E85 super mega sticky steering/EPS advice FIXED

bigwinn

Elite
 Lincoln UK
Site Supporter
Evening

The new 2.2 got a long spin out today and I need some help/guidance on the sticky/notchy steering

When I got it last week I took it out and it was evident that it had the issue. Reading the usual threads I took the cowl/under covers off, undid the two torx bolts and nudged the ring about 10mm toward the end of the car- have done that before on previous cars and that was all that was needed.

Not enough on this one- still notchy. So adjusted probably about another 10mm and thought that would be it in the same direction.

The long drive today showed that its still as bad! Also seems to be in certain steering positions it was notchier

So some advice:

Do I continue to tap the ring round until its sorted?
Is it a new motor time or get it stripped on a workbench?
Or is there something else people try?

Advice graciously accepted!

Cheers

Stuart
 
Notchy binding at certain positions is typical of a dry, worn or damaged steering rack, some lube might be worth trying. Also get some lube on to the two steering UJ's, they are 'sealed for life' but lubricating made a huge difference to mine and has worked for others.
 
Ewazix said:
Notchy binding at certain positions is typical of a dry, worn or damaged steering rack, some lube might be worth trying. Also get some lube on to the two steering UJ's, they are 'sealed for life' but lubricating made a huge difference to mine and has worked for others.

Worth a try thank you
 
Remove the ESP unit from under the dash, clean the old grease off the screw thread and re apply/ fefit. Adjust the locking ring till your happy with the feel. Becoming a common thing at the moment on the earlier models.

IMG_7302.JPG
 
Fixed-

a combination of greasing the upper and lower UJ's and the steering rack (which was as dry as a very dry thing in a dry place) and there is no notchiness or sticking any more

Joycey I will one day get the EPS off for a look like Martin has done- I wasnt looking forward to drilling it out!!

Stuart
 
bigwinn said:
Fixed-

a combination of greasing the upper and lower UJ's and the steering rack (which was as dry as a very dry thing in a dry place) and there is no notchiness or sticking any more

Joycey I will one day get the EPS off for a look like Martin has done- I wasnt looking forward to drilling it out!!

Stuart
I'm thinking about doing this as I have noticed a bit of notchiness in warm weather.
What grease did you use and what's involved? ANy disassembly required?
 
Chris_D said:
bigwinn said:
Fixed-

a combination of greasing the upper and lower UJ's and the steering rack (which was as dry as a very dry thing in a dry place) and there is no notchiness or sticking any more

Joycey I will one day get the EPS off for a look like Martin has done- I wasnt looking forward to drilling it out!!

Stuart
I'm thinking about doing this as I have noticed a bit of notchiness in warm weather.
What grease did you use and what's involved? ANy disassembly required?

I used silicone spray liberally on the unions, then copper slip

For the rack- simple job

Front up, steering all the way right/offside
Pop the jubilee clip off the rack boot and pull back, then copper slip liberally on the teeth
Reattach boot with jubilee
Done
 
enuff_zed said:
Cheaper fix than mine then. Result. :thumbsup:

What's this talk of drilling out?

On joyceys solved thread which is an epic read (primarily about the ring adjustment) there is a USA driven argument to drill a hole in the aluminium casing and inject lubrication
 
bigwinn said:
enuff_zed said:
Cheaper fix than mine then. Result. :thumbsup:

What's this talk of drilling out?

On joyceys solved thread which is an epic read (primarily about the ring adjustment) there is a USA driven argument to drill a hole in the aluminium casing and inject lubrication
Well thank you sir for reading that on my behalf and giving me the shortened version. :thumbsup: :D
 
bigwinn said:
Chris_D said:
bigwinn said:
Fixed-

a combination of greasing the upper and lower UJ's and the steering rack (which was as dry as a very dry thing in a dry place) and there is no notchiness or sticking any more

Joycey I will one day get the EPS off for a look like Martin has done- I wasnt looking forward to drilling it out!!

Stuart
I'm thinking about doing this as I have noticed a bit of notchiness in warm weather.
What grease did you use and what's involved? ANy disassembly required?

I used silicone spray liberally on the unions, then copper slip

For the rack- simple job

Front up, steering all the way right/offside
Pop the jubilee clip off the rack boot and pull back, then copper slip liberally on the teeth
Reattach boot with jubilee
Done
Sounds easy enough.
I'll have a crack at that.
Thx
:thumbsup:
 
bigwinn said:
enuff_zed said:
Cheaper fix than mine then. Result. :thumbsup:

What's this talk of drilling out?

On joyceys solved thread which is an epic read (primarily about the ring adjustment) there is a USA driven argument to drill a hole in the aluminium casing and inject lubrication

It's this myth that lead me to write my article. By drilling a hole in the casing your introducing swaff into the rack, I would advise against it.
 
bigwinn said:
Fixed-

a combination of greasing the upper and lower UJ's and the steering rack (which was as dry as a very dry thing in a dry place) and there is no notchiness or sticking any more

Joycey I will one day get the EPS off for a look like Martin has done- I wasnt looking forward to drilling it out!!

Stuart

Good result, it's always worth eliminating the basics :thumbsup:

......... incidentally, binding in the UJ's and rack causes the EPS torque sensor to constantly step assistance up-and-down giving a weird feel, so lubricating them is a win-win :)
 
What lube did you use on the UJ's and motor spindle?

Mines in bits so would be easy to do but copperslip doesn't feel like the right thing.

I was thinking maybe lithium grease? Or maybe moly grease?
 
Jakg said:
What lube did you use on the UJ's and motor spindle?

Mines in bits so would be easy to do but copperslip doesn't feel like the right thing.

I was thinking maybe lithium grease? Or maybe moly grease?

bigwinn said:
I used silicone spray liberally on the unions, then copper slip

For the rack- simple job

Front up, steering all the way right/offside
Pop the jubilee clip off the rack boot and pull back, then copper slip liberally on the teeth
Reattach boot with jubilee
Done

:roll:

But do note that bigwinn didn't touch the motor spindle at all, he copper-slipped the rack.

I recently got the EPS motor refurbished and when it came back from ECU Testing it had a very thin layer of something clear, not sure what.
Given that they test them on a rig, I assumed this would be ok to leave as it was. Minimal grease in there as you don't want it picking up crud.
 
enuff_zed said:
Jakg said:
What lube did you use on the UJ's and motor spindle?

Mines in bits so would be easy to do but copperslip doesn't feel like the right thing.

I was thinking maybe lithium grease? Or maybe moly grease?

bigwinn said:
I used silicone spray liberally on the unions, then copper slip

For the rack- simple job

Front up, steering all the way right/offside
Pop the jubilee clip off the rack boot and pull back, then copper slip liberally on the teeth
Reattach boot with jubilee
Done

:roll:

But do note that bigwinn didn't touch the motor spindle at all, he copper-slipped the rack.

I recently got the EPS motor refurbished and when it came back from ECU Testing it had a very thin layer of something clear, not sure what.
Given that they test them on a rig, I assumed this would be ok to leave as it was. Minimal grease in there as you don't want it picking up crud.
I was referring to this post:
Joycey said:
Remove the ESP unit from under the dash, clean the old grease off the screw thread and re apply/ fefit. Adjust the locking ring till your happy with the feel. Becoming a common thing at the moment on the earlier models.

IMG_7302.JPG
 
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