PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

My 97 SE, with a Series II 3800 motor, has a serious steering & braking problem as follows:

While braking and accelerating, my car pulls to the right, and more when driving faster. This is very apparent while driving on the highway. I thought that one or more of the engine and/or tranny mounts are bad, but I could only find the two front engine mounts and couldn't tell if they were broken just by looking at them. However, the Torque Strut Mount was broken (rubber piece was torn) so I replaced it with a new one (Anchor 2662) but it didn't help with my steering/braking problem.

But now, I'm at a dead end now, and don't know what to do.

Can someone please help me figure this out?

I would check the wheel bearings, calipers for sticking, tie rods and alignment if any of the suspension has been apart recently.

These might cause my car to pull to the right when braking, but which of these would most likely cause my car to pull to the right every time when accelerating and driving in a straight line at a steady speed (at any speed)?

Have you looked at the tire treads?

The tire treads look fine and they are relatively new tires, was only 5,000 miles on them.

The only front end suspension parts that I haven't changed since I bought the car new are the front tie rods. Also, do you think maybe a bad steering rack would cause my car's problems?

The inner tie-rods, or the outer tie rods could cause a pulling problem. I've only known a steering rack to fail by leaking externally or internally, which wouldn't mess up the alignment.

OK thank you. I will check and maybe remove the tie rods, both inner and outer, I haven't replaced them since my car was brand new in 1997.

Also check lower control arm bushings, worn bushings will cause pulling problems.

I checked the tie rods after I disconnected the outer ones from the steering knuckle, and they are OK, except that I can't adjust them, for alignment purposes, with regular open-ended wrenches, due to excess rust in the threads between them. Later, when I need to replace the outer ones, I'll try using PB Blaster, a torch and plumber's wrenches to get a better grip on them. I used this trick years ago, and it worked.

Most of the reason for my problem was hiding in plain sight and I hadn't noticed it because I wasn't looking for it. I was really surprised to find that my front left sway (stabilizer) bar link was completely missing! It must have broke a few months ago and was hanging on one end when I notices someting rattling underneath and fell off when I hit a bump in the road, and then saw (in my sideview mirror) something small fall away from my car. At that time, I assumed I hit something that then bounced off my car underneath, but now I know it was my front left sway bar link.

Anyways, since I replaced the sway bar iink, and the other one too, the pulling is much less severe, but still present.

Thanks AJT2004 for suggesting that I check my bushings underneath, because to your point I've now got an idea what might be causing my car's pulling problem. About 8 years ago, I had some rot above some of my subframe bushings, so I removed 4 of the 6 subframe bushings and grinded out the rust & rot and then installed some large washers inside the subframe to secure it tight against the body with new bushings. For each of 2 of these bushings, I replaced their bolts with longer threaded rods and added more stainless washers and extra bushings underneath the subframe to help hold it up securely. I tightened them all to the proper torque (70 ft-lbs). Now, I think that after 8 years of my repair job, one or more of the bushings is slipping due to more rot underneath. I think I'll remove them, one at a time and check whasappening there, and then repair them if I can, because good replacement subframes are really hard to find these days, and very far away from my home in NH. I'll let you know what I find.

I finally found what's causing my car to pull to the right when braking or accelerating.
A couple of years ago, I replaced my front left ball joint assembly (3 bolts & nuts hold it) because its ball joint was worn out. That was the second tiime I replaced it.
A close look at it showed that one of its nuts had backed off a bit and was loose. The other two were somewhat loose too! I fixed it by putting on new lock washers and tightening them to spec (50 ft-lbs). I probably used some anti-seize paste earlier, that might have caused them to get loose over time, I dunno.

Now, the steering is fine, with no more pulling to the right problem. When it gets warmer in my garage, I'll check all the other suspension bolts and make sure they're tightened to spec.

This happened to me a few years ago, same exact issue.

I was cautioned about anti-seize doing this by some mechanic buddies before I ran into an issue with it.

Glad you got it figured out and it's safe.