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Steering flutters. 900 1994

Hi everyone. I'm having this vibration/fluttering issue on the steering of my '94 960. The problem is intermittant, but comes out when I'm turning the car at the low speed. The frequency is, I guess, about 4Hz and I can feel the vibration on the steering wheel. My wild guess is that there is something wrong with the p/s. Can anyone figure the couse of this phenomenon? Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.








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    Steering flutters. 900 1994

    Dear Vernon,

    May this find you well. A few questions:

    (a) Have you checked the level of power steering fluid (the reservoir is next to the inside edge of the driver's side of the engine bay, midway between the strut tower and the headlight)?

    (b) Have you checked the tension on the belt that drives the power steering motor (the belt should depress about 1/4 inch / 6.5 mm)?

    (c) Do you see any signs of leakage on either of the rubber "boots" at the end of the steering rack (you may need to drop the splash pan to see this)?

    Hope this helps: I'm sure others will have better ideas; these are the obvious ones.

    Post back to let us know what you find.

    Yours faithfully,

    spook








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      Steering flutters. 900 1994

      Thanks for the quick respense, Spook.

      The answers are:
      a)yes, it is between L and H. Will it make any difference if I change the fluids?
      b)it comes with hydrolic tensioner, and the belt is new. The problem started before I replace the belts.
      c)there is no leakage, as far as I know.

      I just encountered another problem. I just backed up the car to right, and the right front wheel created this "going over the lump" movement. Is this caused by worn out bearing, or worn ball joint? I hope you can help with this as well.

      Thanks in advance.








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        Steering flutters. 900 1994

        Dear Vernon,

        Good p.m. The power steering fluid should not need changing. It should be a rosy pink (to see its color, let a drop fall on a clean white paper towel). It should only be changed if it is brownish, etc.

        I'm not quite sure what you mean by "going over the lump" movement. If you meant that the car bounced several times, that could be a sign that new struts are needed, or possibly that a strut is loose. That may account for your steering abnormalities.

        A worn-out bearing will hum, moan, or growl: these noises intensify with speed. A worn ball join will typically create some front-end shimmy, which you may feel in the steering wheel. I doubt you'd notice it at very low speeds.

        I think you should have the front end inspected, by someone well familiar with Volvo suspension.

        Yours faithfully,

        spook








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          Steering flutters. 900 1994

          Dear Spooky.

          Good p.m.

          Thanks for the quick reply. The fluid seems a little brownish. I think the time is due to change'em.
          "Going over the lump" was really a bad expression. Actually, I didn't know how to describe the event. Here is the better way of describing it. The front wheel behaved like as if it went over a couple of fist size bumps with equal interval between them. I noticed it in the parking garage at my work. I got off my car to make sure there were no bumps.

          You are absolutely right. I'll have the front end checked.

          Vernon








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            Steering flutters. 900 1994

            Dear Vernon,

            Good a.m. and may this find you well. It sounds to me as if something either is badly worn, or has come loose. See below, and extract from the FAQs regarding front-end clunky noises.

            I'd get the inspection done ASAP. It should be pretty clear what needs attention. If you must drive the car before the inspection, drive gently: e.g.,avoid making sharp, fast turns or heavy loads.

            The power steering fluid sounds as if it needs to be changed. I've never done this, so have no insights to offer. There is nothing in FAQs on this procedure. Surely another brickboarder has done this, and will chime in.

            Yours faithfully,

            spook (I try really, really hard not to be spooky)

            --------------extract from FAQs ----------------------------------
            700/940 Series. The two "most common" areas of clunkiness, if you will, on the 700 series are: Worn ball joint - Being ungreasable, these can deteriorate and cause the strut assembly to have play at the base of the strut cartridge. Not necessarily detectable through the bounce test but under vehicle load (dynamic), it can show up (audible). Correction: replace ball joint(s).- Worn/broken upper shock mounting - the large rubber doughnut inside of the mount can be split and there'd be no visible signs of it's demise except when removed. However, the warning sign of this is not usually a clunking under straight line driving or under the bounce test. It shows up under low speed cornering as a mild "clunk" at or close to full steering lock. However, my experience was that as it got worse, it did start to emit audible warning under driving load. [Editor:] The upper strut mount bearing, located within this doughnut, can also fail and give clunky feelings, usually on steering hard to the stops.

            Note: the infamous "bounce test" is NOT an accurate way to pinpoint any front end/shock/strut problems. Remember, that as you are bouncing the front, you are really having to "defeat" the spring strength first (since they are what's holding up the vehicle under it's own weight) before any other problem areas will show up. This usually takes dynamic (moving) loads to recreate. Other sources to look at:

            The bushings, as you've mentioned. Usually, broken bushings can actually be seen as cracks at the visible edges. Not always detectable as such but worth a look.
            The strut inserts themselves. Once they've exhausted themselves (and perhaps have leaked their hydraulic "blood", there's not much else to do but clunk against the side walls of the pistons.
            Sway bar bushings - if they are worn at the center mounts, the bar can be hammering the frame.







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