Weird Steering

[phlight24]

I've been having this problem when in a sustained turn. This is hard to explain but I'll do my best. When I get to a point where I begin to hold the steering wheel in a turn, after about a second the wheel feels like it is spring loaded and springs back a little. This actually changes the direction of the car. I then try to recorrect and it happens again. You can imagine this starts to feel a bit unsafe when on the interstate with wet roads and passing another car. I've played with this while parked and I can recreate this springiness. I've had the car aligned and I have taken it to the dealer and they can find nothing wrong and have no answers. I purchased the car with 50K miles and this problem has been there since its purchase. I would definately be looking forward to some insight into this problem since I am running out of ideas. Thanks

[curtis]

Well, sounds like an interesting unit to drive!!! Based on what you are saying it sounds like you could potentially have worn or damaged control arm bushings. Or maybe a bad tie rod or two. But if the garage you took it to couldn't find anything it makes me wonder..... Id suggest taking it to a shop that specializes in front end work, steering/suspension. They'll likely have a solution.

[MoeB]

Have you checked the power steering pump and steering rack?

[phlight24]

In regards to MoeB's question. I'm not sure what I can actually check on the pump and rack. When at the dealer they found a cracked power sterreing resevoir and a bad hose. With this and a low fluid level, they thought they had found the problem. They didn't and I took the car right back. They then had their senior mechanic (thier go to guy) look at it and he could not find anything wrong.

[BillAileo]

A guess: Since your system may have gotten very low on fluid (cracked reservoir and bad hose) perhaps air got into the system that needs to be bled out?


Bill

[MoeB]

I was just speculating that a worn spool valve or pump might be creating erratic assist, with the "springy" feel you described occurring when fluid either leaks around the spool valve or past the pump vanes, causing torsional pressure to momentarily increase. Just a guess, though.

It could also be caused by loose pump belt or air as Bill suggests, but I would assume the go-to guy checked these already.

[funglenn]

Sounds a bit like mine,but I just thought the steering is just getting loose--more play in the steering wheel. It is an 2001 with 65k miles. However never really noticed it until I got an S60R, and now the XC70 seems to be really loose. But my wife, who daily drives the XC70 does not see any problem in her car's steering.

Who knows, but I will have the stuff mentioned checked by Volvo

[phlight24]

Just thought I let you know, I went to another dealer. They believe that it is the rack that's the problem. They also told me they didn't believe it was a safety concern at this time. I will eventually change it and I will post here the results.

[DocMphd]

I'm a relatively new Volvo owner and noticed something very similar in my 2004 XC70. Not as bad as you describe, but its there. I just chalked it up to AWD....I have read that AWD handles very differently in corners than FWD or RWD. This is my first AWD car.

[Julien]

I had this problem with my '04. Bad internal seals in the steering rack. There have been a few forum members with the same issue in the past A new steering rack fixed the problem.

see http://www.volvoxc.com/forums/showth...Steering-issue