Hi guys, 

Ever since I bought my focus a few months ago I've been having this odd problem with steering. Whenever I drive over some pot hole or some imperfection on the road the car randomly starts pulling either to the right or left. It feels like the alignment is off but it isnt and the pull direction changes the whole time all of this happens at low speeds 20-60km/h. Also I have noticed that when I break to come to stop the steering wheel turns to the left. 

I have checked the front suspension as well as I could and I could not find any issues. 

Today I was moving the steering wheel right and left when the car was turned off and I could hear some knocking noise coming from the front right I think. I had a look at the rod end and the inner tie rod but that seemed fine too. 

At this point I feel like this noise is coming from the steering rack but I would want someone's opinion on this before I go out and buy a new steering rack.

I've looked online and could not find anyone having an issue like this 

Thanks in advance 

 

15 minutes ago, Desterer said:

At this point I feel like this noise is coming from the steering rack but I would want someone's opinion

Nice pun.......

Sorry, I'll shut up!!

These cars have an Electric Power Steering system and the symptoms that you describe at the start of your post may be related to that although that would not account for the noise when the Engine is off.

I have never owned one of these cars but I believe that FORScan added a Service Procedure to disable/enable the Pull Drift Compensation for these cars. There may also be procedures to reset it or other aspects of the Steering System, I'm not sure.

Maybe someone who has one of these cars and has had problems will be able to advise you, failing that you may need to visit a Dealer who will have the necessary software if it is an Electric Power Steering problem and not something physical.

Thanks for the comment @Tizer I'm leaning more towards a mechanical issue myself but I might try going to my local garage to see if they have any software to check this. 

I've just put up a video on youtube of the noise. It was taken with the engine off and I had someone moving the steering wheel as I took the video. 

While driving or taking corners this can't be heard at all. It's only when the car is not moving. Same can be heard when the engine is idling. 

I think I'd be inclined to check the suspension components first. I had a bad ball joint on one side and a bad track rod end on the other side. It wasn't until I replaced them that I noticed how weird the steering had become. It would also be worth looking at your brake calipers. 

Interestingly, when I went to buy the track rods, I was asked if it was electric or hydraulic power steering. I was under the impression that the mk3 focus was only electric power steering.

5 minutes ago, Desterer said:

Thanks for the comment @Tizer I'm leaning more towards a mechanical issue myself but I might try going to my local garage to see if they have any software to check this. 

I've just put up a video on youtube of the noise. It was taken with the engine off and I had someone moving the steering wheel as I took the video. 

While driving or taking corners this can't be heard at all. It's only when the car is not moving. Same can be heard when the engine is idling. 

That does sound bad and you are probably right about it being a mechanical problem.

If not the Rack or Track Rod End could the noise be coming from the Strut, possibly from the Top Bearing or Bottom Ball Joint or even the Rack Fixings to the body. 

Power steering was what came to my mind also when I read the symptoms.

Possibly related threads:

 

Thanks for the comments guys, the video that I posted yesterday had the track rod end disconnected from the hub. 

That means that the rest of the suspension components can be eliminated together with the track rod end and the inner track rod from the list of suspects 🙂 

I also looked at the steering column joint to see if that has any play, which also seems fine.  

Whenever I get a chance I'll have a look at the rack fixing to the body, maybe that's the issue 

Other than that I feel like it's the actual rack that's the issue here unfortunately 

 

Use FORScan and deactivate "pull drift compensation"

Did you find out what the cause was?