Has anyone ever had problems with the steering lock mechanism in a MY1999 turbo?

Sometimes when accelerating hard in first from stopped (e.g. when pulling out around another car) the steering will bind when winding off lock to straight ahead (after turning/steering the wheel to the left). The binding requires additional steering force to release it (producing a nice load cracking/click noise in the process).

I already got Subaru to look at under warranty, as usual the they said they found something wrong and replaced it (yeh right). Needless to say it is still reproducible (except when trying to demonstrate it of coarse).

Does anyone know how to remove the steering wheel without any airbag problems?

Edd (avoiding left handers at the moment!)...

 

Edd

If it only happens in 1st gear, I suspect its torque steer.

The front diff is a normal open diff and no open diff is a perfect 50/50 L/R split.

Don't try full throttle in the wet, in 1st, when on full lock.

 

Do you have a twin dump downpipe? If so it could be hitting against the steering universal joint.

 

Good point Steve, this was a problem with some early twin dump downpipes when the engine rocked over under load.