I am looking for an opinion again from people who are better versed in auto mechanics than I. I had a scary experience in my 2001 Ford Taurus this past week. It is sitting in my driveway because I expect this is likely to be an expensive fix & I lack any amount of reserve cash at the moment.
I was driving down the road & went over a fairly good bump. It was not a hole, but it was a raised part of the road - somewhat less than you would expect a speed bump to be. As I went over the bump, the steering wheel literally turned 90 degrees but the wheels stayed straight. It was almost felt like the engine “bounced” and the rack was allowed to shift out of place. (I do not even know if that is possible). Then I could hear a strange buzzing kind of noise & the acceleration was not the same. I was only a short way from my house & although the steering felt strange, I drove it home, leaving it in the driveway.
Anyone care to guess at what might be going on here? Better question - how expensive does this sound?
I’m not sure what to make of this. Do you know for a fact that the road wheels were indeed in the straight-ahead position at the moment the steering wheel was turned 90’? Or could it have been that the road wheels turned momentarily, but since they were off the ground from hitting the bump that the car went straight after touching ground again? Or perhaps that the car steered itself around the bump, with the road wheels and steering wheel turning as the wheels followed the curve of the bump, but the vehicle overall going straight during this process? For the steering wheel to turn while the road wheels did not is essentially impossible without something having broken, but the apparent absence of the same problem on your drive home makes that sound unlikely.
That suggests that something was damaged in hitting the bump, but doesn’t sound like anything related to the steering.
The symptoms described are rather unusual, and while it seems clear that they’re related to hitting the bump, I haven’t yet come up with any plausibe idea to explain them. Chances are something would be obvious with inspecting the car, but nothing has come to me in trying to think about it. A more detailed description of exactly what you observed might be helpful.
Sorry that I was not more clear. I mean that the steering wheel is now 90 degrees to the right from where it normally is. I managed to drive home with the steering wheel in this position and continue down the road going forward.
It is very unusual. I never experienced anything like it before. It was as if it picked up the pinion and dropped in into a new place across the rack. Can that happen while driving?
Thanks for the clarification. I can now tell that something got bent hitting the bump. It’s extremely unlikely that the rack itself was affected. Likely suspects are the control arm, the strut, and the tie rod. I would venture that when one front wheel is pointing straight ahead, the other is at an angle. If so, the buzzing may have been tire noise, alternatively the drive axle might be rubbing on a plastic shield. Having the front (driving) wheels at different angles could also affect acceleration. I would guess the repair will fall in the 200-500 range (more if multiple items were bent).
Well, here is the final answer. I finally got past all the other crud going on & got my car into the dealership. The real cause of my steering wheel turning 90 degrees was… (get this)…
There is a bolt that attaches the engine to the subframe. On the passenger side, said bolt is now missing.
Of course, they also found bad ball joints, a cracked strut mount, and (oh yeah) one of the rear springs was broken. (The last one is apparently a known issue with 2001 Tauruses, but not something that has resulted in a recall. I count myself lucky based on the stories I have read about shredded tires while driving at 70 mph).
Grand total damage to the wallet - $1,215. (plus the $85 for the tow to the shop). It should be done tomorrow.