Steering Shake

[nhaynes]

I'm looking for help re: a rapid deteriortaion in stearing.
I only drive my Elan on sunny dry days. I've got 45,000 genuine miles on the clock on a J plate so a fair bit of standing idle.
I've noticed on the past sevral drives the stearing has been pulling slightly to the right. This hasn't bothered me too much as I can compensate but if you take your hands off the wheel it will drive off the road to the right.
Today, I drove to work, about 25 miles on 70MPH roads for most of the distance then the last mile slow road with speed bumps.
On the return journey, the steering felt different as though something was loose (maybe the rack). At 70mph the steering felt unresponsive, dangerous and was shaking quite violently. I dropped the speed to 50mph and most of the vibration went but the stearing still felt unresponsive. What I mean by this is that I can't any longer feel the road and the car seems to be drifting right and left. Even at low speed, 30mph there is a shake going through the steering wheel.
I managed to get home but definately think someting has failed. Any suggestions where to start looking would be greatly appreciated.

[wayne]

First thought..... Loose wheel bolts ??

[nhaynes]

No, not loose wheel nuts!

[Brit-Car-Nut]

Track rod ends or ball joints? Really need to get a close look at all of the bushings and even check the wheel bearings and CV joints.

[nhaynes]

Further diagnosis:
Car stationary, engine off: No play in steering. can turn the wheels with lots of effort.
Car stationary, engine on: No play in steering, can turn the wheels easily with PAS.

[lotustonybassplayer]

warped brake disc or sticking calipers ?

[Rob P]

If the car drove OK on the outward journey and this issue only started on the return then it suggests something has changed during the driving, if there isn't any play on the steering itself then it has to be from the wheels themselves, simple things would be to check if any of the front wheels have thrown a wieght leading to an unbalanced state which would cause vibration, the magnitude of which would depend on the size of wieght that might have been dislodge.

Other than it could be a tracking issue, or even a wheel buckled, no high speed hitting those speed bumps ?? have you inadvertently encountered any pot holes etc

Have you checked for any play in the wheel bearings with the car lifted ???

Could be a few things but would make a list and check the simple things first

[rip]

I had a really nasty vibration a few years ago. It was worse around 50mph & also worse under heavy acceleration. Below 30 with gentle acceleration, I could not really notice it at all. It was caused by worn driveshaft CV joints.

[nhaynes]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my post. Unfortunately I crashed my road bike at the weekend (bicycle) so I've been suffering with sprained wrists and until today unable to get under the Lotus. Today I've managed to check everyting I can think of, wheel bearings, ball joints, bushes, track rod ends in their static conditon. Everything looks normal to me both sides. Also checked the jackshaft bearing mount to the cylinder block and both bolts were tight. The only item to note on the RHS is the jackshaft bearing to drive shaft does rattle around a bit. I reckon there is about 2mm of play if a push the drive shaft forward and back, less if a push it up and down. Not sure if this is on the jackshaft bearing or the spline from the jackshaft to the drive shaft. The rattle or play on the RHS is probably twice as much as the LHS drive shaft into the gearbox. Does anyone know if 2mm of rattle or play is normal on the jackshaft to drive shaft? I plan to swap front and rear wheels next to see if the shake moves to the back end. I've checked all the wheels and no balance weights are missing.

[dapinky]

Hi Neil,

Just a thought (cos it happened to me!) - is the jackshaft bearing tight to the engine block? The bearing housing is held on by 2 14mm (head size, not thread!) bolts onto the block. It's not easy to see, but it is easy to feel for - my bolts had come loose and they aint tight to start with, so the shake soon became more severe.

It's a quick and easy thing to check - and free to repair

[Brit-Car-Nut]

the cylinder block and both bolts were tight.

[dapinky]

Oops - sorry - must get my reading glasses changed (or just concentrate more on the content of previous posts)

[nhaynes]

Success at last!
I've switched the front wheels onto the rear and the rear wheels onto the front. Now the steering is fine. Car goes in a perfect straight line with hands off the wheel. No shake from the front but now somewhat less shake from the rear. The running faces of the troublesome front tyres when off the car are m shape rather than flat. It looks like the steel ply may have distorted. Not sure how old or how good the tyres are as I've never changed them since I bought the car, they're Champiro HPZ 50 205/50 ZR15 89W. Anyway, next action is to take the Elan to a tyre centre and ask them to look at the tyres and re-balance the wheels. Does anyone have any recommedations for tyres? The handbook says Michelin MXX-2.

[Fredjohn]

Neil
There should be a date code moulded onto the tyre wall: anything older than 5-7 years replace!!

There are loads of threads on here with tyre advice, all recommending different tyres. Guess it all comes down to personal preference, but the original Michelin tyres haven't been available for many years.

I recently fitted Toyo T1R, very happy with them. Others have fitted the more radical Toyo R1R, or Bridgestone Potenza R11, different Michelins etc etc

Read the threads, decide on what you ultimately use the car for, what mileage you do, how often you are prepared to buy new tyres and then decide.

And all you wanted was new tyres..............

John

[Rob P]

Neil,
Good to hear that you have this sorted, always nice when it turns out to be something quite simple

[nhaynes]

More good news!
I've managed to source 2 x Michelin Pilot Exalto 2 205/50 R13 86V for £84 each incl VAT, fitting, valves and balance.
Anyone whose interesting in these Michelins goto:
http://www.jetwheeltyre.co.uk/tyres.htm
and call the 0800 number.