New here, I discovered this site via searching my issue through google.

The problem is with my wifes focus which i have been using because she quite rightly refuses to use it due to its rather strange and alarming steering issue.

The issue is when the car is stationary, or travelling at any set speed in a straight line, it will pull to the left if you do not hold the steering wheel tight, when you try to correct it ( by pulling the steering wheel to the right ) the steering feels light, then it becomes hard and you can hear and feel an almighty clunk through the steering wheel and drivers side footwell area, and after this clunk the car lurches to the right?

I was told it would be the suspension drop links upon good advice from a friend, when i removed both front wheels i discovered both front shocks had burst and one of the roll bar links in question had snapped.

So i replaced both front shock absorbers, both front drop links and had the tracking done to the tune of nearly £150.

To my dismay this did not make one blind bit of a difference, other than it did stop it pulling to the left a little, but the alarming clunk and jerking right is still there.

I have now been told it could be one of 4 things, and with a car of its age, i do not want to get myself into the game of replacing 10 parts to find and cure one broken item, i had this issue with a Renault Scenic where i replaced £400 of parts and the part at fault was a mere £8 !

The parts i have been advised to change, or that could be at fault are,

• Power steering pump unit
• Power steering sensor,
• Power steering rack itself
• One or both of the lower suspension wishbones could be faulty, with the balljoint being the issue causing excessive movement within the hub area and allowing the hub to jump about, this seems to make sense to me, and the lower suspension wishbones are the cheapest item on the list (around £45 for the pair)

Would the problem suggest the wishbones? Or does anybody else have any ideas or have had this issue before and know a solution? I don't want to part with the vehicle as it has nearly a full years tax and ticket on her, but yet again i do not want to spend £200 - £300 replacing parts.

Kind Regards

Ashley

 

Have you jacked the front of the car up and see if there is any play in the suspension parts. Try and get a bar behind the bottom arm bushes and give them a bit of a lever and see if there is any play in them.

 

Sounds almost certain to verge lower uj. If the bottom half of it has seized, will clunk as u go past centre (steering wheel straight) and then pull to that side.

Matt

 

Be the lower UJ **

Typing on a stupid iPhone and it keeps thinking it knows better than me and auto-correcting!! Haha

 

If its a new shape focus , surely its still under warranty?

 

Title says first shape....ie mk1.

Matt

 

That will be the steering rack. Sounds just like mine! My steering used to shudder on the motorway too like it had an unbalenced wheel.

 

Two burst shocks and a broken drop link. Sounds like someone's left the road in the ice and not said anything IMO.

 

Lower arm bushes. Worth replacing the ball joint at the same time. Wont cost much if you do it yourself.

 

if its got an almost new mot how come none of this showed up at the test
i would suspect as above somebody has clobbered a curb or something similar and not letting on

 

It hadn't been in a bump as i know the previous owner through work quite well, it was more uncared for than anything, it hadnt been serviced in 3 years/35000 miles when i got her and would barely accelerate below 2000 revs because the spark plugs had disentegrated.

Ive took it to a few places this morning and checked the lower arm bushes and 2 out of 3 places i took it have said its the steering rack which has been said above is a common fault, and these 2 garages both said its the bias valve in the steering rack?

When i mentioned it also clunks about more when the car is cold and eases off once its warm, they said that would sound even more so of the bias valve as once the steering fluid warms up it lubricates the valve more?

So its looking like a new rack at the minute

The shocks where only burst through old age, when i took off the rubber dust covers they had rusted around where the piston goes through and the seal had given way and released all the fluid.

 

My rack was only £256 fitted! Not the end of the world. And the mechanic had heck of a time trying to locate my rack too as apparently it was rare or something

 

Yep rack is fucked. Had to do that last year (happy new year) on my mk1 focus. Did the job myself which is easy enough if your handy with the spanners and bought a salvaged rack for £55 so not bad at all. You'll pay a good few hours labour at a garage though but 250 for supply and fit aint bad!

 

Try u/j first
Common on these once ten yrs old
After that try a recon rack £140 plus couple of hours labour to fit

 

Do i have to remove the subframe underneath to change the rack?

I really do think its the rack now but i will check the UJ, is that inside the car under the dash area? What should i be checking for that is free when i turn lock to lock?

Thanks

 

Another issue i ment to ask about is when you rev the engine from tickover speed up to about 2000rpm it sounds really high pitched and whistly, it hasn't got any air leaks and the car runs fine, just whistles when you rev it up ?

 

I'd go u/j personally,it's not too bad to replace,one 10mm nut inside the car then I'm not 100% sure about the one on the rack and just wiggle it off.

Coil springs etc on modern cars snap for fun.

Racks not too much of a pain on them,bit awkward more than anything,if your ok with the spanners though you'll be fine.

Plenty of wd40 on the bolts first!!!!

 

What is the union joint and where is it?
I might ask for it to be looked at on Wednesday as my steering is feeling a little loose as per the other thread?
I assume it's like a CV joint for the steering?

 

The UJ is the Universal Joint that joins the steering columb to the the steering rack.