940 power steering question
 

Hi folks, like most Volvo's I've driven, the steering on mine is somewhat heavy compared to typical US or Japanese steering, (its about right compared to other Volvo's) I'd like to get it a bit lighter. Basically its a case of increasing the fluid pressure, has anyone done this or know how to do it, I'm asuming its possible to alter something such as a pressure relief valve spring in the pump or rack??? I've had a search through the FAQ's etc but haven't found anything on this so any info would be much appreciated, thanks,
Aidan.
BTW, its a '95 940 SE wagon with an LT6 2.4TDic auto RHD

Likely a relief valve in the rack that you could fool with. There may be something with an orifice that you could enlarge, etc. However, like your other question about modifying the autobox's lockup speed, this would be a pretty radical, unusual thing to try, something that few or no people have attempted in the past to my knowledge and a lot of work and R+D for a pretty small change in how the car works... Might be better advised to learn to love your smooth, heavy Volvo steering. ;-) I agree it is sometimes a little more work than other cars for driving around town, but once you get on the open highway there is no finer steering wheel to be behind than that of a 700 or 900 series Volvo...

Ordinarily I wouldn't bother but due to where I live and the type of roads I drive on it would be a very worthwhile task. I live in a very mountainous area and you can rarely drive more than a hundred yards without having to turn the wheel hard over, after 30 or 40 miles of that you do get a bit tired of it. I remember on some of the early 80's European Fords it was simply a matter of removing the check valve cover on the rack and take out a shim or two from under the check valve to make the steering lighter.

Could be the case. I have a Greenbook about re-habbing the steering racks on these, next time I am over where the manuals are I will take a look and see if it seems like something along those lines is possible.

Aidan, my steering is stiffer than other vehicles I've driven too. I'm interested to find out a fix for it.

Thank you, that would be greatly appreciated.

there is definately a way to do it, it's just a matter of finding out how. Centuries back when I did my apprenticeship at a UK Ford dealer, they used 1 rack across the model range with differing lenght arms depending on the model. When fitting new one's you would remove a certain number of shims to increase the power asist if fitting it to the bigger cars. Other manufacture's have different methods of setting the assist pressure so it can be done, just need the neccesary info.

I'm not sure if it's possible, but the limited assist level was definitely an intentional design choice from Volvo to improve steering feel/feedback to the driver. Usually cars with significantly more assist have a totally different (worm and roller gear) steering system design as opposed to Volvos rack and pinion system.

I'm not looking to go ultra light, just enough to take the sting out of it would be fine, say a 10/15 per cent increase in assist. Irrespective of what system is in use, it has a means of regulating the assist pressure, such as valve's, springs, shims and the like, even just an orifice of pre determined size. It's just a matter of if you can get to it and alter the setting.

Aidan, have you discovered a solution?