Pulling to the right

[davef]

Whilst travelling down to Le Mans the car developed an interesting fault which caused us to abandon the vehicle at a local French garage and then have to repatriate the vehicle yesterday. We did make it to Le Mans but not quite in the style we had imagined a Renault Clio is not the same as an E-Type, but we did get there.

The issue started with the car wanting to turn right, it was not difficult to keep in a straight line but did require about 20 degrees of left turn on the steering and if the steering was let go the car would veer to the right quite quickly. This not being bad enough at random points the vehicle would stop pulling and then start again quickly causing an interesting moment trying to keep the vehicle in a lane.

The car has been back in the garage for a day but they have not been able to provide any reasons for the problem, but did reproduce the fault. The front suspension seems OK and they have visually checked the rear and cant see any obvious issues. They have not seen the problem before and are a bit confused as to what the problem is.

Any ideas of what the issue may be would be gratefully received, in the vain hope that it can be fixed in time for the e-type club event on Saturday. Not holding out much hope.

Thanks

[PeterCrespin]

I suspect intermittent lurching to the right might be caused by a new woman in the driving seat?

As for cars, intermittent dragging front right brake? Less likely would be right rear.

Assume no cracked frames? Toe-out causes wandering but not what you've described. A full geometry check is in order. If done, what are the numbers?

[Heuer]

Power steering fault? You could try disabling it and see how you get on; steering will be heavier but given many owners of earlier cars opt for fat tyres and wheels I doubt it will be an issue. As Pete suggests a faulty brake caliper would be the other suspect.

[ralphr1780]

Had a similar problem few years back with Alfa Spider, turned out one shock absorber was binding.
Hope to have been of help.

[davef]

Update on progress.

The car has been in the garage for a few days now and there is no definite problem found so far. Power steering has ben checked and is fine problem still there with no power steering, shocks are a bit old but don't seem to be enough to cause problem, will be getting them changed anyway. They have looked for cracked frames but cant find any so far.

They have found that the turn seems to be linked to being on or off power, i.e. worse when accelerating. Maybe that may give rise a few more suggestions.

Thanks for the ideas so far, will post updates as they come in and hopefully a final solution.

[JagWaugh]

Dave,

Check if the IRS is loose, similar to the other current thread.

[christopher storey]

I agree with jagwaugh : if it pulls one way under acceleration, ( probably right as a result of the torque effect ) and the other way under deceleration, you are getting a rear wheel steering effect. Check radius arms and bushes and their mountings and all four rubber hangers

[chrisfell]

Had this symptom once. Didn't take long to find the problem - flat front tyre. Clearly this isn't the problem in your case or someone would have spotted it by now.

[DouglasR]

Would be good to know if you have sorted this and what it was. Brake bind would get hot and you would get a smell. Tyres would be spotted early in the event. Assume car was not leaning. So to me sounds like something loose/ broken/bent in suspension. As someone mentioned get it alignment checked with a proper four wheel lazier wheel alignment kit. This will then allow another thing to be removed from the equation. Remember that modern manuals will not have the settings for you car under e-type but under USA name XKE.

[davef]

Update on the cars status. the garage have been sorting out a number of issues, that were problem but fixing did not remove the problem. Items tested and changed so far:

Checked front and rear suspension and fixing points - nothing that would seem to cause the problem
power steering disabled - no difference
new front shocks - general needed not same left and right - no difference
New rear shocks - known to be worn - effect reduced but not fixed

Current feeling is that the diff is the problem, with new rear wheels fitted (wider tyres) noise could be heard coming from the rear axle on turns. They will be removing the IRS cage again and refurbishing the diff. Hears hoping that the next couple of weeks will bring good news.

[Woolfi]

Front wheel bearing ?
Regards Wolfgang Gatza

[PeterCrespin]

Current feeling is that the diff is the problem, with new rear wheels fitted (wider tyres) noise could be heard coming from the rear axle on turns.

Call me an old curmudgeon but feelings are for pop songs and where garage bills are concerned I prefer measurements and facts. I hope you aren't being used as a cash cow to fund the dead ends alternating with their learning curves. Did they by any chance provide an hypothesis as to how grumbling limited slip noises in tight turns (usually due to lack of additive in the oil) would cause a violent veering at the steering wheel? Don't get me wrong, I hope the IRS rebuild sorts it for you. But I also hope that if they see evidence of brake anomalies or other more obvious external causes, they refrain from running up a significant bill in an improbable quest. The sudden onset you described does lend credence to a breakage theory, but still...

Good luck anyway.

[JagWaugh]

I agree with Pete, grumbling Diff to steering fault thesis sounds more like a leap of faith than sound deductive reasoning.

I would want to see the broken bits and hear a plausible explanation of how they caused the symptoms before I paid the bill.

[davef]

Car back from the garage, with new shocks all round and a rebuilt diff. Problem all fixed and car much more stable all round. It appears it was the diff, they have not seen the problem before even through they have been working with e-types for many years.

Happy to have a back and the weather seems good for the next few days, so plenty of time to test the updates.

[mgcjag]

Hi Dave....great that you are now sorted, but any chance you can get some more detail on exactly what was wrong and how this caused the car to pull to the right...the forum is only as good as the detail posted and it would be good to have a record of a problem that even your repairers have never seen before....thanks