Steering wheel binding/locking up.

[ORRadtech]

Sounds like the wheel bearing to me.
This is the first video I found, it doesn't look all that difficult.

Oh, and I'd suggest not driving it until you get this fixed.

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[Thats550]

Oh, and I'd suggest not driving it until you get this fixed.

Noted. Don't want my baby any more broken than already haha. So I have the front wheel liner off and when rock the wheel left to right with my hands I can see the intermediate steering shaft rock back n forth too. I look in the cabin under the steering wheel and sure enough that shaft right there is rocking to all the way to the steering wheel.

 

[ORRadtech]

Hopefully the bearing is all it is but you've got some more investigation/inspection to do. I wouldn't be surprised if driving on it like you apparently have hasn't done more damage .
Good luck.

 

[Thats550]

So when I lift my buddy's mustang up we can slightly rock his wheels and see it in the steering wheel as well. Should I not be able to rock the front wheels at all or?

 

[SheepDog]

Looks like I may have found the problem but not sure what causing/ possible fix. I'm trying to find out how to add a video to show u guys. When I jack up the car and get the front tire off the ground I can rock it left and right and I can see the steering shaft shaking. The one that goes from the steering wheel into the rack and pinion.

You can remove it and check if one or both of the U joints is binding up, but you will need an alignment afterwards. However, you would feel this resistance no matter if the car was moving or not

 

[K4fxd]

Grab the top and bottom of the wheel and tire. If you can rock it this way the bearing is bad. If you grab front and back it will move the steering.

 

[Thats550]

However, you would feel this resistance no matter if the car was moving or not

Okay I feel a little bit of resistance at a stand still but nothing like when it's driving.

 

[SheepDog]

Okay I feel a little bit of resistance at a stand still but nothing like when it's driving.

If it were a bad tie rod end, or binding steering shaft, you would feel it no matter what. The fact that you only feel it at speed would indicate to me that there is someting wrong with the electric assist.

 

[NightmareMoon]

If you’ve found some play at the wheel/tire, you just need to track it down to the part.

Could be rack hardware or I’ve had a balljoint in a contol arm go out, or the wheel bearings can fail.

It shouldnt be shifting except smoothly if you basically steer the wheel and tire externally by hand. It should not be be clunking or ‘rocking’ easily.

 

[Thats550]

It shouldnt be shifting except smoothly if you basically steer the wheel and tire externally by hand. It should not be be clunking or ‘rocking’ easily.

Okay it seems to rock pretty easily. And it has a little bit of clunking when rocking the wheel. Should I be rocking slightly back and forth or should I be seeing how fat it let's me turn the wheels by hand. Some Noise Definitely coming from the steering shaft.

 

[Cobra Jet]

I had created this technical reference thread for the EPAS unit a while back, which contains a lot of info for the EPAS/PSCM.
https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/s550-epas-pscm-tech-accumulation.160616/


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Here is the bare steering column out of a 2015 Mustang and essentially the same as any 2016-current day Mustang.

I found the below images online for display/discussion purposes.

The first image as seen, is how the unit looks installed in the vehicle if looking at it from the engine bay, passenger side. The large black metal encasement is a bearing assembly and that section meets the firewall, with the open ended joint protruding through to the interior and gets secured to the bottom of the interior steering column shaft.

The other end with the small rubber "rag joint" as they call it, is what attaches to the EPAS shaft. That shaft is collapsible as seen because it has to be in the event of a major front impact.

Any binding or noises the driver is feeling or hearing could be attributed to these 2 parts of this column assembly. The joints at each end should be 100% tight and secure into their respective shafts (interior side and exterior side). Binding from suspension components would also create feedback in the column from EPAS.

The S550 Mustang also has an SCCM -
Steering Column Control Module, which is this part (common "clock spring")::
https://www.oemford.parts/oem-parts/ford-column-housing-jr3z3f791ha
It really shouldn't be causing any noises, but it's another part of the steering assembly.

---

Hope that gives some more visual to the steering shaft assembly and insight to how things are interconnected. The EPAS could be binding internally too, so definitely check out that main EPAS thread as well because it has a lot of other links and info.

 

[K4fxd]

Does it rock when you out your hands on the top and bottom of the tire?

 

[Thats550]

Hope that gives some more visual to the steering shaft assembly and insight to how things are interconnected. The EPAS could be binding internally too, so definitely check out that main EPAS thread as well because it has a lot of other links and info.

Thanks for all the great info man. Im currently waiting on a new battery. It should be here tomorrow or the next day. I went with the xs power 4700. Will i have to set the new battery up in forscan? Also So I did have to take the steering shaft apart when I did the long tube headers. But only one side. I wrapped the seatbelt around the steering wheel so it wouldn't move and I torqued it down with locktite. Not sure if that could have messed with anything I was super carefully. And it looks like it might not be seated 100% in the top but I'm having trouble getting the pic to load to show for comparison

 

[thompsje]

Clunking could be a tie rod or ball joint. You can try squeezing ball joints with a big pair of channelocks and see if there's any play.

For the battery, there are 2 procedures. You can either use Forscan and tell the car it has a new battery, or you can install the new battery, fully lock the car, and wait 8 hours for it to recalibrate. Both seem to work, but if you're comfortable with Forscan I'd go that way just to be sure.

 

[Thats550]

So I got the new battery in and installed and same issue present no difference honestly. Wondering what I should be checking next. Could an allignment be causing my issues. Could I have knocked my allignment off when hitting potholes. Should I try to reset/relearn. the steering angle sensor.

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