-2013 XC60 T6 AWD with about 80,000 miles. Car has been great so far.

-I regularly have work travel that takes me on 4-hour road trips. After getting off the highway after a long drive, the steering seems “stiff,“ and stiff in the way that a 4WD vehicle feels when it’s locked in 4WD and you try to drive it on the pavement, and make a turn - like the wheels can’t rotate differentially the way they need to in a turn, so one scrubs or skids a bit, which is why you don’t want to drive a 4WD drive locked in 4WD on the pavement so much. So it feels like that.

-I don’t get that feeling after just driving around town or short highway trips, and it does ”loosen up” after I make a couple of significant turns once my long highway driving is over, but the issue returns again the next time I make a long highway drive.
-Thoughts/advice/suggestions/diagnosis?

Thanks.

 

Check your inner tie rods.

 

Ok; I’ll have to have that done, as I don’t consider myself competent to do that - but I’ll get it checked. I saw a post someplace suggesting it could be something as simple as a universal joint in the steering column that needs some lubricant; if anyone has had that experience or has a suggestion regarding that, I’d like to hear about it. I had taken it to the dealer for a big service and told them it was an issue, but they claimed they found no issues.

 

​​​​​​If you tell the dealer it's an intermittent issue, they'll never find it. Trust me. Intermittents don't make money.

I suppose you could try lubricant on the universal joints both under the hood near the firewall, and under the dash.

You'll need a long mirror on a stick, a long straw, and some liquid white lithium grease (or something like it) to get the exterior universal joint.

Under the dash, you'll need:

- kneeling pad, ratchet, t-25 torx socket or bit, your grease of choice, small pocket screwdriver, and a bigger screwdriver for prying.

These items will be required to remove the bolster for access to the steering shaft and universal joint.