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chownr

Car Pulls Under Acceleration? Done A Search! Help!

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chownr

I have religously read all the previous posts on this one but cant find a solution to my specific problem. Car drives straight under even throttle but pulls hard to the right when accelerating. Car stops in a nice straight line under braking so Im very confused. Replaced Wishbones and track rod ends and there doesnt appear to be any visible play in other suspension components but havent checked ARBs or drop links yet. Anyone got any ideas. Im kinda thinking that the engine mounts (if worn badly might be causing the ngne o shift ad the driveshafts to twist under load causing this effect. Has anyone experienced anything similar? Am I barking mad in my theory? No play in the rack or steering by the way. Very confused?

 

Please help

 

Rich

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jonah

Tough one that. Few questions:

 

Did the problem start suddenly, or did it come on gradually?

 

Any knocks / clunks or other strange noises from the suspension?

 

When you say it pulls to the right, do you mean the steering wheel tries to turn itself to the right, or does the car drift right while the steering wheel stays straight? If it's the latter then I think it has to be suspension-related - perhaps the strut top mount or a badly knackered wheel bearing. (ARB & drop links won't cause those symptoms.) If it's trying to wrench the steering wheel out of your hands, then it could be a transmission problem: either a driveshaft seizing up when it's put under load, or a problem with a diff (don't know specifically what would cause that though).

 

I doubt it's engine mounts as engine movement shouldn't affect how torque gets transmitted through the driveshafts.

 

Good luck tracking down the problem...

Jonah

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pug_ham

Play in the hub where the balljoint fits in? Did you replace the bolt that goes through when you changed the driveshafts? I fit new bolts to the hub everytime I change a wishbone.

 

Graham.:lol:

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Robbie G

I'm saying it's a pitted hub socket.

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chownr

Thanks for your replies so far. I would say the problem was always there since Ive owned the car (8 months) but possibly worse lately. Jonah the car tends to pull right but the wheel stays straight. It could be the top mounts, about to change to new shocks and mounts this weekend anyway so keep my fingers crossed this is the cure. Pretty sure not wheel bearing (no play etc) or driveshafts as they are pretty new. Guess its just a case of having to go through systematically replacing bushes etc.

 

At least I am a little happier knowing not likely to be engine mounts or mechanical. Ill let you know if/when I get any success

 

Rich

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ablister

Don't overlook the obvious, just because the wishbone bushes have been replaced, doesn't mean to say they are cured. Was everything tightened correctly and put back together properly?

That is a sign of worn lower arms if the car steers itself.

 

Have you got the tyres at the correct pressures also?

I read a post on here recently that someone had stange steering problems and spent money fixing possible things, it was all down to incorrect tyre pressures.

 

i'm no mechanic though!

Ali

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jayblack-gti

sorry for hijacking but ive had this same problem for a year know, when i accelerate thye steering wheel pulls to the left while the car goes right, it passed the MOT but havent checked for any wear, no time, i would like to sort this but it would mean changing alot of the front suspension set up.

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MartinR

im gonna have to jump on this bandwagon.

 

I have had the car tracked 4 times now. I have replaced, steering rack, drop links, wishbones, driveshafts, track rod ends,struts, top mounts, everything on the front end and none of it has worked. I think i know what it is. Its the mount that holds the gearbox under the battery tray. When i accelerate the car is all over the place and when i decelerate it pull the other way and i am constantly fighting it.

 

TBH, its pissing me off

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chownr

MartinR

Thats exactly my original line of thought and Jayblack-Gti thas exactly the symptoms that I have. If the top mounts dont solve the problkem then Im gonna change the engine mounts as well.

 

To be honest the car gets a lot of abuse cos its a road rally car and although Im aware of it the car is driveable. Just in the back of my mind you cant fully push the car because of its unpredictability

 

Let you know how I get on

 

Rich

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MartinR

right,

 

Couple of things i have found

 

1) These lazer tracking machines are wank and set the car up to track a degree and 30 minutes IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Since f***ing when do u set up a front wheel drive car with Toe IN??????

 

So i got someone with Dunlop gauges to set it up a gnats cock toe out and its f***ing supurb now, other than..........................

 

I found that the bottom balljoint pinch bolts are loose and that the haynes manual torque setting is no where near enough and also.... my nearside lower suspension arm bushes were f***ed and that i could move the wheel around, which i must say alarmed me somewhat....

 

I am taking the car back to the place where i got it tracked for 2 reasons................ after driving 200 miles to wales after they had tracked it it totally shagged a tyre, went from 3mm down to under 1.6mm ( no wonder the steering was juddering a tad), secondly i am going to show them their machine is wrong and get them to fit some tyres to my 1.9GTi rims so i can bin the pepperpots

 

Cutting a long story short, dont trust these lazer alignment machines they are wrong as this is the 4th time i have had it tracked, so its not because things were shagged / loose because it has been like it since i did the steering rack well over a year ago and i did both front wheel bearings so i would have noticed the movement.

 

Haynes manual interestingly states 2mm toe in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Rear wheel drive cars are set to toe in because the wheels are being pushed along, front wheel drive cars are set to toe out as the power and grip try to force the wheels to toe in so to counteract u set up with a small amount of toe out

 

Rant over

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Guest bigmickd

I have exactly the same problem as MartinR, I have just recently bought the car and Ive not checked any of the possible causes out yet, its a 309 gti, when I accelerate it pulls to the right when I take my foot off the power it pulls to left, so before changing the whole suspension, steering, drive parts, and numerous bushes and mounts, has anyone figured out the specific cause of this and how to solve it? it would save me alot of time and money!!

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Anthony

BigMickD - The symptoms you describe are *normally* caused by worn wishbone (aka track control arm) bushes/balljoint. The bushes can be replaced independantly, but the balljoint cannot - most people just replace the entire wishbone thereby replacing ball the bushes and the balljoint.

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chownr

Guys

Finally tracked (excuse the pun!!) the problem down when I got round to puttiong my billies on the front. Took the car down the road and after a couple of miles the pulling top one side under acceleration became more acute. Drove home carefully and lifted the front end to discover that one of the suspension bushes (n/s) had completely disintegrated. I was very surprised because I had previously checked this and only replaced this wishbone a couple of thousand miles ago. Anyway uprated all bushes to poly and now the car is perfect. Thanks for all your suggestions

 

Rich

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