93 Taurus coupe steering wobble

[dickdowd]

I'm buying a 1993 coupe for $425 with 170,000 miles with a big six. There' a shimmy in the steering which the owner sez is a bad inner steering tie rod (I think he means inner tie rod end) Sez it is not rotors, as I would expect. Has anyone seen this before? Motor sounds good and it does need new tires.

I also need to replace the cracked windshield. Local price seems to be about $250. Can I do this with help? Or is this just $250 and let someone else worry about it? I haven't called yet, but I think a used windshield will be about $100.

Thanks for the help,

Dick

[denisb]

You said needs tires. I had a steering wobble in mine at low speed. Did a tire rotation yesterday and voila, no more wobble. Bad tire wear could be your problem (possibly due to you tie rod). Get it checked and if your tie rod isn't the problem, get it aligned and new tires put on and I bet the wobble goes away.

As for the windshield, get it done by someone. A new windshield for mine here in Canada is about $600. Junkyard probably will end up a little cheaper, but remember that if there's a lot of pits in it, driving into light (sun and on coming cars) might make your windshield glare. This is going to be hard to see till your windshield is on your car.

Denis

[KimMG]

For the difference of $150-, I would let the pros fix it (they'll give you a warranty).
Bad rotors will cause the brake pedal to pulse.
A shimmy in the steering can be caused by the following:
Bad tires
Bent rim(s)
Out of balance tires
Worn suspension parts (tie rods, bushings, etc.)
Worn wheel bearings
Loose or improperly torqued lug nuts

[dickdowd]

Thanks all for the advice. I will check it out this weekend. I can get a complete rebuilt rack and pinion assembly for about $150 and it might be worth replacing the whole thing with that many miles. A tie rod end runs $16 and is easier to replace. Don't have a lot of experience with steering parts. I plan to pick up some tires tomarrow.

Thanks again,
Dick

[TorinoGT69]

on the Ford Taurus it is common for the inner tie rods to fail, it is also common for the whole rack to fail.

[Willyum]

Case you don't know, a rack and pinion unit replacement is a long, not easy, job. Unless you are a glutton for punishment and the car really needs it, wait till it's required.

[tjs62chev]

Originally Posted by dickdowd

I'm buying a 1993 coupe for $425 with 170,000 miles with a big six. There' a shimmy in the steering which the owner sez is a bad inner steering tie rod (I think he means inner tie rod end) Sez it is not rotors, as I would expect. Has anyone seen this before? Motor sounds good and it does need new tires.

I also need to replace the cracked windshield. Local price seems to be about $250. Can I do this with help? Or is this just $250 and let someone else worry about it? I haven't called yet, but I think a used windshield will be about $100.

Thanks for the help,

Dick

I have a 93 Taurus also. Had it for 9 years and have had same problem over and over. Tire rotations seem to be the way to go cuz front end work and rotor replacements don't seem to change anything for the long haul. Noticed same comments in other forums and seems to be one of the quirks for this ride. The problem here is always on the passenger side....how about you?

[dickdowd]

Thanks for the reply. During the interem, I fixed the problem. Seems that after an addition of better tires, proper inflation and a failed attempt to replace an inner tie rod end, I had the rack and pinion assembly replaced. A $150 part and about $150 worth of labor (or 3 hours by the book) The rack assy was a rebuilt unit that gave out in 3 days. My garage fixed it for free. (Garage says about half the rebuilt part they get are junk.) Solved the problem and the car runs great. Doesn't seem logical that the rack and pinion should go bad, which is why it didn't make sense to me, but seems like a very common problem. Doesn't look too bad a job, but I'm getting too old to crawl under the car on anything but an oil change. Thanks again.

Dick