2005 steering is too loose on highway…was fine last week

[Janes 2005]

The steering felt very normal before this past week. Now at highway speed it seems to easy and wants to wander a little. New to the t-bird world. Only 30k miles, no leaks or other issues. Thanks, jack

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[biddle]

Sounds like its time to inspect the suspension components.

Upper control arm
Lower control arm
Ball joint

 

[1984shovelhead]

Ditto on the suspension sounds silly but don’t overlook basics like lug nuts and age of tires I have seen tires with good tread and no dry rot- but old as far as years develop a side to side shimmy.That was on my 1970 le mans.New tires cured that.Btw it was only one tire that was bad.

 

[HPB]

The steering felt very normal before this past week. Now at highway speed it seems to easy and wants to wander a little. New to the t-bird world. Only 30k miles, no leaks or other issues. Thanks, jack

I reworked the suspension about 2 years ago and the car drove great. This spring upon taking it our of storage experienced the same problem. Found it to be tires. Tires are 5 years old to me and about 4000 miles. Replaced and issue disappeared.

 

[booty_malone]

Get under the front and make sure all bolts are tight including frame bolts and tie rods.

 

[medurham]

Two things may have happened. You simply didn't notice the looseness last week and as stated by the club members above, check out the suspension, however, 30K miles does not wear out lubricated joints. Aging of struts, etc, could be a likely issue, my 2002 with 68K is still tight, a bit loose in tie rods, but still very drivable as is.

Did you check tire pressure? To high will cause the car to be skitterish on the freeway, to low harder to steer. With 30K miles, thats the first thing I would check.
If it wants to wander a bit at high speeds that usually is not attibutable to things like struts, but certainly tie rods a bit loose, or maybe the steering rack, but again with 30K miles its probably something simple. If the wander is consistent in one direction, then its alignment time.

 

[Janes 2005]

Sounds like its time to inspect the suspension components.

Upper control arm
Lower control arm
Ball joint

Does the power steering pump pressure sensor control ease of steering if it goes bad?

 

[Frankie the Fink]

The FEM can cause the steering to be too tight if malfunctioning but haven't heard it causing looseness, but, if all else checks out, maybe something to consider.