My GF just got an 88 formula. on the highway the car will pull to the left, as if it were a little out of alignment. no biggie right? well it will suddenly CHANGE and start pulling to the right (for 5~10 seconds). then back to the left! its rather bizarre.

i had the car checked out by my mechanic, and had the idler arm and centerlink replaced on his reccommendation. it definately needed them, the car steers much tighter now, but that makes the pull left/right problem that more obvious now that some of the components are new.

should i just take it for an alignment or do i have something goofy here somewhere? my mechanic is a good guy and would have said so (or done it) if he thought it needed an alignment...

 

Too much Negative Caster can cause a wander and weave problem.

 

I would think that a worn out or unadjusted steering gear might cause the problem as well...

 

thanks guys, it was the alignment. took it down this afternoon and they said it was pretty far out of whack. i havent had it on the highway yet but its a noticeable difference just on the side streets. ive never had a car act like that because it needed an alignment before.

i now have to kick my mechanic's butt for giving the car back with it so far out of whack - especially since he did replace front suspension pieces

 

He probably forgot to mark the location of all the parts before he started tearing it apart and try to eye ball it.


If it were a worn steering gear there would be play in the steering wheel when turning it side to side because of the gap between the teeth. If the steering wheel is tight yet the car is wandering and weaving more than likely it's in the suspension.

 

My bad, I didn't see the part about the steering being tighter. The reason I mentioned it was because I had a '67 Chevy p/u once that did the same thing and it was the gear. The steering was also considerably loose, however. Glad to hear that you solved the problem!

 

well i THOUGHT it was fixed.... but it is definately still there, just not as bad as it was before. the car is at least safe to drive now, i wouldnt have considered it safe before. but it still does it.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.......
just have to live with it. its just a beater for her till my gf can find another 5-speed t-top firebird/TA to replace the one she lost when some guy ran into her...

 

i have alittle bit of a winder problem too, i know most of the streets are curved for water run off, so thats maybe why i have to hold the steering alittle bit to the right to keep it to go straight... i guess when i get new tires, maybe even new rims i need to get an alignment and worked from there..

and i check my tire pressure every week, i think maybe running inly 32 psi in the front might make this potential problem worse for me... all well its not that bad to where i cant drive it every day..

 

My bird does the same thing. Had a buddy shake the steering wheel back and forth while I watched the steering linkage. Thats when I noticed the drivers side frame rail moving about a 1/2" back and forth . Frame rail cracked. Nothing a little welding and a wonderbar wont fix. May not be your problem, but you might want to check it out.

 

Right!! The slope of the street is called road crown it's there to allow water run off. Usually camber is increased opposite of road crown slope about half a degree. In california the roads slope to the right however some states still direct theres torwards the middle of the opposing lanes. Verify which way your state is and compare to alignment specs.

 

my iroc also wanders with roads that have deep ruts. my steering box is tight, i replaced my struts, and along time ago replaced my powersteering pump, and it has always wandered. there is a valve in the p/s box or p/s pump which i believe is called an anti-kickback valve. that is probably what i will try replacing next, although it may require buying a new p/s box.