Steering problem

[entirelyturbo]

Now I can tell this car is really getting old.

Starting last week, I was having a bit of a clunk in the front end. There wasn't any real pattern to it, just a light clunk that could happen when I took off from a stop, forward or reverse, could happen over bumps, could happen when I just turned the steering wheel (big hint )

Then last Friday, I'm heading to work taking a somewhat bumpy right turn, and the clunking begins and it's very frequent and my steering wheel is shaking loosely. After that, the steering felt different. The main thing is that there seemed to be more slack between dead center and left than there was between dead center and right. Plus, dead center would have some shaking in it while going highway speeds. It's gotten worse to the point where I can just turn the wheel back and forth and the clunk will occur everytime I switch direction.

It's still not a loud clunk, but it's audible with the radio off, and it coincides with the shaking in the steering wheel.

My tie-rod ends are brand new, so that can't be it. That leaves me with two possibilities: 1) the inner tie-rod(s) are ready to pop out of their sockets, or 2) my steering rack is coming apart internally.

What do you guys think? I haven't even been under the car to check things out yet, but I will soon as I realize it's not really safe.

[Manarius]

CV Joints. Check your boots, I bet one or more are broken.

[entirelyturbo]

Nope, my left axle is brand new, and my right one is still good.

Besides, that wouldn't cause a direct change in steering feel.

[All_talk]

It could be the rack or inner rod ends, but you should check the ball joints, struts and strut top bearings too, and wheel bearings too. Just about any wear in the front end can give a clunk or high speed vibe in the steering.

Gary

[entirelyturbo]

Left ball joint is brand-new, right one is only a few years old. Strut mounts seemed fine when I replaced the struts, although I guess it could be the bearings inside those.

And remember, I just went through the whole fiasco of replacing all 4 wheel bearings.

[professor]

my inner tie rod ends were much worse than the outers, and accounted for the majority of steering slack. In addition, my rack itself showed wear and would creak a bit which was easily audible at low speeds. it drove me nuts cuz I thought it was my new sway bar bushings but it wasn't

I could grab the wheels when jacked up and see movement of the tie rods when pulling the wheel in and out

I relaced the rack for less than the cost of tie rod ends and boots = highly recommended, the feel is much, much better

now I just need a decent steering wheel where the padding is actually attached to the metal core

[entirelyturbo]

I relaced the rack for less than the cost of tie rod ends and boots = highly recommended, the feel is much, much better.

Can I assume you meant replaced?

If so, how did you get one so cheap?

[professor]

I posted on car-part.com and searched for legacy GT racks, then contacted a dozen or so yards to make sure it was a GT rack they had, and low mileage, and lowballed a price. I settled on $125 shipped but they over-charged me, then refunded TOO MUCH money so I ended up paying just over $75

the rack only had 37k miles on it, and looked pretty fresh

I think $125 shipped is just fine and a hell of a lot easier than putting new tie rods and boots on a worn old rack, plus its easy to put on new rack bushings with the whole thing in your hands

its a 2 hour job and I bet I could do it in one hour now

[Legacy777]

I put new boots and tie rods on my old rack. It wasn't super difficult, but wasn't super easy either. Big thing you need to keep in mind when doing it is keeping dirt out of the rack.

[entirelyturbo]

Well, I actually did some investigating to find it's not related to the steering system at all.

I had an assistant turn my steering wheel while I watched the strut. The bottom of the spring turned with the strut, but the top of the spring kind of lagged behind it. When it couldn't turn anymore, the top of the spring would jerk inside the strut mount and that was the noise I was hearing.

So that seems to be the strut mount bearings, trying not to turn I guess.

Yay, I need ANOTHER strut mount

Better than a new rack I guess...