sprtbiker

Have a 94 Civic 160K. Lately after driving for 20 min, my steering wheel starts jerking to the right and if I let go of the steering wheel, the car wants to drift to the right. Usually happens when I either engage my clutch of let go of the gas. Problem goes away if I apply gas. Problem only shows up after driving for 15 min+. Any ideas what it could be?

History: I checked my lug nuts and none were loose, CV joints have been replace in the last 3 years (there is no clicking sound when I turn), shocks and springs are all stock. Tires are 1 yr old....had 1 tire replaced cause they was some chopping on the threads. Tires were rotated and balanced.

Dilly

alignment? just a thought.

philosofy1

sounds like tires. especially that there is one newer one out of the four. although they are only a year doesn't mean they don't need to be replaced. wonder how many miles you have on them?

if it was an alignment, it will pull all the time. not after you drive for 15-20 min.

EL Vap133

Either get the tires balanced or get new tires. But then again, if you need new tires then something is wrong that caused them to get that way.

Dilly

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by philosofy1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if it was an alignment, it will pull all the time. not after you drive for 15-20 min. </TD></TR></TABLE>

oh good point

boostedcivicsir

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sprtbiker &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Have a 94 Civic 160K. Lately after driving for 20 min, my steering wheel starts jerking to the right and if I let go of the steering wheel, the car wants to drift to the right. Usually happens when I either engage my clutch of let go of the gas. Problem goes away if I apply gas. Problem only shows up after driving for 15 min+. Any ideas what it could be?

History: I checked my lug nuts and none were loose, CV joints have been replace in the last 3 years (there is no clicking sound when I turn), shocks and springs are all stock. Tires are 1 yr old....had 1 tire replaced cause they was some chopping on the threads. Tires were rotated and balanced. </TD></TR></TABLE>

you probably have a seized caliper. or slide pin. check your calipers. as the rotor gets hot it warps, that gives you the shimmy, the pull is caused by drag on the one side of the car being braked(if thats a word) and the other not. kinda like driving a tank. apply power to one side and not the other to turn.

thacivicguy

alignment

boostedcivicsir

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by thacivicguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">alignment</TD></TR></TABLE>

maybe but how can an alignment issue come and go?

sprtbiker

The calipers may sounds like an option. I was thinking alignment but I agree that I should be having the issue all the time not once the car warms up.

The tires probably have 10-15K miles on them and have plenty of thread left. I looked up reviews on the tires and there are some issues with blow out but not driving problems.

boostedcivicsir

put the front up in the air, wheels off the ground and spin em, then do the same for the back. if one is hung up, that will cause it.

instructor74

put the car up on jack stands ( use the frame pinch welds) you must have the suspension off the ground and unloaded. check all the front lower bushings at the sub frame connection point I would be willing to bet that you have on that is almost completely worn away. It is on of the few things that I have found that will cause the lane change problem you are having.

94eg!

iTrader: (2)

The frozen/stuck caliper sounds most logical. I would definently check into that ASAP...

I recently had my car off the ground, and noticed that both front wheels didn't spin very free. They would only make about a half a turn if I spun the wheels by hand. Upon further inspection, I noticed my brake pedal height was adjusted improperly. When the pedal was out all the way, it still had slight pressure on the master cylinder. I can't imagine what this was doing to my front pads.

The helms says there should be about 1mm of free play in the pedal before brake pressure starts to build. By simply un-pluging & backing out the brake light switch a few turns, I was able to add just the right amount of free play. Now all 4 tires spin quite nicely (about 1.5 turns to stop). I may have to adjust my parking brake lever now...

WOW, I just went off on a tangent... Sorry...

If your tires are the problem, then rotating them will make some sort of difference. Give yourself a cross rotation (if you don't have directional tires) & see if that makes a difference in your problem...

sprtbiker

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. ....you guys are fast. I just posted this a few hours ago. I will check out the car tonight and let you know. I am not currently driving it. Don't know how serious this issue is.

sprtbiker

I jacked the car up and spined both front tires and they seemed fine. They spun freely. I tried to see if there was play in the tire due to bad bearing but everything checked fine. Visibly checked rotor and seems ok.

I drove yesterday on the highway....never used my brake and after 10 min of driving (constant speed), everytime i remove my foot off the gas, the steering would start vibrating. Braking did not help. The strange thing was that when i pulled over and started driving again...the problem went away till i drove for a few more minutes. I checked the steering tie rods and beside a tear in the boot on the drivers side, both sides checked fine. I am replacing the drivers side end tie rod. Ended up messing up the threads while uninstalling.

Any suggestions?

philosofy1

how bad did you mess up the threads, you might be able to rethread it. also, did you check motor mounts, mounts can cause this problem when they first break.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sprtbiker &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
The tires probably have 10-15K miles on them and have plenty of thread left. I looked up reviews on the tires and there are some issues with blow out but not driving problems. </TD></TR></TABLE>

just because they have had situations w/blow out's doesn't mean they have vibration problems. you might have a bubble in the tire. small enough to where when you drive slow it's not noticable but at a higher speed that's when you feel it.

sprtbiker

I rotated and balanced the tires and problem presists. They did give me a new tire so last night i moved it to the front right (passenger). Going to try to rule out the tire being the root cause.

philosofy1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sprtbiker &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I rotated and balanced the tires and problem presists. They did give me a new tire so last night i moved it to the front right (passenger). Going to try to rule out the tire being the root cause. </TD></TR></TABLE>

double check motor mounts as well. remember, when your giving gas the engine is moving. the more gas you give the more it moves. if the mounts have a crack or tear, then the movement of the engine is stronger and your going to feel it.

94eg!

iTrader: (2)

If you have a manual steering gearbox, it may be a bad "rack end bushing". Usually if the passengers side bellows boot gets torn, dust wears out this plastic bushing really quickly. I had vibration under braking from this exact problem.

To check for a bad rack end bushing (#10):
- Jack the front of the car & place on jackstands
- Turn the steering wheel all the way to the left
- If torn, push back the passengers side steering gearbox bellows boot (#22)
- Grab the steering rack (#9) w/ one hand
- Grab the steering gearbox (#2) with the other hand
- Wiggle the steering rack (#9) really hard (in all different directions)
- If you feel play, then you have a bad rack end bushing (#10).
- Replace rack end bushing (#10) in this picture (click here for instructions):

sprtbiker

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94eg! &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you have a manual steering gearbox, it may be a bad "rack end bushing". Usually if the passengers side bellows boot gets torn, dust wears out this plastic bushing really quickly. I had vibration under braking from this exact problem.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks for the info and pictures. I tried that out and it didn't seem to be loose. The problem might have to do with something with the steering. I just don't understand why it occurs only when the car has been driving for a while...so it must be heat related.




Modified by sprtbiker at 8:11 AM 7/24/2006

sprtbiker

Any other suggestions?