As I pulled into a parking lot recently, I heard a pop come from the vehicle. As soon as I heard the pop, I was able to turn the steering wheel, however the tires will not turn...what gives?
I have a Ford E-150 econoline van and the same thing happened to me..... except that i had steering for two days after the popping sound. and then today after a entire day of driving on and off of the freeway, just as i finished parking, i heard another popping sound and i lost all control of steering. there was a bolt under the vehicle and it looked as if it had been cut somewhat and then snapped.
What can i do to fix this?
Sounds like most of the bolts on the steering gear mount had loosened up and fallen out. The popping sounds were the last of the bolts snapping off from the pressure exerted thru the Pitman arm. After you get the remains of the three broken bolts out, you will need to replace them so the steering gear is mounted to the frame where it belongs. I'm not sure about the 1995 on vans, but the 1992 - 94 "E 150" van only has three bolts holding the steering gear to the frame. The recommended steering and suspension check (every 5,000 mile or 5 months) includes tightening these bolts when loose. Loose bolts on the steering box can also cause the steering to wander.
Obviously in both cases some part of the steering linkage broke off (steering shaft, pitman arm, idler arm, tie rod or tie rod end... etc... Could be a number of things, depending on the location of the broken part) In the second case (still had steering for 2 days), that was just a streak of luck and the broken part stayed in place just enough one way or another for a few more days.
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Thank you for your reply. This was a big help to us.
My friend, on the matter of the steering still happening for a couple of days afterwaard........ luck is what happens in some cases at the card tables, or the lottery, what happened to my fiance and I was The Hand of God protecting us.
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