Patrol pulling to the left
Submitted: Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 at 12:25
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spinifex
A post below prompted me to start this thread to find out if there are any fixes to the problem of Patrols pulling left.
I have an April 06 patrol and it pulls to the left just enough to be annoying. The Patrols steering setup seems fairly sensitive to road camber and side winds so can appear to be pulling left or right at times, but the prevailing pull is to the left. If I was driving on the other side of the road then the opposite camber would just about cancel out the left pull and all would be perfect.
The pulling left is more pronounced at speeds lower than 80kl/h, even at walking pace it edges left. At 110kl/h the left pull is hardly noticeable.
Any suggestions are appreciated as I am about to spend some money trying to rectify the situation.
I have had a basic wheel alignment and swapped the tyres from side to side to no avail.
Regards
Spinifex
Reply By: OldMike2 - Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 at 13:51
Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 at 13:51
Its all probably been covered lots of times before but, this is what has been my saga.
First the car seemed to pull to the left. Not strongly, but to the left all the same.
So, got an adjustable bottom king pin bearing fitted to the LEFT hand side. Fixed the pull to the left but steering wheel still at one oclock position when travelling straight. Told the answer was to take steering wheel off and put it back straight.
Well and good except for the booby trap known as an air bag in the centre of the wheel. No one really wanted to touch it, least of all me.
The cause of the off centre wheel was because the drag link from the steering arm to the left hand wheel is not adjustable.
After carefull measuring on my car, I found the link to be 1.7 mm too long. What to do?
Well it turned out to be easy to find four spacers 1.75 mm thick and to space the steering box out from the chassis rail using these spacers. Last weekend trip to
Sydney and back from Albury steering PERFECT for the first time.
Not so the engine though. A little south of
Sydney engine management dashlight came on. Oh, water in the fuel. Just drain the bottom of the fuel filter, all will be
well. Nope No water. Light is off. Drive a fair bit further, engine management light on again. Stop engine and have think. Start engine and all OK again. For a while. Same procedure four or five more times before getting
home.
Now Nissan dealer wants the car for four hours to do a diagnostic
test. Will wait on the results with bated breath.
Forgot to mention, is 3.0L TDi with EGR blocked off.
Such is life.
Regards
Mike
AnswerID:
223154
Follow Up By: nissnut - Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 at 14:02
Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 at 14:02
Hi Mike, got a simple engine management system in the MK, its called a key. ON.......OFF.......ON.......OFF........hehehe. The old girl has always pulled to the left, just learned to live with it. Cheers mate...........Lionel.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Graeme (NSW) - Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 at 15:01
Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 at 15:01
Had the same problem with
mine; it was the injector pump and many$$$$ later it is running great again. I have not been brave enough to run with the EGR blanked as I do not have an exhaust temp guage nor boost guage, both necessary whith the EGR blanked.
Cheers, Graeme
FollowupID:
484011
Follow Up By: Andrew from Vivid Adventures - Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 at 21:55
Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 at 21:55
the standard process for removing steering wheels with air-bags is to disconnect the battery and wait some period of time - from memory 15 mins.
Then you can take off the steering wheel in the normal way without risk of air-bag deployment.
I would think it would be easier than the washers.
FollowupID:
484121
Follow Up By: Muzzgit [WA] - Thursday, Feb 22, 2007 at 00:16
Thursday, Feb 22, 2007 at 00:16
Steering wheel on a 3.0 patrol cannot be removed with out buggering up something called a ?????? clock 9can't remember the word)
Quickest fix is to get an adjustable drag link.
FollowupID:
484163
Follow Up By: Muzzgit [WA] - Thursday, Feb 22, 2007 at 00:23
Thursday, Feb 22, 2007 at 00:23
That should read.......
Steering wheel on a 3.0 patrol with airbags cannot be removed with out buggering up something called a ?????? clock (can't remember the word)
OldMike2, Your problem of light coming on sounds like the MAFS. I had the identicle symptoms.
FollowupID:
484164
Follow Up By: Member - Matt Mu (Perth-WA) - Thursday, Feb 22, 2007 at 12:38
Thursday, Feb 22, 2007 at 12:38
Muzz...its a clock spring!
Matt.
FollowupID:
484220
Reply By: Member - Glenn D (NSW) - Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 at 19:29
Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 at 19:29
Hows it going Spinifex,
Had the same ' normal ' Patrol problem ,pulling left ,wearing tyres .
Unfortunately camber is not easily adjustable .
After some research went to one of those
places advertised as ' shim-a-line' in 4wd mags , ended up being a truck wheel alignment place . These guys were fully switched on in regard to the problem and adjusted the camber with offset mounts for the bearings in the front end.
The steering wheel was misaligned and was easily moved back , pretty sure it would be easier to look in the manual about how to remove the wheel than bugger about measuring stuff and spacing the steering box ?
The result is my Patrol goes straight doesnt scrub out lh front tyres and the wheel is straight , had it done a couple of years ago and found the cost very reasonable .
Hope this helps you out .
Glenn.
AnswerID:
223217