Anyone who has ever spent time wrenching on a car has been there. Despite seemingly understanding how what you’re looking at works, how it comes apart, and how it goes together, a problem pops up that appears to have no solution. That’s where I’m at, and hopefully today I will get some advice and comfort from knowing that I’m not alone.
The issue started in late May of this year when I was about to head out on a road trip to Knoxville, Tennessee. Before traveling the nine-ish hours from my home in Little Rock, Arkansas, I wanted to refresh the front-end suspension components on my sexy Ford Flex. That included new quick struts, new sway-bar end links, and new sway-bar bushings.
The job itself was laborious but not totally out of my depth since I’d spent some time running a repair shop in the past. Everything came out and went back in without much drama. The problem popped up around 10 miles into my 530-mile trip. The car felt like it changed direction under load at highway speeds.
In short, adding throttle beyond simply maintaining speed on the highway led the car to steer right a little bit. Removing that same throttle input saw the Flex shift back to the left. It wasn’t super dramatic and didn’t produce any weird sounds, so I basically babied the car to Memphis, TN where I got out and inspected my work. Based on videos shot with my phone, nothing was out of place.
I repeated this process again in Nashville, TN, and again, nothing appeared loose. Upon arriving in Knoxville, I made an appointment and dropped it off at a local Firestone. They checked it over, did an alignment check, and said everything was good from what they could see.
I picked up the car, started to drive it back to where I was staying, and almost immediately felt the issue again. I turned right around and dropped it back off. This time, the shop decided that I needed rear control arms. Is that true? Probably. Does that affect steering under load? I’m doubtful. In any case, I skipped the rear control arms and babied the car home where I brought it to the shop that I used to work at.
They suggested a tie rod so we did that. No change. At this point, it’s been roughly five months of gingerly driving the Flexasaurus. I’ve pulled everything apart, looked it over, re-torqued bolts, and still, the issue continues. I have a few ideas of what it could be at this point.
The issue only happens under certain conditions. For instance only at highway speed. It only seems to shift the car to the right under load at that speed and is dramatically more noticeable when turning right. It’s almost imperceptible when turning left at high speed.
Perhaps the quick strut on the driver’s side is shifting under load somehow. That might explain it. In addition, it’s plausible that one of the engine or transmission mounts is failing. One way to see how your mounts are doing is to put the car in drive or reverse and then give it a little gas while holding the brake. Here’s what that results in on the Flex:
That doesn’t look like too much play to me, but maybe I’m wrong. In any case, I have two questions for you: First, what is wrong with my car? Secondly, and far more importantly, what is a problem you struggled to fix?
I’ve been avoiding doing a front end refresh on my Grand Marquis. It’s still okay, but with steering at full lock going over bumps I’ll get a horrific crunchy clunky sound. It weighs on my mind, and makes me avoid driving it. I already did one of the upper balljoints, but that wasn’t the issue. I feel terrible, I’ve probably only put about 400 miles on the car in the past year!
Dialing in drum brakes.
That is all.
Check the rear toe links. When they get worn/loose you’ll get that sort of on/off-throttle shift in the rear end. If you lift on the body you won’t notice the play due to the suspension sag tensioning them so jack under the rear control arm.