Great at Lefts

[mtb.rxstar]

Here's an interesting problem that I've noticed on my '83 240, it's great at making left turns but not right turns!?! I can only assume that it's trying to aspire to be a NASCAR pace car, but I feel we should really face the music and just settle for all around performance!

So the real problem is that the power steering works like a champ when turning left, but then does nothing when I steer to the right and so I have to muscle the wheel and carry some momentum around corners to get it to turn. Any ideas on where I should start? It does have proper fluid and the system doesn't appear to have leaks so I'm thinking that fluid just isn't getting the one side of the system and that there's some sort of block in the valves or something. Thanks.

[Aidan]

Inside the rack there is a usually a small "torsion" bar that directs the fluid left or right, either this bar is sticking or the feed to the right hand side of the rack is blocked/restricted. Your basically going to have to pull the rack for this, unless your rack has an inspection cover above the valve assembly, usually it is located close to where the steering coupling connects to the rack, depending on what rack you have you might be able to get at the cover without removing the rack. Whatever you have you need to get inside the rack and look for the obstruction which could be anything from a bit of dirt to a broken washer or bearing. Sometimes if its dirt causing the blockage you can free it by jacking up the front of the car, run the engine at about 2,000 rpm and get hold of the steering wheel and give it several hard fast jerks to the right (about a quarter of a turn). The sudden increase in pressure can blow the dirt clear and restore the steering, so try that first and see how you get on.