Ok here goes the whole story. A 1993 DX coupe. 100% stock, down to the 13" tires. NO POWER STEERING.

This is a friend's car. She has been complaining of a stiff (excessive) steering effort and poor returnability for that last little while. Recently, we have changed front shocks, springs (old ones were cracked), one upper and one lower balljoint. The car has been aligned. Still very stiff to turn and the wheel does not comback. With car on the lift (off the ground) everything turns normally, no binding in the balljoints, tie rods, or axles. Yes, air pressure is good. I evenn chcked the balljoints with the knuckle disconnected from the rack, and load placed on the suspension.

Here is the strange thing, if the car has been in the air for a while (couple of hours) the steering will then be fine for about half a day, the progressivly get worse again.

Yesterday, I finally lost my mind and changed the rack...took the car for a test drive....everything was beautiful, but later that day when I left for home, the stiffness and poor returnability were coming back. I admit the car needs to be aligned because of the rack swap, but still. Also, the alignment before the rack swap showed everything in spec.


recap: stiff steering, no returnability, ball joints, axles, tie rods checked (or replaced), steering rack replaced. same problem.


If anyone has any ideas.....please help

 

Wow, it sounds as if you have done all that needed to be done that I can think of. Call it a hunch, but maybe the tire pressure is low?

 

yeah tire pressure has been checked repeatedly.....32 psi constant