Groaning steering

[ohm5s]

Hi, I was told they had replaced all rubber in the set up and check all the alignments etc. the owner of The Garage proudly showed me a second hand pump he had fitted although I pointed out there was nothing wrong with the pump that was on.  The Garage is over an hour away for me and when I went up there it either involved taking a day off or taking a freind up twice, once to drop off and once pick up the car. I was sick of them and so never went back and so have lived with the groan ever since.

If anyone knows a fix I would be grateful, its only at low speed and I noticed the other day the the steering screeched on full lock.

The main problem with The Garage is that they were shoddy, they always missed jobs out. When I would ring to arrange pick up and ask them if such and such was done bits had been forgotten. Although some of the jobs were simple they fitted then in around other cars and then seeemed to think that if they had the car in for two days then thats two days labour!

A rivet had perished holding one of the lower chrome side strips and one mechanic was chuffed with his phillips screw repair.  God help me!

Trouble is these are a very technical car and whilst every garage can change the oil and filters they do not know Merc way of doing things.

[WGB]

When I purchased my 450 it had a lot of slop in the steering and so I set out to adjust my own box.
I tried using offset wrenches from underneath but couldn't get the purchase to turn the locknut.

I used a basic surgical technique - adequate access - by taking off the exhaust manifold.

When I removed the manifold I found a perished steering shaft joint which was the major problem but I was also able to very precisely adjust the box.

I stopped just short of what I assumed was the point of maximum adjustment so that there would be no binding.

I have no untoward noises and a beautiful feel to the steering like I remember from my experiences in new cars in the 70's and 80's

Mechanic Bill

[John Hubertz]

This may be a clue - I have a leak - it is from the RIGHT side of the engine bay (I have a LHD car)

Once it leaked down (about 1/6 pint from the size of the spot) and the car had sat for 11 months....

GROAN.....GROAN......  and foamy bubbles in the PS fluid indicating that the leak allowed air into the system somewhere.

Level is still OK....but I get the feeling there is a trapped air bubble.

I'm going to crack a line at the box and let out a bunch of the fluid while filling the reservoir with fresh, then do the twist full-lock both ways until the bubbles stop appearing - I'm also adding a fluid sealer/reconditioner as I have had great success stretching the life of PS systems by using a moderate amount of these modern miracle synthetic "pour it in to fix" products. 

I'll let you know how it works.  I don't think my box is the issue as otherwise it would have slowly began groaning a little more each day, rather then suddenly groaning after an enforced period of no driving and this small penetration of air into the system.

[koan]

I've had my steering box off for repair and again for adjustment, and it'll probably have to come off again for another try - I'm worried about going to tight and it binding.

As far as getting the air out of the system I've not had a problem, just rocking the wheel back and forth around centre gets most of the air out and two or three turns lock to lock  purges the rest.

koan

[WGB]

I don't know why you should have a leak on the right side of a LHD car unless the oil is tracking along the crossmember to the other side.

There is a rubber join in the low pressure return line(Rubber hose with two hose clips) which can leak but this is easy to see on the side of the engine compartment above and level with the steering box.

Any other leaks would be faulty hoses, joins or seals.

Always pays to change the round filter (Called the forgotten filter) which sits in the bottom of the steering reservoir and is the reason it has such a large round opening.

Bill