting noticibly worse by the minute, so I took it directly back to Firestone.
It turns out the rack and pinion is leaking, and Firestone denies that it could have happened while they had the vehicle. The manager I spoke to said "all we did was replace a couple of belts -- didn't even get near the rack and pinion." Well, that's not all they did, but if anything they did could have caused the current issue. I know there were no suspension or power steering issues before I took it in, and after I picked it up suddenly it's leaking fluid like crazy. What can I do or say to press my case?
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Replaced the Intermediate Steering Shaft at 114,000 miles. Symptoms felt like power steering going out but no pump noise or low fluid. Steering became hard to turn and it sometimes felt like a tie rod was letting go.
Temporary resolution was to spray the two steering shaft joints with penetrating oil (PB Blaster). That freed them up pretty well. Then I ordered Dorman part 425361 (425-361) from Rock Auto. Simple enough job. Lots of good vids on YouTube.
I don't recommend spraying the steering shaft joints as preventative maintenance. Penetrating oil will get into the needle bearings and break down the bearing grease. That will cause the joints to fail over time.
Two side benefits, the truck steering is much smoother and small road bumps and potholes are much less noticeable. Feels like it was when new.
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