Steering or front suspension problem on an Integra
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Sometimes when i am driving over uneven surface, the steering wheel would move left-right by itself depending on the surface

I drive on this highway every day and there is a spot where the road is slightly curved and turning left, and there is a soft bump on that curve. As i go over it at 65 the front end and the steering feels really scary as if I am going to lose control of the car.
(but ofcourse if the road is straight, then the car will absorb any bump without any problem at highway speeds)

Its hard to explain, but it feels like as if i am getting toooooo much feedback from the steering wheel (in a bad way ofcourse).
If i drive over a little stone I will probabaly feel the stone through the steering wheel and may hear some sound too.

This also happens when i am pulling out the driveway to get on the road, as there is uneven surface between the actual road and the surface of the driveway.

I have failrly new outtierods and LBJs

Modified by eflankers at 10:20 AM 7/20/2005


Modified by eflankers at 4:37 PM 7/25/2005

 

i replaced my rack end steering bushing recently and all those problems you just described went away. $10 piece from honda.

 

ooh cool , how hard was it to replace?

 

bump for this info. which bushing did you replace?

 

#10.

its not too difficult to replace. you might need an extra #22, lock tab washer.

you disassemble the outer and inner tie rod. take off the boot. if the hose clamp is too rusted to be reused, just pry it off and use a zip tie later. to take off the inner tie rod, you can get by without undoing the lock washer. i just use an adjustable crescent wrench (6") and just wrench off the inner tie rod and destroy the washer. or you can try to bend the tabs back and maybe reuse it. it helps if you have whats called a crows feet to get a good angle.

then you have to pry the sucker out. turn the steering wheel all the way to the RIGHT. use pliers, awls, picks, whatever you got to pull that sucker out. once its out, then grease up the rack and push the new bushing in. its just as hard to insert it as it is to pull it out. good luck. a good hardened pick really helps.

another tip is to unbolt all 4 bolts to the steering back to get more room to maneuver.

the EASIEST way to replace the bushing is to take the whole rack out, take out the pinion, and remove the inner rack and then the bushing is amazingly easy to get in and out. but then you gotta take everything out first and might as well replace the pinion bearing and seal...

then reassemble the tie rods and adjust by eye. take a drive and adjust the steering until its straight again, or at least where it was before. as long as you just work on one side at a time, you can maintain a reference.

good luck.

 

thanks great info.

Do you know where are we supposed to tighten the adjustment bolt on the steering rack?

Someone told me to tighten that bolt it may be lose. If that doesnt help i will replace the bushing

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by eflankers &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thanks great info.

Do you know where are we supposed to tighten the adjustment bolt on the steering rack?

Someone told me to tighten that bolt it may be lose. If that doesnt help i will replace the bushing</TD></TR></TABLE>

http://www.honda.co.uk/owner/C...4.pdf
http://www.honda.co.uk/owner/C...6.pdf

probably both ends need adjustment/replacement. i still need to adjust my rack even after i repalced the end bushing. the clunk is now on the driver side. but replacing the end bushing alone made a tremendous difference in ride quality.

you also need to check your other balljoints. there is an inner tie rod that can go bad as well.

 

Nice info, probably just saved me a ton of time and money.

I was going to start a new thread (and don't mean to hijack this one) about an '89 Prelude I just bought which exhibits similar steering/suspension symptoms as the the Integra in this thread.

I know I need to get new tie-rod ends, but I was also thinking the steering rack may need to be replaced. I didn't know the bushings could be the cause of the sounds and loose feel of the steering wheel.

 

Hey Tyson,

I took the car to the shop and we lifted it

what we found out was that we were able to move the passeger side tire back and forth (in and out). Driver side was ok and not as bad as pass
The way it moves, it feels as if the outer tie rods are bad, but obviously they are new.

http://www.mplounge.com/rack.GIF
here is a pic, the big arrow indicates the direction of back and forth movement


is this a good sign of bad bushing? or could it be the inner tie rod

If i am not sure then i will probably replace the inner tie rod and the busing.
ALso - if i replace the inner tie rods it will probabaly have to be both sides
Most of your info i found is about passenger side, so how difficult will it be to replace driver side inner tie rod?


Modified by eflankers at 2:12 PM 7/25/2005

 

i dont see the bushing part here


and this is one of best websites for acura parts

same thing on another website
http://www.acuraparts247.com/s...ch=no

90 Integra RS Auto

I assume Inner tir tod is part #10 and i should order 2 of them?
help me find the bushing that will fit in this car

I am confunsed if i should replace both inner rods and bushing or just the bushing


Modified by eflankers at 3:03 PM 7/25/2005

 

wow, the integra steering rack is much more complicated than the crx unit.

look under ps gear box components.
http://www.acuraparts247.com/s...ch=no


i *THINK* #19 is the same thing as the rack end bushing. but theres a lot more going on in this steering rack i cant tell for sure. looks like theres a spring next to it. but theres also a bushing #20. im really not sure how it all assembles. maybe just get both and rebuild it completely yourself.

you should replace the inner tie rods only if the balljoint is bad. you should be able to isolate the clunk and diagnose the real source of the problem. most likely the rack end bushing needs to be replaced, but the balljoints might still be good. youll definately need a friend to hel pyou diagnose the problem. one person shaking the steering wheel or wheel itself (off the ground), the other person feeling around.

 

http://www.mplounge.com/rack.GIF
if you look at this pic you will see there are 2 bushings, A and B

I want to do it the easy way for now as i cant spend too much on this thing.

I dont think it will be easy to replace the bushing B since it is deep inside.

The best bet it to probabaly just replace bushing A as i cannot afford to take the rack out.. (problem is i am planning to sell my car in sept, so i just need a quick fix)

and you are right about #19
when i shake the pass. side wheel the movement is in-and-out

 

yeah. like i said, not sure about the DA powered steering rack. its much more complicated than the EF manual rack. do whatever you feel necessary.

i certainly cant diagnose your problems over the internet and looking at a diagram. you really need to just get under there and start pushing and pulling things to feel where the play is coming from.

 

we removed the Rack guide screw

put it back in - tightened it a little and the lock nut

Now its good, no more vibrations... LOLZzzz


no 6 and 3 in the pic
At first we tightend it too much and the steering became tooooo tight and sucked while driving, now fixed it though


O boy! was almost about to replace the inner tie rods and the rack! good thing it was just the Rack-Guide Screw!

 

good to hear. i still have to tighten my rack screw guide as well even after i replaced my rack end bushing. both my bots were torn. caused a lot of havoc on both ends of the rack.

 

hrm i might have to try this

 

i tightened my gear box this weekend. and yes, this made the "perfect" steering feeling complete. replacing the rack end bushing still providing a much more improved feeling, but tightening up the gear box made the whole fix complete. (also replaced the torn boots) for $10 for just the bushing and adjusting the gear box which is totally free, very much worth it. everyone should try at least tightening the gear box.

like said before, just dont overtighten. but youll figure that out on your own. i had to adjust a few times to get it "just right".