11th Jun 2013, 16:17
Have your power steering fluid serviced/flushed/exchanged with a BG synthetic fluid. You will be able to steer with your pinky. Cheers.
Have your power steering fluid serviced/flushed/exchanged with a BG synthetic fluid. You will be able to steer with your pinky. Cheers.
27th Sep 2011, 14:57
When you say the steering is tight, do you mean it takes too much muscle effort to turn? That is stiff steering. In racing jargon, tight steering means under-steer, and loose steering means over-steer.
Possible causes of stiff steering:
Low power steering fluid.
Slipping drive belt.
Bad power steering pump or bad power steering fluid.
Low tire pressure in the front tires.
Something increasing friction in the rack and pinion.
I injected grease into the tie rod ends and the lower ball joints. They don't have grease nipples, so you need to get an injector kit, i.e. a needle that fits on a grease gun. The grease made the steering significantly easier. Also the wheel is easier to turn when the car rolls.
The Cougar/Contour/Mystique cars steer a bit stiff by design compared to many other cars. It take more than a finger to turn the wheel, but you shouldn't break a sweat in the parking lot.