Zetec S pulling left

[420Ravens]

Hi Folks,

I've got a 2013 Zetec S.

I'm having a nightmare here, every time I go to the garage I come back with a brand new problem.  I noticed creaking going over speed bumps and some deadening in the steering.  Went into garage and I said it might be the coil springs but I don't know.  They didn't diagnose anything and replaced the coil springs, first with aftermarket, which were absolutely terrible, went back and they got swapped out for Ford springs.  Loud noise, I go back and they say- it's the shock absorber.  They want another £450.  So I go to a different garage and have two front shocks put in, genuine ford parts.  Pickup the car and now it's pulling to the left.  And not a little bit, it happens at all speeds, the wheel just doesn't seem to want to reset to 0 and you can see this visually- the steering wheel just notches to the left when reset to zero, then another notch and heading off the road.  Took it back in, they tracked it, swapped the front tyres around, reset the steering calibration to 0.  Exactly the same problem.

I didn't buy a cat-D turkey down the motor auctions, it's only got 54,000 miles on, background checked, bought from reputable dealer, loads of paperwork, serviced every year, immaculate inside and out, all stock, no mods.  The mechanic at the second garage said the dreaded "there's something about this car..." then mentioned that it's got a new control arm on the front left.  So that didn't make me feel any better and I probably need to do another background check, but I don't suspect any foul play.  The second garage are saying that loads of Fiestas have problems with steering and it's a nightmare getting it straight, but it's news to me because before they put the dampers in, the car drove straight with no problems.  I spoke to Ford parts and got the proper part numbers to double check the right dampers went in.  Also strangely the wheel gap is 5cm on the rear wheels and 4cm on the front, which, I don't remember measuring it before but, I'd have thought that new springs and dampers on the front, old on the back, would mean if anything it's higher at the front not lower.  Either way, wheel gap probably should be the same all round right?

The creaking over speed bumps I've read on this forum- that's most likely the front anti-roll bar D bushes.  I asked the first garage to put some silicone grease on that but, it's still creaking.  Either they did or they didn't but, maybe swapping them out for powerflex ones- that might sort that out.  First garage said they tracked it, but second garage said it was toe out when it's supposed to be toe in, so, obviously I don't trust the first garage to do anything.

I bought the car September 2021 and love it, it's great.  I've now spent £860, this has been going on for a month.  So yeah, just wondering what people's thoughts and experiences are.  I'm calling the garage back up to try and get it sorted today, but, any more info or ideas would be great.  There is a bit of a high frequency background noise which the guy thought could be a wheel bearing, I just thought it was road noise from low profile tyres, but it does seem that it might be a new noise.  If one of those wheel bearings has seized then that could increase drag on one side, causing the pull.  Other than that, or one of the wrong dampers going in I've no idea, but I do really want my car back to normal because at the moment I just seem to just be going sideways at great expense.

Cheers,

Will

[williamweb]

Was your work done at a Ford garage?

[420Ravens]

Hi.  Done at independent garages, not Ford ones.  If I can't get it sorted at the second garage, maybe going to a Ford garage is an idea but, the money keeps racking up...

[williamweb]

9 minutes ago, 420Ravens said:

Hi.  Done at independent garages, not Ford ones.  If I can't get it sorted at the second garage, maybe going to a Ford garage is an idea but, the money keeps racking up...

 Personally - I would find a Ford garage in your area that has a good reputation for looking after it’s customers, not the first one you Google ha ha,bite the bullet and let them have a look at it. After all they have probably seen it all before👍

[420Ravens]

Have already bitten the bullet twice really though, £860 is a lot for my budget.  I've never taken cars into official dealerships.  Not for any other reason than it usually costs a lot more than somewhere else but, hindsight isn't kind!  I'm sure they'd set me right at the local Ford garage but another bill for £400+ is gunna be painful and who knows what else will happen after that, maybe they'll be another problem.  If I can't get it sorted I think the Ford garage a good idea. 

[Neb_engineer]

4 minutes ago, 420Ravens said:

Have already bitten the bullet twice really though, £860 is a lot for my budget.  I've never taken cars into official dealerships.  Not for any other reason than it usually costs a lot more than somewhere else but, hindsight isn't kind!  I'm sure they'd set me right at the local Ford garage but another bill for £400+ is gunna be painful and who knows what else will happen after that, maybe they'll be another problem.  If I can't get it sorted I think the Ford garage a good idea. 

The first garage you took it too sounded like they had no idea what they were doing and should not have been let within 5 ft of your car, the usual suspect for that noise on a fiesta is bushes, generally strut top or sway bar, the pulling to the left sounds like your alignment was knocked out when they replaced the shocks

[420Ravens]

First garage was a motorsport garage, which I'd actually expect to be better than usual and they've done decent work before.  I just think the boss wasn't listening to me when I said "it might be coil springs but I don't know"- he just heard "coil springs".  But second garage was pretty surprised that mechanics would take off a knackered shock several times and not realise the problem.  Plus first garage hadn't done the tracking which they charged me for, so I agree 100%.  Sadly sometimes things have to go wrong before you realise that a garage can't be trusted.  Bushes, strut top and sway bar thanks for all those to put in the memory bank.  Now that second garage has done tracking properly and it's still pulling left, confused as to what it would be.  Appreciate the feedback.  Garage said they'll look at it Monday, I was just wondering if it's well known that Fiestas have steering alignment problems, because that seems to be the defacto perspective of the garage, but I don't know.  (edit- we have a local Ford specialist that I was going to use but sadly they shut down very recently.)

[Neb_engineer]

21 hours ago, 420Ravens said:

First garage was a motorsport garage, which I'd actually expect to be better than usual and they've done decent work before.  I just think the boss wasn't listening to me when I said "it might be coil springs but I don't know"- he just heard "coil springs".  But second garage was pretty surprised that mechanics would take off a knackered shock several times and not realise the problem.  Plus first garage hadn't done the tracking which they charged me for, so I agree 100%.  Sadly sometimes things have to go wrong before you realise that a garage can't be trusted.  Bushes, strut top and sway bar thanks for all those to put in the memory bank.  Now that second garage has done tracking properly and it's still pulling left, confused as to what it would be.  Appreciate the feedback.  Garage said they'll look at it Monday, I was just wondering if it's well known that Fiestas have steering alignment problems, because that seems to be the defacto perspective of the garage, but I don't know.  (edit- we have a local Ford specialist that I was going to use but sadly they shut down very recently.)

With the steering pulling and having the alignment checked, next thing to check is, 1, tyre wear a cross face of tread (if the alignment was wrong it would have worn the tread unevenly makeing the tyre want to pull one way or the other) the other thing is the left brake could be dragging

[420Ravens]

When he did the alignment he swapped around the front two tyres and same problem, but will check the tyres.  Left brake dragging- nice one, definitely need to check that out thanks.

[420Ravens]

Got the car back from the garage.  They swapped the rear tyres for the fronts, and crossed them over again I think.  Retracked it and now it's spot on.  It's taken all the tension out of the steering, not pulling left anymore and handling great.

One issue is, it seems to be boomy on the front suspension.  Just seems loud.  I'm not sure if this is just louder than regular road noise, because I hear it in another regular Fiesta.  I wonder if this could just be the shocks and springs being new and needing bedding in.  Could be how it's supposed to be, or, maybe it's time for another trip to the garage for the 10th time...

More than happy they sorted the steering.

[Rickspark]

On 1/22/2022 at 12:51 PM, Neb_engineer said:

With the steering pulling and having the alignment checked, next thing to check is, 1, tyre wear a cross face of tread (if the alignment was wrong it would have worn the tread unevenly makeing the tyre want to pull one way or the other) the other thing is the left brake could be dragging

RESOLVED - Mk7 Fiesta - I've had the pulling to the left issue and the fix turned out to be quick and easy.  No spanner needed, you won't even dirty your hands!

BACKGROUND information - Not sure why but the tracking was out and the car was pulling to the left.  There was no apparent reason as to why this started.

It's my son's car so I don't often drive it.  He'd parked the car with the wheels at an angle and I noticed the front wheel tyres were scrubbing on the inside.  He mentioned the pulling to the left issue when I told him about the tyres.  Had a tyre replaced and the tracking adjusted.  Car was still pulling to the left. 

I took it to a different garage where I thought they'd have a clue but after checking the tracking again, switching front and back wheels, checking brakes and anything else they could think of, they ran out of ideas.  No fix and so no charge!  A garage with integrity I thought.  They advised I take the car to a specialist tracking centre. 

I slept on it and googled some more over the next few days.  It occurred to me that with every other potential cause ruled out, with electronic power steering, maybe there was something there that needed to be adjusted.

SOLUTION - I downloaded FORScan Home for Windows and installed it on my laptop.  I'd previously purchased an OBDLink® MX+ adapter.  They're not cheap but they are recommended by FORScan.  I powered up and with a little apprehension, connected and checked and reset the Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC).  There were no error codes in the Power Steering Control Module (PSCM).  I reset of the pull drift compensation on the Power Steering Control Module.  All good!

REFLECTIONS - You can read about pull drift compensation here - Electric Power Assist Steering (EPAS) Pull Drift Compensation (fordservicecontent.com)  My view on this, as a layman, is that the out of alignment tracking applied an irregular force to the PSCM system causing the pull drive compensation system to become incorrectly calibrated.  With tracking fixed, a reset to pull drive compensation resolved matters.

I hope this help you. 
 

 

[Zalmoxiss]

@420Ravens even if it is late to write an answer, I still ask: what was the solution found with the squeaking? were the anti-roll bushings to blame?