91 Z28 hard steering

[red bandit]

91 Z28. Coil spring/A arm lowers with struts. harder then it should be to turn the steering wheel. Going down the road if you turn the wheel just a little or a lot it doesn't come back to center. It stays where ever you let go. Ideas on what's wrong? Ball joints? I never had them do that but one never knows?

[Schming]

Could be anything from the steering shaft to air pressure in the tires. If you don't do your own work on your antique vehicle you may be in for a shellacking taking it to a garage.

[Radioguylogs]

I have no idea if this is related to your problem of if is even relevant for a '91 F Body....but we recently had trouble with stiff and erratic steering on our 2003 Lincoln Town Car. Turns out there are two U joints in the steering shaft that became rusty during the periods we parked the car. We paid a garage a few hundred dollars to replace the whole shaft, including U joints, to solve the problem

[kboehringer]

Red Bandit,

I'd be suspicious of the power steering pump, pump hoses, (or the steering box itself). Without adequate pressure from the pump it will be difficult to turn as mentioned and will not return to center properly. There is little chance this is related to ball joints.




KURT

[red bandit]

I'm going to check it out today. How can you determine if it's the pump vs steering box?

[DiverRay]

Jack the front of the car so the tires are off the ground. Unlock the steering and with the engine still off, turn the wheel from lock to lock, full left to full right. Try to determine how much effort is needed to turn the wheel. Now start the engine and repeat the lock to lock. If the pump is good, you should be able to turn the wheel with one finger, if bad, it will take almost the same effort as when the engine is off. My guess would be replace pump and hoses will fix problems. But, this also depends on how long you were running with a bad pump! If there was metal bits in the oil/fluid, you will need to get rebuilt parts for the system.
When you DO replace the parts, jacking the front in the air, and turning lock to lock is how you get all the air out of the system BEFORE you try driving it.

[red bandit]

Ok, thanks. It might be a little bit before I can try that. I'm in the middle of taking the A/C condenser out. It has a leak.

[oldyam80sg]

I had an 88 Z28 Pace car at one time-got 2 speeding tickets and insurance went up. I was maybe 23 at the time. Sold the car back through the dealer I bought it from and got a regular Camaro with the 3.8 FI engine which was a great vehicle. I replaced power steering line once. Was not too hard to do.

[Schming]

To add to the above info while the car is up on jack stands lube and check all steering parts for play and wear including wheel bearings.

[red bandit]

The fittings that connect the a/c condenser to the hoses has orings. Are they just regular orings or do they need to be a/c compatible?

[DiverRay]

They should be AC compatible, Nitrile IIRC.

[bikerphil]

A/C O-rings are usually green color to signify they are A/C compatible. I think they went to the green color (HNBR) with 134A Freon.

[red bandit]

Tires off the ground. Engine off. I turned the steering wheel full left & full right a couple times then I started the engine and did the same. Very little difference if any. The pressure hose fitting on the pump was not tight and not leaking so it looks like the pump isn't pumping. I will visit the salvage yard soon. I need a few little things. I will let you know if the pump fixes it. Thanks for the info.

[red bandit]

New power steering pump on today. Tires off the ground, turned the wheel full left then full right a few times. Tires on the ground I can turn the wheel full left/right easily. I couldn't before. I haven't had it on the road yet because no radiator yet. Turned the wheel a 1/4 turn while moving forward in pole barn and leg go and it starts to return to center. It looks like that was the problem. Thanks guys.