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MG MGF Technical - F steering rack dilemma!

Afternoon all,

Just put my beloved Trophy into my local ATS to have the wheel alignment checked and on collection, they very kindly informed me of a slight problem!

When you turn the ignition on, after about a second the steering wheel self aligns and ahould be straight.
However, mine decided to turn a full 100 degrees to the left!!!

Apparantly, this is a fault in the steering rack which cannot be fixed and requires a whole new unit.

Does anybody know if this is true?

(Secretly, I'm half hoping it is as I've been toying with the idea of replacing mine with the quicker TF rack!)

Thanks,

Kris.
Kris Ford

There is nothing wrong with the steering rack - the electric powersteering on the MGF works on the steering column.

Most usual cause of this problem is a dirty contact to the EPAS ECU.

The EPAS ECU is located up behind the glove box. Remove the glove box, disconnect the connectors, spray everything with contact cleaner and reassemble. With luck, this will solve the problem.

If the worst comes to the worst, and you can not afford to replace the steering column (it very occasionally comes to that), then simply disconnect the EPAS main fuse under the the bonnet - and the system is disabled = no more problem.

A little more description on accessing the EPAS ECU can be found here, as part of Will Munn's EPAS by-pass circuit: http://www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/group2/DIY/epas/epas_bypass.htm

HTH
Rob Bell

Thanks Rob,

I'll give that a go as soon as I get home!
Certainly would be a cheaper option!!

It was actually a previous thread from your good self that gave me the idea to change to the TF rack in the first place! :-)
You seemed to have nothing but good to say about the resilts.

But, I suppose if this works I'll just have to delay it slightly.

Thanks again,

Kris
Kris Ford

Kris

"When you turn the ignition on, after about a second the steering wheel self aligns and ahould be straight"

I have never heard of that before. Where did you get this info from? As far as I know the steering wheel should NEVER move by itself!

Spyros
Spyros Papageorghiou

I have been through all of this myself as well.... but I'm off home now so will find the archive thread in the morning and repost a link to it... long long story...

Chris
Chris Tromans

Hi Chaps,

Unfortunately did not have time to try Rob's suggestion last night but will attempt it tonight.

Spyros, I'm afraid being new to this and having only owned an MGF for 2 months, I have always assumed that my steering wheel moving slightly on start-up was normal. I'm guessing it's not and that I may of had this problem since I bought the car.

Chris, any info you can put my way about this would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

Kris.
Kris Ford

Kris,

Have a read through this archive thread...

http://www2.mgcars.org.uk/cgi-bin/gen5?runprog=mgbbs&mode=archiveth&subject=69&subjectar=69&thread=200503051600503249

There's a few pointers from a few people and a fairly long story from me about my last MOT :-)

Never had the "fault" fixed on mine however... still doesn't affect the handling etc while I'm driving..

Chris.
Chris Tromans

Thanks Chris,

Just read through the link and it sounds like you were quite definitely stuck between a rock(Read MGR) and a hard place(MOT Station)!!

As everyone has put, this "fault" doesn't actually affect the driveability but it is quite unsettling to think what may happen if it decides to get worse!

I've just gone to Maplins and picked up some contact cleaner so will rip out the glovebox this evening and report back!

Thanks again.

Kris.
Kris Ford

Kris,

If you have a digital camera take some photo's as I'd be interested to see what actually needs to be cleaned... I've never had a look myself :-)

Cheers

Chris
Chris Tromans

Hi Chris,

Unfortunately my camera decided to die on me a few weeks back but if you check the link Rob included at the top of this thread it shows Will Munns pictures of the unit which was what I used to identify the ECU.

Happy to report that the contact cleaner seems to have had a good result! Not happy to report that during the drive straight after had a bad disagreement with a speed bump!
(See new thread, appropriately titled "HELP, My dash is winking at me!")

But a big thank you to everyone that helped here! :-)

Kris.
Kris Ford

Great news regarding the steering Kris - not so great about the speed bump - arrghh!

Speed bumps - hate 'em! >:o(
Rob Bell

Rob, talking with a few enginering types about my suspension experience they came to the conclusion that speed humps hastened the demise of my rear turrets. Have to agree HATE 'EM.
Andrew Regens

This thread was discussed between 07/09/2005 and 10/09/2005

MG MGF Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGF Technical BBS is active now.