I have a 1994 Volvo 850 Wagon that has been an absolute joy. However, it seems like there is some weirdness going on with the steering.

When I go in a straight line it's perfectly fine although the steering wheel gets a bit fidgety going back and forth . However whenever I make a turn, the wheel becomes fidgety and has some very slight notchy resistance to it. It's not a heavy type of resistance like when a power steering pump goes out. More like it wants to retract an 1/8 of a turn for every half turn that I do with it.

I'm thinking it could be a bad rack... but usually when that's happened the entire steering will more or less be off. In this case, the steering is still precise and light, but I still get that small pushback of sorts whenever I do a turn.

If anyone's had a similar experience, please let me know. Thanks in advance!

macarose

I don't think I would drive the car in this condition. The tie rods could be failing.....I would take the car to Volvo and have them check the inner and outer tie rods and all steering components. soon.

I have an 1996 850, and I'm experiencing similar situation. Whenever I'm accelerating between 60 and 70 mph and changing lanes (say to pass on the highway) or driving along a slight curve, I experience some weaving like my car has been hit with a strong gust of wind. It straightens out and goes away when I let up on the gas.

This Friday, a mechanic is going to test drive my car to see if he can duplicate the problem. I'll let you know what I find out.

It sounds like a bad outer CV joint to me. Is there any noise, especially a ratcheting sound when you turn? It could also be a bent wheel or bad tire, but my first suspect is one of the outer CVs