Sloppy / Loose Steering -- All of a sudden
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From: Midwest, USA
Sloppy / Loose Steering -- All of a sudden
I hope someone has suggestions for my problem, because I'm out of ideas. I was first in line at a red light to turn left, and when it turned green, I accelerated through the turn in an "aggressive" fashion. It is definitely something I've done in the past, and was far from wreckless.
Directly after, I noticed that my steering had gotten very sloppy and unresponsive. Also, when my car was at rest, the steering wheel had a lot of "play" in it. This has never been the case since it doesn't have power steering.
I can still definitely drive the car without any troubles, but when I swerve back and forth while moving, I feel like it would be very easy to loose control of the car because of how much it sways back and forth. This was NEVER an issue before. It's a CRX w/ KYB AGX shocks, springs which lower it by about 1.25", stock Si wheels, and a decent set of all-season tires. I believe I replaced the tie rods 3 years (20,000 miles) ago. It has about 144,000 miles on it. It's always handled like a dream up until last night when I made that turn.
Today I lifted the car in the air to hoping to find something obvious. Here's what I tried:
- With the vehicle off the ground but the tires still on, I turned the wheel all the way to one side. I jammed a 2x4 between the wheel and the wheel well to immobilize it. Next, I had someone wiggle the steering wheel back and forth, while I observed the joints in the tie rods. While it is difficult to tell for sure, I felt that everything seemed firm. I did this for both sides, and also tried it with the vehicle on the ground.
- The upper & lower ball joints appear to be in good condition
- Tires are properly inflated.
- I performed a Steering Gearbox Adjustment as per my factory service manual and it did not seem to make a difference at all.
- The sway bar joints seemed good. I tapped both sides with a hammer and it appeared to be quite firm.
It's important to remember that this happened all of a sudden, after that aggressive left turn. I'm running out of ideas at this point, and would greatly appreciate any suggestions.
Directly after, I noticed that my steering had gotten very sloppy and unresponsive. Also, when my car was at rest, the steering wheel had a lot of "play" in it. This has never been the case since it doesn't have power steering.
I can still definitely drive the car without any troubles, but when I swerve back and forth while moving, I feel like it would be very easy to loose control of the car because of how much it sways back and forth. This was NEVER an issue before. It's a CRX w/ KYB AGX shocks, springs which lower it by about 1.25", stock Si wheels, and a decent set of all-season tires. I believe I replaced the tie rods 3 years (20,000 miles) ago. It has about 144,000 miles on it. It's always handled like a dream up until last night when I made that turn.
Today I lifted the car in the air to hoping to find something obvious. Here's what I tried:
- With the vehicle off the ground but the tires still on, I turned the wheel all the way to one side. I jammed a 2x4 between the wheel and the wheel well to immobilize it. Next, I had someone wiggle the steering wheel back and forth, while I observed the joints in the tie rods. While it is difficult to tell for sure, I felt that everything seemed firm. I did this for both sides, and also tried it with the vehicle on the ground.
- The upper & lower ball joints appear to be in good condition
- Tires are properly inflated.
- I performed a Steering Gearbox Adjustment as per my factory service manual and it did not seem to make a difference at all.
- The sway bar joints seemed good. I tapped both sides with a hammer and it appeared to be quite firm.
It's important to remember that this happened all of a sudden, after that aggressive left turn. I'm running out of ideas at this point, and would greatly appreciate any suggestions.
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Ventolin
Honda Civic / Del Sol (1992 - 2000)
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May 14, 2008 11:45 AM
