Suspension & Steering

Steering Wheel Sloppy at Center

Steering Wheel Sloppy at Center

The last time the 928 was incapacitated, I needed to maneuver it around, which meant cranking on the wheels to steer the beast around w/o power steering. So, without rolling the car, I was merely turning the wheels..requiring reasonable effort, but nothing ridiculous. Well, I must have cranked a little too hard, because something POPPED, and I suddenly had a dead spot in the steering of about 30 degrees. While rotating the wheel through this position, it feels as if the steering column is grinding against some component in the rack possibly within the column itself.

If I'm not being clear, let me rephrase it:

With the wheels pointed straight, my steering wheel can be anywhere from straight to about 30 degrees from straight. Anywhere between these two points results in no motion to the wheels. This happens with the engine running or not.

The steering wheel is firmly attached, and I can't see anything loose/broken from underneath or inside the car...so it seems that something's gone seriously awry in my steering rack. I'm praying it's U-Joing related, as that'd be a bit easier to fix. Anyone ever have this happen before? Comments, suggestions?

The car's an 85 with about 90k on it, and I've heard the rack is a weak point, but geez, this is ridiculous!

Thanks,
Chris



The intermediate steering shaft 928 347 093 00 has a rubber and metal bushing if the rubber fails the metal parts prevent total steering loss but will allow the type of "play" described . This shaft connects the steering column via a universal joint to the u joint at the rack . Mitchell "book time" 4 hrs to change .

Jim Bailey
928 International
jim@928intl.com



Problem solved..just closing the loop on this one.

Jim hit it on the nose..it was the rubber 'biscuit' part of the coupler in the intermediate steering shaft. Part is replaced & we're back in business.

Two things bother me about this particular failure:

1 - The part most likely to fail, the rubber bit, isn't sold seperately. Fortunately, I was able to get the complete shaft for a reasonable price from 928 Int'l. But -still-, it should have been a $5 fix instead of $50.

2 - Almost everything that's failed on this car has had to do with plastic or rubber bits deteriorating. So much for being long-life cars. In half the instances, an aluminum part would have been just peachy & more long-lived. But now I'm just bitching...

So, thanks to everyone who responded... I'm just grateful that tomorrow I'll be driving around instead of replacing the rack. Whew.

-Chris

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