Hey guys--

Sit tight for a story. After a mechanic replaced my drive belts, I noticed the steering feeling loose and occasionally freezing during low-speed turns. When a friend looked into the problem, he noticed a lot of play in the power steering drive belt and then found that the adjusting bracket and bolt had not been reinstalled on the power steering pump. I order a new bracket, reinstalled it, tightened the belt and it drove like a completely new car. Problem solved.

Then a timing belt bit the dust. I took it to another mechanic, and now the front wheels feel loose again and shudder during low-speed turns. I've tried tightening the drive belts and the problem seems to persist. I did notice last night that the pulley on the power steering pump and the pulley on the A/C compressor below it were not perfectly aligned with one another vertically (the A/C compressor is a bit forward of the power steering pump pulley).

I'm stumped.

A few particulars:

1. Recently had an alignment.
2. Ball joints were replaced.
3. '92 240 with 128K

Is it possible I over tightened the belts? Am I missing something?

Jeff

I too had similar steering issues just after new front-end components and a trip to the alignment shop.

I replaced the front tie rod ends and end links. I drove it around after the end links and tie rods were complete. I wasn't able to break the bolts free on the ball joints, so I took the parts to the alignment shop to have them finish the job prior to realigning everything.

The steering wheel is now about 5 degrees off (rotated counter-clockwise). The car pulls to the left, and the steering makes a clicking noise and shudders when turned to either extreme. I had none of these issues prior to taking it in.

The alignment shop has told me that they weren't able to get the car back into full alignment and that I would need completely new shock and strut assemblies. They also said that I would need a new rack and pinion to correct the 5 degree steering rotation and pulling to the left issue.

I think they are full of crap.

How can they not be able to get it into full alignment? The mechanic said he ran out of adjustment on one of the 3 nuts on the strut mounts. Does that really warrant an entire new shock/strut assembly? Or, would replacing the upper strut mount resolve this?

Maybe they put the ball joints in backwards or something. Is that even possible?

1991 - 240 - 185k

Time to replace probably all the mount bushings-they do wear out and misalignment of the pulleys is a signal . Don’t forget that the alternator has 3 bushings-the one on the end of the adjustment bracket, is easy to over look. (One mounting bolt goes into the front of the block with the adjustment arm.) Then unless your belts are really new, consider replacing all of them-be sure the matching pair of belts for the alternator do in fact match. Take them out of the package and eyeball them before you leave the store. I've seen more than one pair of “matching pairs” that don’t match.

Better to tighten the belts a smidge too loose instead of too tight. You can always tighten up a loose belt, but a tight belt can mess up the bushings you just put in-and the play havoc on the bearings in your water pump etc..

That makes sense to me, Anthony. The only thing is, the steering worked well prior to the timing belt change.

Is it possible that the bushings to the alternator got improperly installed or something?

If so, I'm wondering why they'd need to take the bushings out just to take off the belt.

Jeff

When doing a timing belt, the alternator and A/C belts have to come off in order to remove the crank pulley. The P/S belt has to be loosened before the A/C belt can be loosened and taken off. Make sure the P/S belt is tight and/or not glazed.

The bushings--the biggish round rubber things about a inch or so thick-with a metal center part and a hole in the center where the bolt goes through-go into holes in the mounting brackets to keep the alt and other units and their belts lined up, have nothing to do with changing your belts. It's possible when they did the timing belt they moved/loosened the power steering belt for some reason so the belt(s) were not driving properly. Were the ones who did your T-belt reputable and experienced? I hate to say this-but try to watch what the people do who work on your car and that they are not doing anything---"hinky".