slukeent Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Have a 97 Legacy with 312000 miles. Great car. 7 days ago started strange problem that 3 shops and 5 visits have not solved yet. Now looking to the real experts! Car has had no major problems for over 100000 miles, so this is a new problem. No accidents. While driving, will be fine for 30 miles then a sudden jerking of the steering to the right, you can hear the right front tire wobble, lasts for about 15 seconds, and then goes away. May come again in two miles or may not happen again for 50 miles. Seems to be getting worse. Shops see nothing. Yesterday had right axle replaced, but did not solve it. I think it was bad because of the problem. Rotated tires front to back but made no difference. When it is happening, seems to go away if I accelerate, but I tend to want to slow down! Still maintains steering during events. Happens on straight road, has not happened yet on curves. Anyone have any insights? This car has been a real champ. Thanks for reading! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Have the repair shops looked at the front suspension to see if the ball joints and tie rod ends are good? Also a thought, that a wheel bearing is bad. Suggest you limit this car to slow city driving only, until this problem is solved. It doesn't sound safe to drive this car, especially not at freeway speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slukeent Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 Yes, report is that ball joints and tie rods are good. Also had allignment done. I am not sure if they looked at the wheel bearing, but I wouldn't think that a wheel bearing would be intermittent. I just talked to the shop again, and they could not find anything else wrong, except the brake rotors are warped. I will replace brakes and rotors and see if that helps. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 my 95 legacy had a similar problem, but it had a torn outer boot on the drivers side so we knew pretty much what was causing it. we replaced the bad axle and the shimmy went with it. all is good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Yes, report is that ball joints and tie rods are good. Also had allignment done. I am not sure if they looked at the wheel bearing, but I wouldn't think that a wheel bearing would be intermittent. I just talked to the shop again, and they could not find anything else wrong, except the brake rotors are warped. I will replace brakes and rotors and see if that helps. Thanks! Agree with your though, I wouldn't think that a bad wheel bearing would be intermittent. Doubt that brake rotors would be intermittent. In my experience, I have only noticed warped brake rotor shutter when applying the brakes. Take your foot off the brake, the shutter disappears. Any possibility that the half shaft that you have not replaced is the source of your problem? I once had an Audi that developed a bad half shaft. It would drive fine for a while, but after a lengthy drive, it would produce a bad shutter that would make the car undriveable. However, let it sit over night, then drive it, and it would drive perfectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrGlegacy Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 I have the same problem ,but when I go through deep water it stops, I think that I have a bad ball joint, you might check the ball joint out,,,good luck... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 personally, dont much trust most shops. I would start by jacking up the front end. (and do this stuff on BOTH sides - you may think it is on one side, but it could be the other!) *grap the tire and try to wiggle it - both forwad/back - and top/bottom. any noticable movement indicates a problem with either bearings or ball joints - you may need a helper to wiggle the wheel while you attempt to determine where the movement is coming from. *slowly spin the wheel - listen closely - are there any grinding noises?? a slight, intermittent scraping sound would be brake pads scraping against rotors - especially noticable if rotors are indeed warped. a regular grinding, gravelly noise would be indicative of bearings going * grab the tierod and try to twist - if it moves easily (ie: no effort, sloppy even), it may need replacing. it should take a little effort to move it *Physically inspect axle boots, tierod ends, ball joints for tears, excess grease, etc *Physically inspect springs, struts, strut tops - try to physically move things - check the strut for oil seepage (raise the dust boot to see) A strut that is going bad could feasibly cause the kind of symptom you are experienceing - if it has a bad seal it cant rebound properly while going over bad spots in the road... When was the last time struts were replaced on this car?? generally speaking they are supposed to be replaced every 50,000 miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slukeent Posted January 5, 2010 Author Share Posted January 5, 2010 Thanks to all for the ideas. After I replaced the brakes (pads and rotors on both sides) this problem occurred one time (the day after the repairs) and has not happened since. That was about 800 miles ago. I wonder if the brakes were so warped they would intermittently grab the wheel. Heartless provided lots of good ideas and I have not yet checked all of them out yet, but the last shop said they inspected the bearings and found them OK. I just keep waiting for it to get worse -- and easier to diagnose! Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Log1call Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 My guess would be that a small piece has chipped off the ball retainer inside the C.V. joint and it occasionaly gets caught between a ball and the housing. I have seen it before. Sometimes a clean and regrease will fix it as an experimant but really the cure is to replace the C.V. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mxmikie Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 when you put brake pads on if you press the caliper piston into the caliper without opening the caliper bleeder letting the brake fluid out of the caliper the abs will cause this from the fluid being forced into the abs unit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1997reduxe Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 The first thing I thought of when i saw this thread was the brakes. And/or whether you had the same tires all around. I'm on my third legacy now, and the brakes and mismatched tires can cause a lot of weird vibes etc. When i bought my second one, i was convinced it needed a new axle it vibrated and howled so, but i bought it anyway as was a good deal, and when i took it to suby to get checked it was a tire. BUT, at 300+K miles you have to realize all brake parts have been through a lot of wear, and i had for example my left front caliper making a lot of intermittent probs etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coroboto Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 So I am pretty close to the end of my rope. I have similar problems as listed before. The car is a 90 legacy automatic...thinking about the ABS comment...replaced pads without removing brake fluid container lid and compressed brake cylinder... So I have a wobble in the front end originating from the passenger side. 1. I replaced the brake pads and rotors 2. Replaced both front CV (half-shaft) axles The wobble occurs primarily when turning left and now has started to occur when turning both ways. The wobble seems to emanate from the passenger a-arm. The bearings really do seem secure ( I have done the wiggle test to all my wheels when my wagon was on a lift this weekend), the steering arms are good as well (atleast upon visual and physical inspection) and I am unsure as how check the ball bearing at the bottom of the a-arm. Possibly could be the ABS problem because the ABS light has started to come on occasionally. Any help would be helpful. I was hoping for some tests to perform on components...such as ABS or lower ball joint. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john in KY Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 Could any of these problems be steering rack related? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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