car swerves left and right when hitting gas and laying off

[rotinaj13]

The 89 I barrowed from my mom makes me feel like i am going to die every time i drive it... On highway when I lay off at 55 it swerves hard right and when i hit the gas again it swerves hard left I have been pulled over twice in 2 days b/c of this what is it tie rod ends? how do i go about trouble shooting this? Oh when i go into a cornor it acts like i am understeering it then when i turn a little harder boom over steer and it acts like it is going to start squiling the tires... When i put new tires on it's drives side from the inside edge was worn... gimme some ideas guys cause this car is freaking me out to drive big time and i got no other options...

[bassman]

I would start by jacking up the front end and putting it on blocks to get both wheels off the ground.
grab a wheel and move it side to side and up and down to see if there is any loose joints.
but i am thinking there is either something broken or most likely a new set of tie rod ends would fix ya right up.
but do it NOW don't wait as i have had a rod end fall off in a parking lot as i was backing out .
don't even want to think what may of happened if i was going 70 :shock:
good luck

[FB71]

check your sway bar bushings on the lower control arms. MN12 Tbirds (89-97) had the same susp setup, and the same symptoms...

[gomer]

This is definitely a bad/worn/dissolved (from leaking oil) bushing ,,, the one that positions the anti-roll bar in the lower control arm ,, go to your Ford dealer immediately...

[Biff]

Hockey pucks , yup , turn em to fit , cheap.

[rotinaj13]

r u serious? hocky pucks?

[Biff]

Hockey Pucks ???

Yes , Been using them on my 85 Camry with 360k on it for years, made a set of four on the lathe at work for the 92 Festiva , I have used a drill press to turn them out but not quite as accurate, much easier on the lathe , my sons buddy brought over a dozen pucks for me so I got lots for years to come..

[gomer]

Re: car swerves left and right when hitting gas and laying o

[quote="rotinaj13"] when I lay off at 55 it swerves hard right and when i hit the gas again it swerves hard left/quote]

This will be the right side control arm/anti-roll bar bushings ... you probably also have terrible wear problems with your front tires associated with this issue. as a "quick fix" (not meant to be permanent) I wrapped a length of old bicycle inner tube between the washer and the control arm in front and behind the arm... worked great for almost 6000 miles... if your bushing is gone it is probably due to oil leaking on it... you might find an associated problem,, that you have a metal "donut" loose on your passenger side half shaft ... this is a vibration damper... to fix; locate where it belongs , wedge it in place with some cardboard (3 or 4 locations around the shaft are good ,, just so that the shaft is properly centered) and then fill the spaces with blue goo... mine has lasted 40,000 miles that way..

[rotinaj13]

Ok I am going to tear it down here soon. I have to wait till I can use my mom's garage since I have to many broke cars. I was thinking it might also be a tie rod issue. I just wanted an oppinion before I started to mess with it. I might just make new polly bushings for it. The car is mine to use till I get my 88 back on the road. Or untill I fix the damage done to my poor Aspire. Only thing I have to drive atm is the 92 white festy that was totaled about 3 or 4 years ago that I fixed. I need to fix the 89 so I can give my mom back the 92. Then I will b working on my poor 88 and 97 LOL all of my cars have had a hard life!

[rotinaj13]

http://www.rockauto.com/ref/Moog/Detail.html?K9737.gif is that the right part?

[gomer]

Thats the kit you need... when I bought mine the Ford dealer sold it at cost ,, they were glad to see the festy parts finally leaving their stockroom... I remember it was about $21 list price ,, $13 at dealer cost..

you can always borrow the bushings from one of the donor cars you have ..

[Festiva_newbie]

I would start by jacking up the front end and putting it on blocks to get both wheels off the ground.
grab a wheel and move it side to side and up and down to see if there is any loose joints.
but i am thinking there is either something broken...

I was thinking the same thing... :wink:

[rotinaj13]

the bushings solved it $23 fix! :-D