Dave wrote: : I'm having a weird steering problem with my 97 Jetta, with about 115K : kms. The steering sticks, but not consistently, and it doesn't feel at : all like something is simply binding. The problem is noticeable at high : and low speed. I turn into a corner and the steering wheel resists my : efforts. Not a lot, but certainly noticeable. A bit more force and the : steering breaks free of whatever's causing it to stick. This can be : pretty unnerving when I'm taking a smooth highway corner at speed - I : sometimes end up going around the corner in a series of straight lines. : The problem seems to be worse in the heat, but I can't really confirm : this.
: I've had the lower ball joints replaced, and a local shop charged me an : arm and a leg for the power steering hose (yikes!). They also said the : power steering fluid was burnt but couln't find any other problems. : They flushed the fluid.
: The problem is really just as bad as before I had the work done. Can : anybody shed some light on this? Thanks.
Well, one possibility is that the when they "flushed" the fluid they didn't adequately bleed the steering system and you are randomly hitting air bubbles which will completely kill your power steering. The symptom for this is that the steering will get VERY hard (high effort) at pretty much random times (although particularly while turning) and then suddenly go back to normal. The good news is that power steering systems are inherently self-bleeding (albeit very very slowly). I replaced the tie-rods on my 86, and bled the crap out of it and found that the problem was still there. I just kept driving, and after maybe 3-4 weeks the problem went away completely. To bleed it all you have to do is jack the front wheels off the ground (with the E-brake on), run the engine and then turn the steering wheel back and forth (lock to lock). Do it alot, a WHOLE lot... You can have someone look and see if you are getting any bubbles in the power steering resevoir as this is a good indicator it wasn't bled. I've never heard of "burnt" power steering fluid, and I hope this garage knows what it is doing and used the right fluid (i.e. VW's G12). This really doesn't explain why you were having the problem BEFORE they touched the car, but if they replaced a hose maybe there was a leak (or perhaps there still is) or something.
Also, underinflated front tires or an improperly tensioned serpentine (or steering pump) belt could cause this problem.
dan