Steering Wheel Loose?!? WTF Ford?!

So this should be interesting.

Tuesday this week as I am parking I notice that the steering pauses randomly. Later that day it also happens just driving along in less than about 20mph heavy traffic.
Wednesday its still there, but now it feels almost loose as if there is a disconnect between the steering wheel and the front wheels themselves. Check the tires, yup fine, I had just washed the car and wheels last week, and I also took some time to inspect tires and fluids. Lugs are tight. Nothing appears visually wrong.
The past couple days it has become worse and a clunk occurs at every turn of the wheel. Search online. Come across some posts about the halfshafts and then about steering rack bolts being loose. Grab some ramps and a flashlight and take a look. Yup, everything is there. I am needing the car as on my daily the Auto Parts store calipers were leaking fluid, so no choice really but to drive it.
Now today taking to the highway on smooth long curves adjusting the steering a bit causes that slipping, looseness of the steering wheel and a slight clunk. After that I notice it on rougher roads as well, and just sitting at a stop the issue is even more pronounced. Freaked out and drove back home slowly.

Now here is the really frustrating part. My 3 year warranty ended 8/19/18, literally this past Sunday! The car has a bit less than 18,000mi on it, as with my now short commute I drive my Miata more.

Has anybody here had this issue? Were there any recalls or TSBs out for this? Would this be covered under the 5 year warranty? I would just bring it to the dealership, but out of warranty a rental car and cost for something like this looks to be insane. Looseness in the steering of a car where the steering is one of its biggest pros, what if I needed to make an emergency maneuver or didn't heed caution when driving, WTF Ford!

just curious have you hit any potholes speedbumps or curbs. and the disconnect do you feel it more inside the cabin like the wheel itself is loose or do you feel the steering rack is not transferring your driver input from the steering wheel?

My first guess would be tie rod ends. You need to jack up to get front wheels off the ground. Check for slop in the front end. Bad racks usually grind while turning. Bad halfshafts clunk while going around corners. Tie rod ends are a cheap easy fix. Good Luck!

A big safety issue ford should take care of that for you. have them see what the problem is, then you know where you stand. they won't dick you around over a few days, if not speak to the owner of the dealership. after all his guys sold you that car. just be nice and concerned about safety.

Why would you wait till your 3yr is up? Sounds like you notice the issue before it was up.

As pointed out above I had a very similar issue and found it to be a loose steering rack bolt.
It is a little hard to get to but you can do it yourself.
Mine was the bolt on the right side of the rack.
Very easy to test with another person to help.
Just look at the inner tie rod end on the right side while your helper turns the wheel to the left.
If the rack is loose you will see the rack/inner tie rod lift.


Dave

Nope, no potholes, curbs. Disconnect is more so inside cabin which is leading me to be believe that is it tied into something electronic? When the slip occurs driver input does falter.

Yup looked at that previously. Appears solid.

For it to be tie rods ends as the car has less than 18000mi, would be interesting. I'll check this soon as I have only placed it on ramps so far. Thanks.

Yup needing to find time in my schedule to do so. For the time being am just searching to see if anyone has any input. Thanks.

If I would have known about the issue before the warranty ended, of course, I would have dropped everything and drove it the dealership. Don't see any reason why not?

Possible Solution

Thanks, I'll be following these exact instructions soon just as a double check.

So in my downtime at work I searched for similar issues and came across this:

[video=youtube;CP6xxJtH9S0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP6xxJtH9S0[/video]

So it certainly shows that noise, clunking every time there is steering input, and it also goes over how that the steering column sleeve is either ungreased or under greased from the factory causing it to feel loose and make that loud clunking, as well as feel as if there is a pause or disconnect. Reading through the comments on the video it looks to be somewhat common, though, I could not find much on the forums. I'll also be calling a good dealer nearby that resolved my previous warranty issues (heater door, notched shifting) and seeing if there is any procedure to fix this.

I'll leave everyone here updated.

We may be accelerator-by-wire, but we're not steer-by-wire. As far as I'm aware, the only difference between EPAS and traditional steering is that the power assist is done with electric servo(s)/motor(s) instead of a hydraulic pump and valves.

It may appear solid, but until you put a torque wrench on it, you don't know.

So simply greased the steering shaft, didn't solve anything. The looseness and noise feels to be originating from right where it disappears under the floorboard under a plastic cover. I don't want to mess with it anymore so sticking it in the garage and bringing it to the dealership, earliest appointment is Tuesday.
Honestly my next new car purchase will probably be a Hyundai N brand car with a 60,000mi/5yr limited instead of a crap-shoot 30,000mi/3yr and Korean reliability, especially considering they see value in taking care of their enthusiast customers.

Sounds like you just don't want to pay to maintain your car. Better off just doing 2 year leases and hand it back without ever doing anything to it other than a couple of oil changes...

plz send snaps of your sexay loose rack

If I could have paid or maintained something beforehand in order to not have this issue crop up after a warranty period and deal with dealerships, I certainly would. Otherwise I will see to handling it and then driving this engine into the ground whenever needed, like my previous XB with 283,000miles on it getting a fresh 50,000mi swap






But yeah, at times, I do wish I had leased this and then spent my cash on some a bit more reliable. At least that way I can spend my free time and money on making sure tired, old cars stay around for people to enjoy them in the future, as I am sure anyone on this forum would, instead of fixing 3yr old cars with 18,000mi :

Here you go. NSFW Warning: very large loose racks and lots of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raSJaiGjEIs

Everyone knows it's the nut behind the wheel.....