4.0 Sport '95 uneven steering

Hi Jag Lovers,

Been reading around here lately, what a load of information! We have been happy owners of a '95 XJ 4.0 Sport here for a month. A fantastic driving and looking car.

However, there is a problem that we can’t solve, maybe someone here can help us. Searching online has turned up nothing for me.

Simply put: steering to the left is perfect, a maximum of 2.5 turns on the steering wheel and a correct turning circle. Turning to the right, however, is only possible with a maximum of 1.5 to 2 turns of the steering wheel. This creates a much too large turning circle and makes parking very difficult.

The car is perfectly aligned and the steering rods at the front wheels are also the same length. The steering wheel is also exactly in the middle.

Does anyone have an idea what could be the problem, and how we can solve this?

Some might have replaced the rack WITHOUT centering it properly?

Rebuilders NEVER center the rack when assembling so I always had to disconnect the upper steering column and ‘clock-the-wheel’ straight while making sure the rack was set to CENTER when I installed it.

Could also be that someone put the rack back without making sure everything was set properly?

had ths issue decades ago. My 4 ford tudor. A mechanic ointed out tht i had messed u thje centerig of the steerig box.

so, applying tht idea. here we do not have a steering box, but, a rack. the rack must be centered. or ou have the issue you now have. search the archives here as to how to center the rack.5

Great! Thanks for the quick replies. I’ll have a chat with my mechanic about this. Do you know if this is a labour-intensive job? I’ve seen the prices of refurbished steering racks and I want to stay away from that :wink:

But if that was the case, wouldn’t the wheels, while turning not far enough in one direction, turn too far in the other direction and start scraping?

Mebbe so, mebbe not.

  1. check for stops tht would prevent that.
    2/ prepare a sketch and then another. One over the ther. Does it pencil out.

  2. my vot ios non centered rack.

4.Steering arms adjusted to compensate.

Yes, if there are stops you could be right.

I once had a non centered rack on my e36 BMW. On the BMW the only stops are in the rack itself, so the tyre rubbed on one side.
Even worse I now have a none centered rack in the wife’s VW Golf. The problem is that the steering angle sensor now gives wrong readings, and after a while that triggers the ESP warning light. Makes me mad, why do garages think its OK to offset the stering wheel by one tooth after messing up the alignment?!!

I think that is what happening… Except for the scraping, but I don’t know what the margin is in that.

In that case I would try and center the rack, disconnect the link to the steering column, straighten the steering wheel and reconnect.

Edit: of course you will need an alignment because the wheels will be pointing in the wrong direction afterwards