Car pulling left and right.

[scott.mohekey]

As above, the car will pull left one second, and right the next. It SEEMS like its dependent on the inertia of the car, e.g. move to the left of the lane and it will pull to the left, move to the right and it will pull to the right, drive straight and who knows.

I THINK this may be a development of a wobble/vibration that I've had for some time and haven't been able to diagnose. The wobble/vibration seems to increase with rpm, is not affected by turning, and as far as I could tell there is no play in bearings or ball joints.

Any ideas? I have a spare set of suspension/half shafts/cvs etc, but no money for alignment or balance till next wednesday.

[Kenneth]

Check all your ball joints. Suspension, steering (inner and outer) etc

That sounds sort of scary to me...

[scott.mohekey]

It's very scary! If I had the money I would be taking it in to get looked at today.

[bradc]

I'd give the wheel and all suspension arms a good wiggle and see if there is any play in any of them.

[scott.mohekey]

I'd give the wheel and all suspension arms a good wiggle and see if there is any play in any of them.

I've tried that a couple of times and haven't been able to spot any obvious play. I just had a mate take it for a test drive, and we noticed that when at idle, if you turn the steering wheel left or right, the revs drop quite a bit. Also, it has newly cleaned shocks at all four corners, and the front right shock is already very dirty (only been on there two weeks). I swapped these shocks on because the front right that was already in there was also very oily/dirty and we thought we'd try rule out the shock.

[Goku]

If the revs drop like that then it's the stepper motor playing up, but that wouldn't cause the vibration

[scott.mohekey]

I can actually hear the engine revs drop.

Also, I've noticed that there is a tiny delay from turning the steering wheel to when the wheels start turning, as well as a bit of a clunk sound. I'm guessing maybe my inner rack ends could need replacing? Or maybe the tie rod ends?

[Nick Mann]

I was going to suggest rack ends/tie rods.

My car was not happy to go where it was pointed, rack ends have made the steering much better. Having said that, I could feel the play in them It took a long time to work out where the play was, but you could feel the play there. With the car jacked up and the wheel on it did take a fair amount of wiggling to feel it though.

[MarkSanne]

Regarding the wobly sound and the strange behaviour: check your tires, rears especially. I'd bet they're worn out on certain spots more (unevenly). When you drive slowly (upto 60/70km/h) you don't/hardly notice it, getting faster and the sound increases?

[scott.mohekey]

I was going to suggest rack ends/tie rods.

My car was not happy to go where it was pointed, rack ends have made the steering much better. Having said that, I could feel the play in them It took a long time to work out where the play was, but you could feel the play there. With the car jacked up and the wheel on it did take a fair amount of wiggling to feel it though.

The pulling has gotten worse since I last tried to find the wobble, so it could well be that I can find it easier now.

[scott.mohekey]

Regarding the wobly sound and the strange behaviour: check your tires, rears especially. I'd bet they're worn out on certain spots more (unevenly). When you drive slowly (upto 60/70km/h) you don't/hardly notice it, getting faster and the sound increases?

The wobbly sound is present as a sort of thud at very low speeds (pulling away from a stop). The frequency increases with speed.

[Subaru ETA]

kinda sounds like wheels or tyres to me. are all the pressures the same? no buldges in the sidewalls? rims not bent?

have you tried swapping another set of wheels onto it?

[scott.mohekey]

This is the second set of tyres and wheels I've tried.

[Subaru ETA]

the rotational wobbley sound you mentioned sounds to be wheel bearings or flat spotted / feathered tyres

[scott.mohekey]

Does anyone know of a good mechanic in Christchurch that has worked on vr4s before and can be trusted to not be a retard?

[Fully]

Bring it around Scott Ill have a look at for you =)

[scott.mohekey]

I might have to take you up on that offer.

[pitslayer]

If its not rack ends failing or suspension, then I would suggest wheel bearings, or maybe ABS rings, does the TCL light come on, do you have TCL?

When mine was playing up it would do similar, pull to the left and right, no idea how I fixed it though, it fixed itself, but it would snatch the brakes on the front, briefly

All though I would really go for rack ends like said, on my silver Galant, it used to wander all over the road, and clonk, turned out to be buggered rack ends,, at a guess your looking at about $94 nzd each for them, they are £36 in the uk each, just a simple conversion done on the prices

[scott.mohekey]

I have TCL and it doesn't come on at all. I've checked the bearings for play and not found any, but haven't checked the ball joints or rack ends yet.

[pitslayer]

You might not find any play in the bearings, as its a hub, I couldnt find any play in my rear wheel bearing when it was going, no wobble at al, but made a noise like a lancaster coming in for landing

[martin_y]

This wobble/vibration happened to me a while ago, and it was simply the brake caliper sticking. I merely pushed the pistons in, and then let the pedal push them out again, and it fixed it.

That left and then right feeling you describe can be caused by toe-out ( the front wheels are pointing slightly away from each other, whereas they should be pointing slight TOWARDS each other)

[scott.mohekey]

I replaced the right lower lateral arm the other day, the vibration improved a little, but now when I turn a corner and release the steering wheel, it doesn't pull itself back to center like it used to. I'm thinking I should replace the power steering fluid first off to see if that has an effect.

[VR4WGN]

if its pulling , pull it back lol

[scott.mohekey]

Update: I've replaced all four tyres with brand new Bridgestone MY01 225/45/17s, had the alignment done, replaced the drive belts, had the front discs resurfaced, and put new brake pads in the front. The steering is now fixed, but the vibration remains. This weekend I hope to swap the front wheels to see if that can rule out the wheel's themselves.. failing that, does anybody have any other ideas?

[scott.mohekey]

Bump?

[VR4WGN]

bent car?

[martin_y]

Did you swap the wheels?

[AlanDITD]

The vibrration could be a knackered gearbox mount.

It might be completely unrelated to the steering problem

[scott.mohekey]

Yeah, I'm beginning to suspect an engine/gear box mount. I've noticed that the rear roll stopper on a manual has the center bore of the rubber more center than the auto. Is this intended?

I haven't had a chance to swap the wheels this weekend. I've been busy with non car related things.

[bradc]

There are two part numbers but ASA is a mess, both part numbers are available for Auto's, but only one for manuals! The part numbers are reused in various forms of non-turbo legnums and galants as well.

[Xeroid]

Update: I've replaced all four tyres with brand new Bridgestone MY01 225/45/17s, had the alignment done, replaced the drive belts, had the front discs resurfaced, and put new brake pads in the front. The steering is now fixed, but the vibration remains. This weekend I hope to swap the front wheels to see if that can rule out the wheel's themselves.. failing that, does anybody have any other ideas?

I'd suggest that it's not the wheels if you've had new tyres fitted because they would balance the wheels as normal practice. And you say aligned as well.

My Legnum was doing all sorts of weird things with AYC and corners and it was the suspension. She was hitting the stops in corners, banging and felt like unbalanced wheels as the suspension was gasless and fluidless so there was no damping. New Monroes sorted it stunningly. Totally different car. You said the shocks were 'dirty' in an earlier posting, do you mean leaking fluid ? That was the indicator of my problem, get them checked.

[Nick Mann]

A bent rim can be balanced quite well on a machine, but will still give a vibration at certain speeds. Are you sure the rims are not bent? Most often it is a small flat spot on the inside edge, and is difficult to spot unless the wheel is spinning and you can see that edge.

[scott.mohekey]

A bent rim can be balanced quite well on a machine, but will still give a vibration at certain speeds. Are you sure the rims are not bent? Most often it is a small flat spot on the inside edge, and is difficult to spot unless the wheel is spinning and you can see that edge.

I THINK there might be a bit of a flat spot on the front right rim, but I've been discounting that as I'm sure it was happening before I changed the rims. I guess it could have been tyre noise etc before I changed the rims, and rim noise now. How do I go about getting that checked?

[Nick Mann]

All four wheels off the ground and then start it and put it in drive. Looking along the length of the car from the centre at the rear will show any flats on the inside of the wheel.

Alternatively, if you know a garage well enough to not have to spend a firtune, then get them to balance them again, whilst you watch. As the machine spins up watch the rim for distortion.

I can't say that this is the problem - it's just an idea.

[scott.mohekey]

I could test for this by swapping the wheels though, right?

[bradc]

Typically if it is on the front wheels the steering wheel will wobble at a certain speed. If it is on the rear wheels the whole car will tend to wobble which you can't normally pick up, but the passenger seat will tend to wobble with the rest of the car.

[scott.mohekey]

Hmmm.. I don't recall if the steering wheel wobbles. I'm definitely feeling a vibration through the pedals though.

[VR4WGN]

auto or manual? not the clutch plate/pressure plate or flywheel maby? or if auto the gearbox oil needs changing then??

[scott.mohekey]

It is an auto. I'm aware that the ATF could be the problem, I'm just trying to rule out any non expensive things first.

[bradc]

You normally only get shuddering through the car with the autos in 4th and 5th gear at low rpm when the torque converter is in use. When you aren't using the torque converter you shouldn't really get any shuddering at all.

[scott.mohekey]

You normally only get shuddering through the car with the autos in 4th and 5th gear at low rpm when the torque converter is in use. When you aren't using the torque converter you shouldn't really get any shuddering at all.

Yep, I remember reading that somewhere.. another reason for trying other avenues first. The vibration occurs constantly.