Ba Bad Steering Shudder

[Greasemonkey086]

I've recently bought an 03 BA XR6T with around 129,500kms. It has very bad steering shudder at low speeds. Like driveways, parking, u-turns and such. The power steering pump looks new like its been replaced before. The fluid was average though. Have changed that a few times to try and clean it out but still no luck. Rack maybe? Anyone had the same issue and found a fix?

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[bjc]

Check the upper and lower control arm bushes to see if they are shagged...Otherwise if they are good then it's the usual power steering judder that the early ba's had from the use of hardlines instead of hose?

[velocityxr6t]

Rack bolts loosen over time. A bit of high temp grease under the washers helps. Also, if you do some searching, I'm pretty sure ford came out with some sort of replacement washer/spacer kit to fix it.

[stubbietubbie]

When I had an issue that sounds exactly as you described, we found that it was from air in the steering fluid. This happened because when it was up on a lift the steering wheel was turned (re: turning the wheel with the car ignition off), pumping air into it which caused shuddering at (very) low speed.

It was then just a matter of letting it go, because the air will eventually be pushed out naturally over time, which might be a few weeks depending on how often it's driven.

Edited 20/01/16 06:13 AM by stubbietubbie

[k31th]

^^this guy knows.

Check all rack power steering hoses connections and check for weeping. Replace parts here if they are stuffed. If it's not that, then you can be pretty certain you need a flush and bleed of the power steering system.