Wandering 300tdi discovery....

[spy]

We have an early 300tdi disco that wanders all over the road.  In the wagon ruts on the motorway its horrible (stay below 60 and hold on tight) and on 60mph country lanes I dont dare go over about 40.  Its only since I got my 110 back on the road this week that I realised how bad the disco is.  My 1989 110 drives much nicer!  You seem to have to constantly correct the disco, its worse than series 3's I have owned!   

I had a mate (MOT tester) have a look over it on the pit at work and he is happy that steering / suspension would pass an MOT.  There was no excesive play at the wheel and everything appears OK.  one thing I did notice was that the adjuster screw on top of the steering box was wound right in. approx 10mm further in than my 110. 

Anyway, I backed it right off (obviously got loads of play at the wheel), drained and replaced the fluid and set about adjusting it up again.  In terms of play at the wheel its now back to where it was (ie hardly any but just a little) but now the screw is much further out than it was before as if before the adjuster had somehow gone full circle.  I dont know the inside of a box well enought to explain this... 

Anyone got any suggestions?   People have told me it must be box but they arent cheap and I dont wanna go out on a whim!  Its had 2 new front wheel bearings, the swivel bearings are ok. 

Do I order a box?  Could it be something silly like the steering damper?  Any suggestions gratefuly received!

Cheers,

Mike

[Range Rover Blues]

I s it lifted?

get the tracking done, check the steering damper and tyre pressures.

Check the rear lower link bushes throroughly and the panhard rod.

[spy]

Not lifted, standard suspension and wheels.  Road tyres with correct pressure.  I will get back under it and have another look.  Tracking is an easy place to start for te sake of £20 or so... 

Cheers,

Mike

[eugene]

id change steering damper and trackrod ends that cured mine also try the pitman arm

[crazymac]

Get someone to wiggle the wheel while you lay underneath watching.

Look at the panhard rod!!

[bilge rat]

i'd go too for the panhard rod bushes , also iff the preload is to tight on the swivel pins it will steer awfull too loose and you will get judder every time you hit a pot hole. an easy check roughly. iff you corner the s/wheel should sort of self centralise . iff you have too literaly turn the wheel back to centre its too tight ..hope that makes sence ...alan

[lee celtic]

I'd also check the bushes on the trailing arms and aframe ball joint it could be rear wheel steering if they have gone soft or split...

You could just be correcting the rear end moving around...

[muddyjames]

I had a similar problem. Mine was found to be about a litre of water in one of the front wheels.  I can only guess it got in there whilst trying a trick of jacking up disco on the tyre to get the mud out between rim and tyre and it popping off beed and water getting in.  :doh:

[spy]

Well, I think we might be getting somewhere!  There is no unusual play in anything.  Panhard rod etc all solid.  The OSF tyre was warped.  I still cant see the point on it where is goes out of line but if you roll it away from you (off the car) it kicks about like a buckled wheel.  Adusted up both front wheel bearings (althought the play wasnt excessive anyway) and put the spare on and it drives like a different car! 

The front tyres are wearing slightly on inner edges so its in for tracking in the morning.  Hopefuly that will improve it even more....

Cheers for all the tips! 

Mike