Steering problems 97 Explorer....

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Nov 12, 2008 | 07:23 PM

4.0 Beast

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Joined: Oct 2003

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From: Gilbert, AZ

Steering problems 97 Explorer....

Hey guys.... My explorer wouldnt start the other day, found out battery was dead, replaced battery and good to go. Problem is, when it was dead, I had to move it forward/backwards to get it in place to try jump-starting it and the parking lot where i was is very crooked so i was steering left and right a bunch while my friends were pushing me in and out of parking spots. Anyway...... now that I am driving it again, the steering is vibrating when i turn the wheel left and right while driving, as well as the steering seems a notch harder to move left and right. Did i goof up the power steering? The wheels vibrate along with the whole steering column when the truck is on and its in park, like when i have to back out of a parking space. Even when driving down the road at like 45mph it vibrates. What happened to it and what do i do to fix it? I sure hope i didnt jack anything up. Any by the way, that wheel sure is hard to steer when the whole truck is off, im glad i have power steering.

97 Explorer V8 AWD XLT

Nov 12, 2008 | 07:47 PM

rich250

Senior User

Joined: Nov 2007

Posts: 189

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more then likely it's air in the system,you can try turning the steering from stop to stop to work the air out or you could bleed the system,either way it should eventually work it's way out,this is very common on explorers when you turn the steering without the vehicle running.

Nov 13, 2008 | 06:11 AM

4.0 Beast

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Joined: Oct 2003

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From: Gilbert, AZ

is there any damage done to the hardware? i figured air in the system or possibly churning up the fluid and moving it from places it should be....

Nov 16, 2008 | 10:33 AM

3rd car

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Joined: Jun 2008

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i had the same problem in my explorer when i lost my belt some how the p.s capped popped open and i lost a decent amount of fluid

Nov 16, 2008 | 03:04 PM

spirit

Freshman User

Joined: Oct 2003

Posts: 38

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From: Surrey

It happens a lot- mine dos it often- just do as mentioned above- take the cap of the fluid container and turn the stearing wheel lock to lock a few times slow (dont hold it on lock),and it will force the air out of the system...Mine does it a fair bit, begining to wonder if I should bleed it and replace the fluid- after all its 8 years old now!