My 1999 Civic has slight play in the steering wheel. As in, when the car is at rest and off, when you turn the steering wheel slightly, there's some play before the tires turn. All tie rods, ball joints and wheel bearing are good and new (2019) . My question is, is there a replaceable bushing on the column under the dash? Where do these wear out mostly? I'm confident it's in the column and not the rack. No vibrations or noises. It's just a bit of play in the steering wheel.
I'm thinking it could be #4 in this diagram

 

Start here:

 

Muellersfan to the rescue again! In step 1 where it says "loosen the rack guide screw locknut with the special tool". I'm assuming it's the 07916-SA50001 Honda special wrench. Looking over another thread on this topic, I noticed the OP mentioning problems at freeway speeds. My steering is perfect otherwise.(no noises, vibrations, clunking, etc). It's just this slight play from left to right before the wheels actually turn. (car off, on level surface). This is why I was thinking maybe it being something worn in the column (bushing, knuckle, joint). I'm going to check both areas out. I'm gonna check the column first then the rack adjustment next, since I'll need to buy the Special Honda wrench.

 

@muellersfan. Hope you're still out there, lol. I performed this adjustment. Then, almost shortly there after, I had a steering rack leak. A pretty big one. Lost all my fluid over a few days time. Does loosening this adjustment nut allow fluid to bypass and leak out the rack ends (thus leaking into the tie rod boots)? I just find it strange that I have a leak now. Could merely be a coincidence. It's a tired car.
Then, would tightening up this adjustment nut, maybe a bit more snug than recommended, seal up any leaks that may have been caused by it being too loose?
I'm at the point where I carry Lucas Power Steering Stop Leak in my trunk and put a bit in every day. Maybe eventually it'll "seal" it up enough to stop or slow the leak. I'm just trying to get away without replacing the rack

 

Once you make the adjustments you're suppose to tighten it back up.

 

My understanding, per the Haynes manual, is to:
Loosen the rack lock nut with special tool
Loosen rack guide/adjustment nut, then tighten it
Loosen rack guide adjustment nut
While holding lock nut w/ special tool, tighten adjustment nut and torgue to 2.9ft lbs.

You don't tighten the adjustment nut (14mm?) fully, only to 2.9ft lbs, but you do, and I did, fully tighten the lock nut with the Honda special tool. Sounds correct?

 

Kinda strange. So, I adjusted the rack per the diagram listed above from @muellersfan .shortly thereafter, my rack started leaking quite heavily actually from the driver side inner tie rod area. Don't know why. Coincidence? Maybe. But I've put almost 2 bottles of Lucas stop leak in the reservoir and it still leaks. The adjustment nut is tight. Likely torqued more that the specified amount. And the lock nut is tight. Could not adjusting it correctly the first time around have lead to a perminant leak somehow?

Worth noting : my car is in need of an alignment. I recently had the outer tie rods off to perform some work and only realigned it using the string method. So, could a poorly aligned front end cause excessive strain on the inner tie rods and thus creating a leak at the rack seal?

 

Fluid that is not Honda or rated for Honda will cause leaks. Get all that stop leak out, Replace rack, fill with correct fluid and get the car aligned then go from there.

Power steering must be tested with the engine running. It is normal to have play in the rack with the pump not running. Also, turning the wheel a lot with the engine off can displace the fluid and overflow the reservoir.

Trouble with the parts inside the car is rare but they are easily inspected after taking the cover off. The shaft coming through the floor of the car is directly attached to the rack.

 

I definitely plan on replacing the rack. I'll be sure to replace fluid with Genuine Honda PS fluid.
I've also verified all parts inside the car on the steering column are good.