Anyone have an idea what is wrong with my steering? Here it goes. I start off with my steering wheel in the center position. If I make a right hand turn, my steering wheel no longer comes back to the center...it'll be turned to the right slightly. If I make a left hand turn, it'll be turned to the left. I'm lost. Is this bushing related? She's just turned 12 years old.

 

More information please...

After turning a corner, it doesn't center itself all the way? Then you have to turn the wheel back to center otherwise you're driving off the road? For this I'd get an alignment, then maybe look at whether there's excessive friction in the steering column or the steering rack.

If it's just LOOSE, that can be bushings, ball joints, or steering tie-rod ball joints. Gotta get in there & find where the looseness is located. Then you can deal with it.

 

The steering wheel returns, but it will not centered anymore. It'll be slightly turned in which direction I turned. If I make almost the same amount of turns each way, my steering wheel will be almost centered. If I make more turns in another direction, my steering wheel will be in the direction I turned most. Gonna try an alignment to see if anything pops up.

 

If you have ramps & wanna get dirty, put the car up on the ramps. Make sure it's solid.

Have someone get in & turn the steering wheel back & forth. Not enough to actually steer the wheels much, but enough to take up the flexibility in the steering gear, bushings, & ball joints.

Make sure the car's supported real good & get underneath & watch the motion. You're looking for something that moves without springing back completely.

If you don't want to do that, make sure you tell the alignment place to look for something like a loose bushing or balljoint. Sometimes you don't notice that stuff if you're not actually looking for it.

 

Time to bust out the Helms or else 500 bucks. I need a new rack and pinion. It was confirmed after an alignment.