89 Civic Si:

I believe I have tracked down a rattling sound when I go over small bumps to the steering rack. Its not in the suspension, I'm certain. The entire suspension has been off the car and rebuilt using new bushings. This noise existed both before and after the rebuild. It also shows itself as a clunking through the steering wheel when the car is at rest and on the ground.

I removed the boot from the right side of the steering box and the rack itself can be moved up and down noticeably. There's at least 1/16" clearance in the vertical direction. All the tie-rods ends are solid, though. The only thing I can see that could possibly cause this is wear on the internal bushing that the rack itself slides on inside the pinion housing.

Anybody else ever see this? Common issue? Should there be much play in this bushing?

Fixing it looks to be a complete remove and rebuild of the rack. Not fun.

--Andy

 

Andy, it's got to be those big sticky front tires causing the problem. I think if you permanently go back to some 155/70-R13 tires of at least 500 treadwear rating, on wheels no wider than 4", the problem will go away.

And certainly you don't want to go around any corners too fast now, think of that poor steering rack!

 

There's a nylon bushing in the (passenger side) end of the rack that only costs a couple of bucks from Honda. If you've got a lot of miles on, it need replacing. Although it's not EASY, it's not impossible, and you can do it without removign the rack.

You might also check the pinion preload, it's adjustable, too.
Jon

 

Thanks, Jon. That's the one I was eyeing up as the culprit. But how do you replace it without removing the rack? Will it go over the end of the rack itself once the inner tie-rod ends are unscrewed? Or do you have to pull the rack out of the pinion housing?

TIA,

--Andy

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jzr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Andy, it's got to be those big sticky front tires causing the problem. I think if you permanently go back to some 155/70-R13 tires of at least 500 treadwear rating, on wheels no wider than 4", the problem will go away.

And certainly you don't want to go around any corners too fast now, think of that poor steering rack! </TD></TR></TABLE>

Well, your sorta right, Jason. It wasn't until I rebuilt the whole suspension, installing urethane bushings and the newly re-valved shocks that I really noticed it. Up until that point, there were other things that were worn much worse. Other than this issue, the car is so tight now that its simply amazing.

--Andy

 

jon is correct. if youve already located it to the rack having play within the steering tube, then its that bushing. you have to remove the tie rod ball joint, which youll need a new crush washer to replace, then youll see the white plastic bushing. move the steering wheel to the right, then you can start to pick it out. you should unbolt the rack for extra room to pry it out, but no need to disconnect it from the steering column and pinion. good luck. it certainly made a huge difference for me.

 

The hardest part is getting the inner tie rod outta the rack. Crappy job.

Once you do, though, it's a snap.

Jon

 

my old 88 integra did the same thing..

i've been told it's somewhat common on the late 80's hondas.. especially ones that have seen a bit harsher life..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jon Nelson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The hardest part is getting the inner tie rod outta the rack. Crappy job.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

a slim adjustable wrench made it a snap for me.

 

Final update on this one:

The new plastic bushing arrived yesterday from Majestic. About $10.

Removal of the old piece was tricky. First, remove the outer tie-rod end from the steering knuckle using any of the "usual" methods (I used pitman tool). Turn the steering wheel all the way to the left, remove rack boot from pinion housing and slide it out of the way. Use small chisel and hammer to start unbending lockwasher flaps. Use small flat round punch to finish the job. 13/16 open end wrench on the rack, and 11/16 on the inner tie rod end to unscrew it.

Now, turn the steering wheel all the way to the right (rack fully inside pinion housing). To get the old bushing out, I used a pair of very small screwdrivers to hold the retaining nubs out of their mounting holes. This also creates friction with the rack. A pair of needle-nose pliers clamped onto a piece of the bushing along with an assistant slowly turning the steering wheel to move the rack out of the housing will cause the bushing to come with it. Took me a couple of tries, but got it done.

Insertion of new bushing is simple, but be careful not to break it. And do clean/grease the rack. Reassembly is reverse of disassembly. Try and use a new lockwasher if you can (cheap from Honda).

Its also a good time to renew the tie-rod end boots. Honda sells the boots for about $2 each. You can reuse the old clips. A trick for installation to avoid the special tool is to first put the boot in place sans clip, then spiral the clip on using a very small screwdriver. I did the ball joint boots this way, too.

Botom-line: No more rattles!!! Car is tight, tight, tight!!

Hope this helps someone else.

--Andy

 

Andy, thank you very much for the writeup! I too have an 89 Civic (over 230,xxx miles) and I need to do the bushing swap. I'm ordering parts right now...

Cheers

 

Fan, you need a partner for this? We can do both our cars.

 

Bumping this:

Does anyone know the part number of the bushings replaced? It is the same as the steering rack bushing that comes in the ES kit?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by p1driftfiend &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> It is the same as the steering rack bushing that comes in the ES kit?</TD></TR></TABLE>

No, the bushings in the ES kit are external bushings from the rack casing to the subframe which I have and would be hard pressed to say they did anything other than add more color under the car.

What Andy, et. al. are talking about is an internal bushing inside the rack casing. I have never changed that bushing but nor am I joyously looking forward to it on my 220K mile car.

 

its item 10 in this page correct?

http://www.hondapartssource.co...ch=no

 

yeah, long discussion here.
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=935457

 

I've gotta do this too!

 

It's been a while since I did the bushing swap. It made all the difference in teh world on my car, with 230,000+ miles. But now it seems the driver side is clunking the same way, so I assume the rack needs to be adjusted. Has anybody ordered the lock nut tool? How much is it?