Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum AND Volvos in general...

My gf recently bought a 96 850 (naturally aspirated) to replace her worn out 89 Galant...seems to be a nice car (til someone backed in to the front right quarter panel while she was at school :( can probably be pulled out and buffed though) and today I got to drive it back from her parents' house which is about 40 miles.

Anyway, car rides great and has decent pickup but there is one thing that is majorly wrong with it and she is not sure when it started (personally, i would have noticed this as soon as it started). The first good turn I went in to where i had to turn the wheel more than a few degrees I noticed that it would almost violently try to jerk back to the center position, release, then jerk again. It would continue this cycle until the turn was over.

The force with which it tries to center itself is independant of brake pressure (she says her anti-lock brake light comes on sometimes, fluid is just above minimum fill line...need to add some) or turning direction. This problem is bad enough that I consider it unsafe but she drives at slower speeds than I do but I am worried it could lead to a bigger problem or failure.

She needs to bring it in for a tune-up (I am unsure of mileage) but I was hoping that someone else here has had or heard of a similar problem and could point me in a direction to ask them to check specifically. At first I thought it was maybe because of uneven tire pressure (had a squirrely front end on my 04 grand prix after front tires were replaced...discovered air pressures on 2 of the 4 tires were 8PSI different and a 3rd was off as well) but the more I drove it the less I thought that was the culprit, it is way too forceful/violent and does it at almost all speeds.

I have done a little bit of research but have come up pretty much empty-handed so I figured it was time to post on one of the online forums and this one looked pretty professional. Would a bad steering rack cause a problem like this? It is not binding up or anything like that. I was thinking a bad power steering pump but not sure that that could so adversely affect the steering, especially once the car is going a decent speed.

Any help or ideas would be extremely helpful, she is in college and does not have a lot of money to throw at a mechanic to swap all kinds of parts out. Thank you in advance!

Personally, I have not had any experience like that before...

But I would definitely look at the same as you would. The steering rack and the pump. But does the steering feel 'heavy'...? There is a possibility that the pump lines are clogged if the steering feels that way.

:cat: Hi there edesignSPL. :00000732: to Volvo forums.

:liebe011: for joining us.

Keep us posted with your experiences. This is a very interesting discussion.

Cheers :right:

I will have to take it for another drive to see for sure, but shallow turns did not feel heavy in the steering wheel as far as I remember. My gf is usually at work when I get home but I will try to test drive it again Saturday. I need her to give me her warranty papers to see exactly what is covered...if it is the steering rack I suspect that will be mighty costly and I'm hoping like heck it is covered.

I will keep you all informed of how this turns out...I have not seen it mentioned anywhere else either (well, I did find ONE thread but the guy never posted what the problem turned out to be).

Oh, and thanks for the welcome :)

We'll be waiting...
:)

When the steering fights bad the rack is on it way out.

The ABS light might be a bad ABS module.