Damaged Steering Rack?

[Anthraxnz]

Heres the story.

Drove the car to work and back with no problems.
Get in it in the morning to go get some new tyres and the steering wheel is about 10 degrees of center to the right.

I have no idea what has happened, but i know i haven't hit any curbs or anything of that nature.

Has the wheel alignment gone out all of a sudden or has the steering rack or a component of the rack failed?

When you go down the motorway at 100km\h and wiggle the steering wheel left to right it feels like one of the wheels might be pointing a couple of degree off.

Also when i brake heavily the steering wheel straightens up.

Any ideas?

Thanks

[jas98]

i had teh same problem however i could turn the steering wheel round and round (with a bit of force)

my problem was that the steering shaft was stuffed....there is a keyway type thing in it just before it enters the fire wall in teh engine bay that had come out.

ill c if i can get a pic....but im not sure it would be the same as your problem though but i guess it wont hurt to check

[jas98]

a couple pics..second one is the steering shaft in teh car first one is shaft that came out of me old VN that was stuffed/dangerous

pics are a bit dodgy but u should be able to see what im talking about

[Anthraxnz]

sweet ill have a look tomorrow.

the cars done 334000kms so i wouldn't be surprised

[jas98]

sweet ill have a look tomorrow.

the cars done 334000kms so i wouldn't be surprised

lol mine had 335 000 when it did it

[Anthraxnz]

i scanned this from my workshop manual.


is the circled part the correct part that could be causing the problem?

[jas98]

yeh thats the part im talking about

however i would also check all front end rubbers and ball joints for wear aswell

[Anthraxnz]

ill give the ball joints a look, i've relpaced all the bushes on the front end not too long ago

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Try swapping the tyres over left to right on the front.

Quite often the belts in the tyres aren't perfectly wound and one could be a bit looser than the other. Nothing to worry about, but it will cause the steering to be different.

[PaRaDoX]

could be a rackend, i had the rack ends go on my vp, nasty when it happens, most likely helped my brakes be even more in efficient... luckily the 4wd was there to help me stop =(

[Anthraxnz]

one tyre has 5mm of tread and the other has about 2mm.

could this be the cause? its been like that for a while but maybe its gone out of alignment and the tread is less now.

i got new tyres on the back so ill rotate them and get a wheel alignment.

[wildss]

i just went through this in my xr8, i changed the rack and the play was still there so i checked the shaft and $300 later problem solved.

grab the shaft from opposite ends of the uni joint and see if theres any play in it.

with mine the pin that holds the 2 ends in place had worn a bigger hole causing the play.
i had a godo look at it and it can be welded up cos it has no relevance to the uni itself, maybe you can do the same

[VTCommoDude]

My steering wheel is making a grinding noise when I turn also, but there are absolutely no leaks at all. Could it be this also, or would there be oil leaks?

Which end is the steering wheel end? I am guessing the 'upper bearing housing' end?

[wildss]

that sound slike a bearing in your stering column

[randomhero365]

I have the exact same problem with my berlina.
Except I've been told I have to replace the whole steering rack.
Because I went in to get the rods etc. replaced and the mechanic said it needs a whole new rack.