My girlfriends Clio is driving me mad, and also left.
Its a low milage car looked after well. However, the car pulls left hard. or the wheels shakes lots.
Lowish speed the wheels shake, and at any speed it wants to turn left.
Got the tracking done today on some whizzkid machine and its not that. Also the wheels are nice and tight. The shake is far too much to be wheels
weights.
just stuck as to what it could be.
Its a 2003 clio 1.4 petrol
guys at the garage who did the tracking (refunded too as it didnt help) said it could be the steering rack as its electronic???
Has it always done it or just started?
Doubt its the rack. Binding brakes, wheel bearing even crap tyres. Jack it up and have a spin of the front wheels. Try the front wheels on the back and see of that helps.
was it laser four wheel alignment check? did they check movement/wear on all suspension bushes etc before doing it, if so thats another thing ruled out like wish bone bushes
Has it got one direction tyres Is one on the wrong way around ?
A mate of mine had this problem and it was the tyres
Is the bearings / bushes /track rod ends all ok
is the left hand brake sticking on after used
Is any thing Bent arm's etc
Jacko
[Edited on 30/1/10 by jacko]
Sounds like exactly the same as what happened when my caliper seized.
First thing I'd do is swap front/rear wheels and see if it changes owt
Clio's use track arms as opposed to track rod ends, they are common wear problems, check this, I've done quite a few.
Do you have / can get an infra red thermometer? This is the easiest way to check the siezed caliper.
Are the tyres worn? As mentioned an uneven tyre will pull you over too (Vectras suffer badly with this).
I can't remember if the Clio has a strut top bearing, I know the Meganes have, this could cause a pull, but you should also notice this in tyre
wear.
Hmm interesting.
Whilst I was doing some research into electric power steering for another of my projects, I found that the Clio and Vauxhall Corsa that use this type
of electric power assistance can get the position sensor go out of adjustment.
This apparently gives exactly the kind of problem you are having.
Do a Google search for electric power steering problems.
Seems that power steering specialist know of the problem but charge a fortune to fix it.
Found a site that explained the fix, and it seemed very simple to do. Sorry, don't remember what site it was though.
Try taking the power steering fuse out and drive it without the power assistance. It will be quite heavy on the steering, but will show if it still
pulls. If it steers straight without power assistance, then it is definatly the power assistance issue.
Hope this helps
Edit to say that it is not an electric steering rack, it's a powered column. The electric assistance motor and gubins is all under the dash.
Mike
[Edited on 30/1/10 by Mike S]
agree with mike s. have had a few corsa suffering with this problem and has turned out to be electric column, which can make it pull really badly.
Rob
Mine never had any crap like that.
Ps Start saveing for a new sump or clean and paint the one you have.....they have a bad habit of going
Rusty.....and holy
Why a clio needs pwer steering on such a light car is well beyond me.
Good luck
The colum wouldnt make it shake though.
The colums on corsas have to be calibrated everytime you have the battery off.
quote:
TextThe colums on corsas have to be calibrated everytime you have the battery off.
It's goi g to a local engine rebuilder and general repIes guy Monday. If still no joy I will get it up in the air at the weekend and have a
wiggle of Everything
seized caliper sounds crap to deal with. But so does this rack resetting
quote:
Originally posted by Danozeman
The colum wouldnt make it shake though.
The colums on corsas have to be calibrated everytime you have the battery off.
