2005 50th steering wheel offset and squeal

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bobk250

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May 31, 2009
Thunderbird Year
2005
2005TBird steering.jpg 2005TBird steering.jpg I drove to my local Elks for Sunday breakfast and when I left the parking lot the steering felt a little funny. When I got on the road the steering wheel was 45% off clockwise to the right and when I made even a slight turn the tires squealed. Tires & alignment done this past year & mileage is about 97k. I already searched this forum and cannot find a similar problem. Anyone had this experience of have any ideas or advice.
 

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Is the steering harder to turn, stiffer?
 
biddle said:
Is the steering harder to turn, stiffer?
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More like the opposite, when I first turned it felt light and a little bit like the Caster was off. I had this happen a week or so ago and after pulling in to a parking lot to see if it was a soft tire or something when I pulled out which entailed several tight turns in the parking lot the wheel had gone back to normal so I had did nothing. This time I drove slowly and gently home and took the picture.
 
I am looking in my 05 shop manual and nothing in the symptoms chart jumps out. Please tell me are the front wheels (tires) sitting correctly straight when the steering wheel is staying offset as in your photos? A yes or no may indicate trouble in the steering shaft components.
M.
 
BluByeU said:
I am looking in my 05 shop manual and nothing in the symptoms chart jumps out. Please tell me are the front wheels (tires) sitting correctly straight when the steering wheel is staying offset as in your photos? A yes or no may indicate trouble in the steering shaft components.
M.
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Sounds like something that could be potentially dangerous as well. Would have it looked at ASAP.
 
Totally agree, it would be one thing if the steering wheel were just off center, but the tires squealing make me think an alignment problem because of a damaged/failing part... Don't play around and get it checked out...
 
bobk250 said:
View attachment 5018 View attachment 5018 I drove to my local Elks for Sunday breakfast and when I left the parking lot the steering felt a little funny. When I got on the road the steering wheel was 45% off clockwise to the right and when I made even a slight turn the tires squealed. Tires & alignment done this past year & mileage is about 97k. I already searched this forum and cannot find a similar problem. Anyone had this experience of have any ideas or advice.
Click to expand...

You might have a bad ball joint. Seems like the same problems I had until I changed the bottom right side ball joint.
 
I was going to suggest you look at your rack and pinion steering, because that is about the only
item that can cause this. If it were a ball joint you would have all kinds of knocking. And by
the way my red 02 Bird just did the same thing your car did. I already had a remanufactured
rack and pinion set, so have to jack up the car and change it out, one of these days.
 
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