I've just bought an '85 16-valve, and I've got a steering problem. The car turns just fine to the right, but steers very hard to the left in these two circumstances: at 0 to 5 mph, and whenever I go hard into a left-hand corner. I'm guessing the problem is always there, but I don't feel it until there's a significant load on the steering box, which probably occurs in both of the above circumstances. Could it be a clogged valve in the steering box? If so, is there a solvent-type solution? If not a clogged valve, what could be causing the problem? Thanks a lot for any help you can offer. Randy Volheim; rvolheim@netzero.net

The steering box has a valve(spool) that allows the exact proportion of fluid for both rt & lt turns. MANY times the spring on either side of this valve will break(or weaken). That will cause hard steering on that side of this valve.

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Maybe the steering dampener is dampening more one way than the other.