Steering Problems!!!!!!!!!!!
Please help!! I have an ’85 GSL with power steering and something is seriously wrong.
The steering is stiff and doesn’t return to center. On top of that there is plenty of slop in the steering.
About four years ago my steering was a little loose and the car was taken to a reputable alignment shop where they adjusted the steering gear free of charge. The car was fine for two years until I took it somewhere to have new tires put on. After I got the car back the steering seemed stiff and wouldn’t return to center. Also, there seemed to be a little slop in the steering. I tried adjusting the steering gear and it’s been a nightmare ever since. Now I’ve got sloppy steering that’s also stiff and doesn’t easily return to center.

The fluid in the pump looks good and is full.
The system is not leaking.
The power steering is working (it’s much easier to turn the wheel with the engine running)
There doesn’t seem to be any play in the steering linkage under the car.
The bushings look good for the most part.
Maybe the linkage is binding and/or needs lubrication?? How can I test the linkage to check for binding?
Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!!!

 

Try to locate the source of the play. Take a good look at the idler bushings, they a the biggest culprit of steering play. I havent adjusted my PS box yet, but the procedure is in the manual.

With the car jacked up off its wheels (use jackstands for safety please) try turning the wheels at the tire and see if there is any real binding. It might be in the box itself.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. My idler bushings look good. Five years ago they were bad and the alignment shop replaced the whole idler arm and bushings because he said he could not order the bushings without getting a new idler arm. The new idler arm has grease zirks at both ends and I’ve kept them greased.
I’ve got the car jacked up and tried turning the wheels by hand at the tire (engine off). It’s hard to turn them. There seems to be no play when turning the wheels at the tire, however, it feels stiff. The steering even feels stiff when turning the steering wheel with the wheels off the ground (engine off). To give an example of the stiffness, it’s very difficult to turn the wheel with one finger and impossible to do it with my little finger (this is with the wheels off the ground and engine off).
Is there an easy way to determine whether the problem lies in the linkage or the steering box?? If it is the steering box what are my options?
Thanks,
Matt

 

Yes, seperate the linkage from the box at the pitman arm and center link connection, not pitman arm and box. Try the test again and see which is causing the stiffness.

 

Thanks for the advice. Is there a trick to getting the pitman arm safely disconnected from the center link connection? I have the nut off but it won’t budge. Should I use a gear puller or a hammer and punch? I don’t want to break anything. I’ve never messed with this part of the car before

 

bad suspension could cause this,

also the bearing in your strut towers could be getting seized, there are many reasons for the car not centering....

This is a very frustrating problem. I've been there on both my caddi and rx7.

The caddi was the shocks had gone bad, the rx7 was the upper strut bearings which sit under the bolt for the shock in the engine bay. You must remove the black cap to see the both on you shock towers.

 

Excellent point. Where the upper strut mount is there are bearings that turn with the steering. Another possible culprit.

Most auto parts stores have pitman arm pullers, and will usually loan them out free. Hammering it can ruin the threads and youll never get the nut back on. If you MUST use a hammer, thread the nut back on flush with the end of the male threads to protect them. This way the nut protects the threads. A pickle fork will work but will usually tear the rubber boot so be careful if you use one of those.

 

Thanks. I’ll look into getting a pitman arm puller. I assume it could also be used for pulling tie rods off as well, correct?

Maybe those bearings in the strut tower are getting seized. The car has been rarely driven in the past five years; however, it has always been parked in a garage. How do you determine if it’s the bearings in the strut tower? Are they easy to switch out?

 

check the oil in the box

 

Bearings in the strut towers never get a full turn of rotation, so it's unlikely that these would cause enough binding to cause a problem. When you remove the plastic cap over the shock rod, you'll see the bearing *****, and can see if they turn smoothly - or at all. If they're not turning AT ALL, that means when you turn the steering, the shock valving is rotating inside the strut body - still not a high source of friction.

More than likely, your steering box has been overtightened, and the FSM has a specific maintenance recommendation about how to set this - it's not a 'turn the screw until it's tight' kind of thing. If you have the steering box too tight, it will have increased friction, increased turning resistance, and will quickly lead to much bigger problems that will require steering box replacement. This could have been done when someone adusted it in the past.

There really aren't too many sources of the kind of friction that you described. If one of your struts is seized internally, along with a strut mount bearing seized, you might see a problem. Strut tops are $40 each, and struts can be replaced for about $100 each. Start by looking at the various components on the suspension - if you find nothing indicative, then start digging back into the steering gear. HTH,

 

Thanks for all the advice guys. I’m starting to think my strut tower bearings might be one of my problems. I know I may have additional problems but I think these bearings might be a good place to start. I popped off the caps . . .there’s no corrosion and plenty of grease. However, the bearings don’t seem to turn. Maybe this is because the car is off the ground and there’s no weight on the bearings. I’ll repeat the test with the car on the ground. I’m thinking that these bearings support a significant amount of weight and if they were bad it really could keep the car from centering. I think I’d like to replace these before moving on to the steering box etc. Is it easy to replace these bearings???

 

You'd need a press to change them. Once you get them out, take the number off the race. Any autoparts store should be able to sell you just the bearing for a couple of bucks. Once you get the 4 nuts off and get it down below the strut tower top you can rotate it by hand and see if its binding.

 

If it were me - and it was about 8 months ago - I'd order up the replacement upper strut mounts, themselves. In other words, the whole fixture, since if they're old enough for the bearings to go out, you probably also have a problem with the rubber aging and will eventually let go.

When I replaced mine, it was because I'd just installed the RB Strut Tower Brace, and within 2-3 weeks, the driver's side strut mount (rubber pillow) broke through, pushing the strut rod up against the hood and denting it from the inside out.

Opened up the hood and saw the rod projecting through the mount - still had the plastic cap on the end, thankfully. Rubber had deteriorated over time and broke through leaving a chewed-up piece of rubber mounted to the end of the rod, and the spring holding the suspension down.

For the money - I'd replace both at the same time and do the whole thing, but that's me.