Ok, the car is a 96 civic ex. Normally the steering is pretty loose in the car. I have power steering. The only thing is, when the steering feels like that, my turn signals don't turn off on their own when I cut the wheel back straight. But every once and a while, the steering becomes kind of tight, the turn signals do turn off when I cut the wheel straight, and there is a knocking if you cut the wheel back and forth quickly.

My front end is tight, no tie rod/rack play etc. I have no clue what could be wrong with it, as I have never had this problem on a car before.

 

bump, put a new sector shaft on yesterday, but that didn't fix anything

 

Sector shaft? do you have a steering box?

Hmm sounds like your intermediate shaft is binding. its what connects the steering shaft to the rack assy. Also if you feel like there is no power assistance turning, then check your pump could be going bad.