My '82 has developed a very noticeable drift to the right. It happens at all speeds, ambient temps, and roads/parking lots. So, I took it to my tire & alignment store this morning. They are stumped. Both 2 year old front tires seem to turn freely, and they balanced and properly rotated the tires. they inspected the calipers and p/s control valve for leaks (none), as well as linkages and undercarriage damage (none). The 2 yr. old reman. calipers came from one of our forum supplier partners. The 1 yr. old. p/s control valve came from Rock Auto. They said that they've seldom seen an alignment on a C3 so close to specifications (below), but remain stumped. They said that the rotation should have mostly ruled out a tire as the causal. The condition seems to have crept up this summer. The vehicle had close to 45k miles.

Has anyone experienced this same issue before on their C3?

 

did they raise the front of the car, center the steering wheel, and turn on the engine to test if the PS control valve is out of balance? The valve has an adjustment screw under the end cap to center it.

 

And in my experiences like yours, many times its the tires! I rotated, aligned, but no help...

As a last resort, maybe borrow some to try?

 

i agree, had the same issue to the left, it was the valve. They do lose balance.

 

Actually to verify the power steering control valve being out of balance. Raising up the front end so the tires off the ground is not good enough.

The best way is to disconnect the shaft of the power steering cylinder from the bracket on the frame. Pull or push the piston of the cylinder so it can move either in or out. So do not have it all the way out or all the way pushed in. Simply crank the engine and WATCH the piston. IF it moves...you are not balanced.....and.

YES...if the piston moves...it can make your wheels turn when going down the road.

DUB

 

You can also check for a broken belt in the tire, best way, swap sides and see if the pull moves to the other side. This was the case with me.

Good Luck, Chris

 

Or you can rotate front to rear same side and see if it returns to normal. (no pull)

 

Hi, yes - the tires were rotated with the normal rear to front straight forward and front to rear cross pattern. The change was barely discernable. I am going to count on the P/S control valve adjustment to save the day. But, thanks just the same. Dave

 

I would think you are headed in the right direction then as you have ruled out brake drag and tires.

 

check the front shocks to make sure they are good. a weak shock can allow the car to drift by changing the load on that tire.

Also the car has an independent rear. If the bushing is worn on the trailing arm or the arms are loose in the mount the car can rear steer. Sometimes this can be felt by the car wanting to pull to one side under acceleration.

Also check the rear dif mounting - this can cause the rear to move in and out of alignment. Rare but it does happen.

 

Agree, this was the problem on my 68 with PS after a front alignment and it still pulled. Adjusted and ran true. Hope this helps.

 

is it possible to adjust the balance but via the old fashioned way by slight nut adjustments with the vehicle on the ground? I.e. turn the bslancing nut 1/4 turn counterclockwise which retracts the rod, or clockwise as applicable which extends the rod - with the goal of having a balanced state with no rod movement? It would be a satisfying trial and error tweak (with engine off) if this is a feasible approach.

 

No it is not a good way. You dont have a jack and stands?

 

Agree, you might take it back to the place that did your alignment and ask them to do it. For mine, I put it up on jack stands, adjusted the rod to a neutral position, test drove and then adjusted again and did another test drive. Took a couple of iterations for me. You might have other problems, but this is worth doing to rule this out. My opinion. I am thinking if you fix the "drift" by putting a 'bias" in the control valve and the control valve is not the real problem, then I would guess that is not the best solution.

 

Disconnect the cylinder rod, tires can be on ramps or off the ground, whatever it takes to get clearance to get to the valve. Engine running, adjust the valve out till the cylinder just starts to creep, turn the valve back in counting the number of turns till the cylinder just starts to creep the other way, then adjust the valve half the number of turns back. This will center it.

 

I agree...the first step is the power steering cylinder rod must be removed from the bracket.

I do not put it up on ramps...I leave the tires on the ground.

With the rod disconnected....I will turn the wheel to the left just a little bit so the rod will come out of the bracket on the frame....or i get it out by hand with the enigne OFF.

Then I turn the steering wheel to the right so now the power steering control valve is better exposed. Remove the end cap.

I use a six point socket on a small 1/4" drive breaker bar when adjusting the nut.

Getting the piston to move in and out does not take you turning the nut many turns. Literally...it only takes about 20 minutes on the clock to go from in to out. This is why I use the small breaker bar so I do not have to reverse a ratchet. I just turn it till it goes in...then out...then I go half way back. The piston should not move and when the engine is running and you should be able to move the rod in and out by hand.

To move the rod IN...turn the nut counter clockwise
To move the rod OUT...turn the nut clockwise.

DO NOT keep messing around with nut and turning it back and forth numerous times...because you can wear out the nylock nut and then need to replace it because it will not holds your setting.

DUB