VTEC-LUDE

Hi..

Some of you may remember one of my posts a while back relating to the above. I was having issues with the tracking on my car and the wheels where screeching round corners at low speeds. The offside front brake would also lock up first.

THe following work has now been undertaken;

Offside front Caliper replaced (was siezed)
New Brake pads all round
Brand new Front tyres- Good Year Eagle F1
The tracking has been aligned AGAIN!

When I got the tracking done the guy said it was toeing in 19mm! He said that he couldnt get the tracking bang on as there wa not enough thread left to adjust it further... he reckoned the track rod end needed taking out and more thread would be available...

The problem is he said the car is still toing in 4mm, I'm a little confused as before i took it in the steering was off to the left at a 90 degree angle... now it is off to the right but to around 45 degree angle. Surely this shouldnt be the case unless the tracking has been overadjusted?

Adding to the problems, I noticed that my right indicator stalk (im not sure if you have the indicator on the right in the USA?) is right at the top of its allocated area... basically its as if the steering column is misaligned? As the indicator is too high than it normally should be and is fouling the plastics....

To investigate this further I put the steering lock on. When moving the wheel with the steering lock on I noticed that there was a clickin sound... as if something was lose?

I am by know means an expert on any of the above and I have come here, in hope that someone will know more than I about the above.

My thoughts are that maybe the steering column/rack is lose and that the people at the tracking place adjusted the tracking when the colum/rack was out of line, thereby making it even more out of line thatn it should be and reaching the end of the thread?

I believe that the tracking was bang on to start with and the loose rack/colmumn made the car seem as if the tracking was off. Initially when I had the problem the the steering would suddenly go back into place... both youseves and myself thought that this was the caliper becoming unstuck but obviously that has now been changed with no effect. I believe that this could have been the steering column moving?

THe trouble is I have spent so much money on reapsirs no i cannot afford to have a garage look at it, I really need your expertise. If there is anything else you require to know please do not hesitate to ask and i will reply as soon as possible.

Thanks in advance,

Mike

instructor74

It really sounds like the shop did not center the steering wheel before starting the alignment. Unless you have a bad rack assy that could be possible. Do you have another shop in the area that can check the alignment for you?

VTEC-LUDE

... after hearing your opinion I went out to investigate further. I think you may well be right... I suspect that there is a problem with the steering column splines or something that enables the wheel to move out of place?

...This would explain why the tracking is so far out- the garage conducting the alignment must have incorrectly presumed that when the steering wheel was straight, so where the wheels. They must have adjusted the tracking when the wheel was straight.. not realising that they where making the tracking even further out if that makes sense?

My question is now identifying what is making this happen? I was thinking of getting the tracking aligned correctly again, takeing the steering wheel off and adjusting it so that it is in lign with the wheels! But this will not possibly rectify the problem and it may move back? any ideas what could be causing this?

Thanks so much for you help

MasterKwan

There's a coil of wire in the steering column for the airbag and the horn. Just make sure you don't get the alignment of the steering wheel so far off that you snap that coil of wire. You should be able to look at the tie rods and see how much thread is on both sides and tell if that's the problen. You dont have to take the steering wheel off to adjust it, there's a coupler near the floor which can be detached, then you adjust the wheel, then re-attach it to center the alignment parts up.

I'd read the shop manual about the steering wheel alignment and the cable reel.

VTEC-LUDE

I've taken the steering wheel of and everything is fine now.. the steering wheel is aligned spot on. No ideas what this could be. Is there anything further down the steering system that could be slipping and causing the above problems?