Topic

The steering wheel of my recently purchased MK1 MGF was pulling a bit to the right, but steering felt quite tight for the rest. I just took it to a local garage for them to fix this, assuming that it just needed to be aligned. The garage came recommended by some Dutch MG owners. However I received the car back in worse rather than better shape. It still pulls to the right, but now steering also feels loose.

The work done: a steering ball was replaced and the wheels were aligned.

The mechanic had no explanation for the looser steering, he figured it was in my head, i.e. according to him it had not in fact gotten worse.

According to him the pulling to the right could be explained by the alignment report, which to him looked like at some point the car had been in some kind of accident, like hitting the curb really hard head on. He said he could not make any further adjustments to get the car alignment better, and he said he'd never seen anything like this on an MGF before.

He did notice some slack at the base of the steering column, but he insisted that had nothing to do with him replacing the steering ball.

To get rid of the slack, and perhaps (though no guarantee) also get it to pull less to the right, he recommended installing a new steering rack, though he had never done this before on an MGF.

Needless to say I'm a bit bummed. The loose steering really does take away from the fun of driving the MGF, and the pulling to the right is annoying. According to the mechanic getting it to pass the Dutch equivalent of the MOT would not be an issue though.

If there is indeed nothing that can be done about the alignment, how about aligning the EPAS unit (power steering) to compensate? In fact, could the issue not be a misaligned EPAS? The mechanic never even mentioned the power steering.

I'd be grateful for any advice / hints / tips. In fact there is another unsolved issue, which now got me to the point of considering whether it is wise to keep investing in this MGF

Check the EPAS setting.
Jack up front of car on chassis. Start engine (or ignition ON) and center the steering wheel.
Let go of the wheel, does the steering turn left/right/remain central?

If it turns, then the EPAS can be adjusted quite easily.

If it remains central, then you must have an alignment issue somewhere.

Did you get a readout from the alignment? Four wheel alignment?

Epas fault

Thanks for your replies! I have attached the (translated) alignment report. To me it suggests there is a problem with the front right wheel?

I just checked if EPAS is the issue by just pulling its fuse and going for a spin. The car still pulls to the right with the EPAS disabled

Update: some very knowledgable chaps had a good look at the car, and they couldn't yet find a clear cause other than that the hydragas units are depleted. I will start by having them recharged, and then I'll do a new alignment.