Oh bugger...

[Bailes1992]

Had my steering rack replaced last week.
Ever since it was done when going to the left lock the steering got tighter? So had a word and the mechanic said it's probably air (I suspected the same).
So today I was parking, just going onto left lock and the unmistakeable sound of wires ripping out the back of steering wheel and there was no more tightness
Que no horn, and the airbag lights on

Will have to give him a ring in the morning

Should've done it myself

Bailes.

[lozz]

Bloomin ek,
ihope hes going to sort it at his own Expense ?
Strange that as ive never heard of them doing that on Fords.
He wouidnt av had to remove the Steering wheel and disturb the airbag etc to change the steering rack surley ?
ive done a few and ive never had to take steering wheel off,

[Bailes1992]

No what he probably did is when he went to align up the steering colum to the rack turned the steering wheel to the right one or two turns. So when I was turning left I been stretching the cables

[HimBigChief]

I had a similar thing happen with the immobiliser wires on one of my old 309's. However mine started smoking heavily from the wires fusing together. Did it just as I was turning into a petrol station, queue a mad dash by petrol station attendant complete with fire extinguisher brandishing it in my face as I calmly turn the ignition off and start stripping the dash down. 5 mins later and immobiliser was bypassed and we were able to continue.

Still bit of a bugger that Bailes, and if there's air in the PAS system you just need to go from full lock to full lock a few times and it bleeds the system.

[Bailes1992]

I had a similar thing happen with the immobiliser wires on one of my old 309's. However mine started smoking heavily from the wires fusing together. Did it just as I was turning into a petrol station, queue a mad dash by petrol station attendant complete with fire extinguisher brandishing it in my face as I calmly turn the ignition off and start stripping the dash down. 5 mins later and immobiliser was bypassed and we were able to continue.

Still bit of a bugger that Bailes, and if there's air in the PAS system you just need to go from full lock to full lock a few times and it bleeds the system.

Yeh I did that a few times and it wasen't getting better, but thought maybe it was trapped somewhere.
But turns out it was the cables tensioning causing the tightness in the steering
Will ring the guy tommorow and get it in ASAP.
I hope it's just a plug thats come undone so he can just disconect the column from the rack, turn the steeringwheel back a few turns, connect the column to the rack again and join it back up.
I'd do it myself, but i'd rather not

[Bailes1992]

Fairplay to the bloke (I know he's busy, he's a one man band and works at home) but he's comming straight out this saft to fix it

[Bailes1992]

One new clock spring on order.
Should have the car back tommorow

[Bailes1992]

28 hours to diagnose and replace a clock spring and still counting...

[lozz]

ah bloomin ek.

As they say tho Pay peanuts & you get monkeys

Diagnose the clock spring ? surely if somethings snapped in it , it will need replacing

[StevieboyTD]

Gotta love that Ford reliability ;)

[Bailes1992]

Gotta love that Ford reliability ;)

This isn't 'reliablilty' this is a highly reccomended mechanic who's f*cked up

Still no car...

[StevieboyTD]

Why was the mechanic fiddling with the car in the first place?

[sirwiggum]

I agree with StevieboyTD. From previous experience with a Ford and from your previous posts, you are having a hell of a lot of issues with the Ford.

And you want to get another one???????

There comes a point with any car when you want to say "enough".

[Bailes1992]

I got a mechanic to replace the steering rack. This mechanic was reccomended by family friends.

And he didn't reset the clock spring and it broke.

still no car though

I am considering getting a nice ph2 306 DTurbo and saving up for abit longer.
If I get a £500 Dturbo and sell my Focus for £1500 then thatsan extra £1000 to add to my budget.
Peugeots are easier to work on, and if the engine goes bang, you can swap them over in a few hours.

And when I get my new car I can play with the DT, drop a 2.1TD in it or something?

[sirwiggum]

XUDT 306s would be a good car.

Only problem, and I'm not sure if County England has this issue, but in NI, every boy racer in Magherafelt has bought a 306 DTurbo like the sheep that they are. They then promptly ruin them by turning the fuel screw too much such that it reeks black smoke under light acceleration, blow the headgasket, put clamps on the spring so that the Peugeot engineered balanced ride/handling balance is ruined, and fit various bits of plastic tat and ridiculous stickers.

In terms of tunability, I've heard of remaps for the XUDT, and the aforementioned fuel screw.

But I prefer my XUDs simple, agricultural, and reliable