Hello I m experiencing loose/sloppy steering with my car. so basically the symptoms are
1) Excessive play with the steering (about 2" counter clockwise, not so bad in the opposite direction)
2) bump steer (I need to hold the steering tight when going thru bump).
3) the steering wheel feel loose at both low and high speed
My mechanic looked at the tie rods (both inner and outer) and he said they look fine and tight.

any idea where else I should look at?

Car is a 91 civic si on lowering springs/AGX shocks.

Thank you

 

i dont trust a mechanic that just says your tie rods are fine and you still have sloppy steering. and he didnt bother to check anything else. the process is simple, get underneath and start shaking things. these are the possible things:

loose lugnuts

tie rods, inner and outer.

steering rack end bushing.

steering pinion adjustment.

steering column pinch bolt.

steering wheel nut.


anyone of these is a likely culprit.

 

thanks. will look into the above

 

Hi Tyson
so my mechanic tightened the 40mm bolt on the steering rack. Now the steering feels tighter, however, it doesn't really return to the original position after making a turn.
Eg., typically speaking if I make a right turn the steering wheel should slowly return to the original position when I let go of the wheel, but it doesn't really do it now...…..I have to turn the wheel back to the original position (pointing straight)….

Any idea?
Thanks

 

Your steering rack was previously adjusted correctly, and now your mechanic has overtightened it.

Check the bolts in the uni joint on the interior side of the firewall that connects the steering column to the pinion on the steering rack. Remove the covers and wiggle the steering wheel, you'll see if they're too loose because the steering shaft will move, but the steering box pinion will not.

 

its too tight. its a very sensitive adjustment, really need to road test it until its right. takes me several tries going back and forth between jacking up the car, adjusting, test driving, and trying again.

also, i want to stress that the most likely thing to be maintained is the rack end bushing. it is a plastic bushing at the passenger end of the steering rack. this is the most important, likely to be needed to be replaced, component. its $11 from dealer (only!) and is 80% of the steering feel of the car, apart from completely worn out ball joints or loose bolts.

youre probably better off doing it yourself. its mostly labor. and dont think youll be saving time by NOT removing the rack completely. its just a lot easier to take it out and replace and put it all back together correctly outside of the car. the rack itself is not hard to remove and reinstall.

you will of course need another alignment after that.

 

Thanks for the pointers, will look into it

 

Hi Tyson
Thanks for the inputs.
So this is the end bushing you were talking about, correct? Thanks again

 

correct.

 

thanks Tyson

By the way given the lack of space and skillset to work on it myself, I figured it might be more cost effective to have my mechanic to replace the entire rack and pinion with a new one.
Question is, can a steering rack for CRX Si (88-91) fit my civic si ?

Thanks again

 

yes. Si's are the same, variable rate. but manual DX/hf are not the same, still interchangeable. powered racks from sedans are not.

but its just as easy and more cost effective to replace an $11 bushing. takes about the same labor to replace the whole rack.

im aware there are cheap manual rack from ebay sellers. i dont trust the quality of inner tie rods that come pre-installed.

 

cool thanks, will keep that in mind