jcat Posted April 15, 2022 Report Share Posted April 15, 2022 So I bought my car with what I thought was only some somewhat sloppy steering and what I thought was a small oil leak. Long story short, today we determined the coupler wasn't the issue, but installed the MKS one anyways, but we think the Steering box is also leaking. Regardless of that though, when we took it out for a test drive, it was very hard to move the wheel more than about 15 degrees. It almost felt locked up. Nothing has changed except for the installation of the coupler. Any ideas what that could be? Or is this normal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psu_Crash Posted April 16, 2022 Report Share Posted April 16, 2022 Have you tried to bleed the steering box? I know mine acted very odd when there was air in the lines. Easy turn, then difficult and it would be a little jumpy as I assume assist was coming on and off. Can't see the coupler doing that. Does it do it with the engine off and wheels off the ground? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarionTroy Posted April 16, 2022 Report Share Posted April 16, 2022 6 hours ago, psu_Crash said: Have you tried to bleed the steering box? I know mine acted very odd when there was air in the lines. Easy turn, then difficult and it would be a little jumpy as I assume assist was coming on and off. Can't see the coupler doing that. Does it do it with the engine off and wheels off the ground? My steering can also lock up but only when the car is cold, and usually completely frees itself after working the wheel a bit. Any knowledge on that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcat Posted April 16, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2022 9 hours ago, psu_Crash said: Have you tried to bleed the steering box? I know mine acted very odd when there was air in the lines. Easy turn, then difficult and it would be a little jumpy as I assume assist was coming on and off. Can't see the coupler doing that. Does it do it with the engine off and wheels off the ground? Next time I can work on it is this Friday, so I will do this and update the result then. Probably needs a flush anyways. 2 hours ago, StarionTroy said: My steering can also lock up but only when the car is cold, and usually completely frees itself after working the wheel a bit. Any knowledge on that? This could also be it. I only bought the car last August, and this was the first time I ran it since storing it in November. Haven't had this issue before, however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueCuda Posted April 17, 2022 Report Share Posted April 17, 2022 If you adjusted the play in the box its easy to make them too tight. They are most worn in the straight ahead position. When you adjust them to make that right they often can be too tight when turned farther to the less worn parts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcat Posted April 22, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2022 Ok, so what seems to have happened is the worm gear seal opened up so it was about empty 😂 that'll do it! Going to add a new seal to that, and need to replace the idler arm, there's a good amount of play in that too. The "bushing replacement kit" from rockauto isn't cooperating so I might just get a complete one from mitsu direct parts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasQuest Posted April 22, 2022 Report Share Posted April 22, 2022 3 hours ago, jcat said: Ok, so what seems to have happened is the worm gear seal opened up so it was about empty 😂 that'll do it! Going to add a new seal to that, and need to replace the idler arm, there's a good amount of play in that too. The "bushing replacement kit" from rockauto isn't cooperating so I might just get a complete one from mitsu direct parts? Whiteline sells urethane idler arm bushings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcat Posted April 23, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2022 17 hours ago, TexasQuest said: Whiteline sells urethane idler arm bushings. We were finally able to get it together. Got the wrong seal, needed the pitman seal. Waiting another week for rockauto now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcat Posted May 18, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2022 Final update for the thread, pitman seal was a week late, plus I got sick, but the steering is so much better now. TLDR: The old coupler looked ok when we took it off but I think it made a ton of difference. The idler arm was also loose, put on new bushings and a grease fitting. Pitman arm seal developed a leak and that was fixed as well. Now it just needs an alignment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueCuda Posted May 18, 2022 Report Share Posted May 18, 2022 Where did you get idler arm bushings? I got some duralast ones and my alignment guy didn't like them so he didn't install them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcat Posted May 19, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2022 23 hours ago, BlueCuda said: Where did you get idler arm bushings? I got some duralast ones and my alignment guy didn't like them so he didn't install them. I bought it on rockauto. They were a PAIN to install. but they went on eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasQuest Posted May 19, 2022 Report Share Posted May 19, 2022 On 5/18/2022 at 10:03 AM, BlueCuda said: Where did you get idler arm bushings? I got some duralast ones and my alignment guy didn't like them so he didn't install them. WHITELINE W11594 Whiteline Idler Arm Bushings | Summit Racing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueCuda Posted May 20, 2022 Report Share Posted May 20, 2022 Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.