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pulls right on acceleration, veers left on deceleration S80 2002

My S80 has 117K miles on it. At highway speed, it has developed a noticable veer to the right upon even light acceleration and a similar veer to the left upon deceleration. Soon after, I noticed my power steering was groaning a little and when I checked my fluid in the parts store parking lot, it was somewhat foamy (agitated) as sometimes occurs when it is sucking air. I added a leak sealing power steering fluid (I think it is solder-seal brand) which corrected the groan immediately. However, I am still experiencing the pull/veer problem. My front end control arms are brand new.

My question is, is this indicating a steering rack problem?








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    pulls right on acceleration, veers left on deceleration S80 2002

    Not a rack problem. The foaming is probably caused by the PS always being engaged during accel and decell, without rest.

    I agree with the bum control arms, OEM work best.

    Your tie rod bushings could be a problem if they are original.
    --
    My name is Klaus and I am a V♂lv♂holic








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    pulls right on acceleration, veers left on deceleration S80 2002

    Something is allowing the LH wheel to pitch forward/inward when power is applied. You note the control arms are new, so the assumption, at least for now, is that their bushings aren't at fault. Something you could try is to lift the LH wheel off the ground just a bit by setting a floor jack under the control arm as close to the wheel as you can get. Once the wheel is off the ground, grasp the tire at 9:00 and 3:00 and work it back and forth and see if you can detect any play in it.

    I am saying to jack the wheel up from under the control arm so that all the steering components are close the angle they're in when you're on the road. Jacking the car by the chassis and letting the wheel dangle down may introduce an angle in the tie rod, or whatever, at which the slop is diminished.

    About the control arms - people have complained that some of the aftermarket control arms are junk. My local Volvo independent shop tells me that control arms are one of the items that they insist be Volvo label, because of the bad luck they've had with the aftermarket stuff. I believe the Volvo OEM's may be made by Lemforder but I'm not absolutely sure.







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