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Steering Jerking on 1986 A2 Jetta

My wife has a 1986 Jetta GLI (A2) that we have owned for five years now.

In the past few weeks we have started noticing a bad steering problem. Cruising down a smooth straight road, accelerating the car just slightly will jerk the wheel in one direction, letting off the gas will jerk the wheel back in the other direction. It is fairly significant and a bit frightening at times. Otherwise, the steering seems tight and smooth.

The tires, wheel bearings, and shocks are all only a few months old.

We got an alignment on the car two days ago, but it had no effect on the steering problem. The shop did not find any other problems.

Any ideas what would cause the steering to suddenly start pulling back and forth like this?

Thanks,

Anthony

Reply to
HerHusband
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on my 89 Jetta I recently had the same problem. the cause in my case was the control arm bushings had worn away due to a significant auto trans leak. the dexron ate away at the bushings. i knew it was getting real bad when i'd hit the brakes hard or go over a speed bump-not only was steering unpredictable but there was a clunking noise. in my case it was clearly visible the problem. new bushings had to be pressed in but all is well now.

Reply to
Simplstupd

I had a similar problem with an 85 jetta, it did not have power steering, and it turns out a tooth in the steering rack had cracked off, and was skipping gears.

Reply to
Ben

I had a similar problem when the bolts securing the ball joint to the control arm loosened up. I'd be inclined to check the tightness of every bolt in the front end, just to be sure.

Todd Seattle,WA '86 GTI, Red of course. (exciting racey car) 258,000 miles '87 Golf, Polar Silver. (boring work car) 479,000 miles

Reply to
racertod

My wife has a 1986 Jetta GLI (A2) that we have owned for five year now

problem.

slightly

smooth

old

Tie rod end. :)

John@M&H-Hashim

From VWsport.com NNTP Gateway

Reply to
SlicksMH

I've seen *EXACTLY* the same thing. Absolutely inspect every single bolt and bushing on your suspension: top nut on both struts, three bolts on the ball joint, ball joint pinch bolt, two bolts on the strut, tie rod-ends, and control arm bolts (and bushings). If one of these things is loose its only going to get worse and its going to get a lot more dangerous.

Good luck, dan

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