1990 100 Tranny and Steering woes

[Ed Kellock]

As far as tracking, you've got tires, bushings, and alignment. If the tires
are the same brand, model, tread pattern, and size (don't laugh, it happened
to me once with brand new tires. the tire store gave me two free alignments
over that one) and the pressures are even, the only thing you can do would
be to swap them side to side or one and/or the other front to back to see if
the behavior changes.
 With regard to bushings, etc. if an alignment shop declared them good, then
you might get another opinion just to be sure. I had a subframe bolt missing
and mine would pull to the right when I braked.
 The change in direction relative to acceleration and deceleration could
also be a function of the rear suspension as well. Less so with FWD, but
still a possibility. Not sure, but motor mounts might be able to affect this
but I would think that would mean other bushings would likely have to be
worn as well.
 In regard to alignment, only two of the 3 factors are adjustable, so that
may be all the shop checked. Toe and camber are adjustable, castor is not.
 Too much toe out could cause pulling but probably only relative to road
irregularities. Too much toe in could cause wandering. Either could cause
really horrible cornering ability too. Uneven camber from side to side could
cause pulling and/or wandering too.
 Castor affects the front end's ability to self center the steering. If it's
not even from side to side or if its evenly way less than spec it might
cause the car to wander or seem to pull. (A certain amount of positive
castor is used to cause the front wheels to stay pointed in the direction of
travel.)
 The feel of the steering could be impacted by these as well as you overcome
any uneven alignment that might exist, but I would think the adjustments
would have to be way off to feel it in the steering. Beyond that you're
looking at steering assist issues and the mechanical operation of the
steering rack.
 With the number of issue you mention, I would suggest getting another
opinion from a different alignment shop, one that is dedicated to
alignments, not a tire center alignment guy. Bear alignment shops are
usually pretty solid. Look in the yellow pages under Wheel Alignment.
 Ed


 On 10/5/05, John Parry <parryj at mts.net> wrote:
>
> Hello All,
>
> Hoping for some advise on a couple of issues with my newly purchased 1990
> 100 frt wheel drive.
>
> Purchased the car with 100000 miles on the clock, body and interior in
> mint
> shape -thought tranny was ok but previuos owner probably had it loaded
> with
> tranny fix crap. After draining tranny twice and refilling with Mobil 1
> (also cleaned strainer, looked surprisingly clean) the tranny will not
> shift
> out of first when cold (in the morning, after work, etc) but once it has
> made its first shift (have to redline it to do this) it shifts fine from
> there on in. Anybody experience this or have ideas?
>
> Second problem is frt end is just percepibly loose. I also have an 89 100
> and it steers like a dream, so i do have a reference point. The steering
> kinda wanders, you have to continually be monitoring it and making small
> corrections. Also noticed it will just slightly pull to the left when
> accelerating and then pull to the right when deaccelerating. It is also nt
> very "fluid" feeling if you know wehat i mean. I recently replaced shocks,
> put a rebuilt steering pump in, and had an alighnment (guy at the shop
> said
> all joints were good). tire pressures are set properly.
>
> Help!!!
>
> Thanks,
> John
>
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