1997 Lincoln Town Car 60K miles. When cold (first thing in the morning), steering effort is fine—say a 1. Drive and it firms up (normal)—say a 9. Come to a stop and effort drops down to a 4-5. Turn car off, wait about 10 min and it comes down to a 2 (car stationary). I keep the steering effort selector in L all the time. Took to Ford dealer. Disconnected steering said ball joints, tie rod end were tight. Had them all replaced along with steering arm (all Moog). Said only other thing would be pump and valve –aftermarket would be $150 for pump/valve. Don’t remember what the Ford pump was but the valve alone would be $300. Lower steering shaft joint is OK. It would seem to be PS related because I get good boost when cold (but I’m not a tech).
The tech checked it out after all the front end work and said it was OK. The service adviser tested the car and he confided to another service adviser that the steering felt stiff to him. I drove the car and there was zero improvement. The steering is stiff at low speeds when car is warmed up. Should I just replace the valve (Ford), or the pump/valve (aftermarket) or?
I admit I’m picky but this is a Lincoln and I want the car to be right. It’s no fun driving it the way it is now.
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Sunday, October 12th, 2014 AT 4:49 AM
