Hi Folks,

The continuing sage of trying to diagnose my 94 945's front end problem.

Had a talk with my mechanic and he says the steering is stiff when the car is up on the lift.

He thinks it is stiff on the upper strut mounts, and wants to replace the whole top strut setup.

Could it be an upper bearing is bad?

Would there be a reason to put in a new upper bearing plate or seat?

New Lemforder strut mounts were installed with new struts about 15k miles ago. Could these have failed already? Maybe...

Or he thinks it might be a failing steering rack.
Any suggestions on how to check that?

Thanks for any and all help.

When I had that problem on the 240, it was a binding upper steering u-joint. I think the 940's must have the same arrangement.

Spray some oil in there and see if it loosens you.

Good luck,

Marty

+1 on upper steering shaft u-joint. Except in my case, Marty, it was the lower u-joint!

That happened on my 90 240. Stiff, unpredictable steering. I used WD-40 to lubricate the both u-joints. Also happened on my 95 850. Seems to be a common problem on older, high mileage Volvos. Neither upper or lower steering shaft u-joints are protected. Road salt and grime eventually get inside the u-joints.

It can feel like the rack is going south. Definitely check for binding in the u-joints before condemning the rack.

J
--
Will I buy another Volvo??? We'll see....