1990 Ford L Series

The 1990 Ford L Series has 3 recalls, all involving steering defects that can cause the driver to lose steering control entirely while the vehicle is moving.

The steering concerns fall into two related problems. The intermediate steering shafts have an insufficient length of spline engagement, meaning the connection between the shaft sections has too little overlap. This allows excessive side-to-side play in the steering wheel, and over time the splines wear down until the shaft can disengage completely, leaving the driver with no steering input. On the column itself, an incorrect or under-torqued clamping bolt holds the coupling to the steering column. A bolt that is not tight enough can allow the coupling to separate from the column outright, or on higher-mileage vehicles, wear the splines to the point where the coupling spins freely without transmitting any steering motion to the wheels. Both failure paths lead to the same outcome: the steering wheel turns but the front wheels do not respond.