Searched but didn't see this mentioned....
Begining a few months back I noticed my steering wheel alignment changing after going around a hard corner, usually like after an on-ramp loop to the freeway. After I straighten out, the steering wheel is out of alignment to which ever direction (left or right) that I just turned. Take a corner the opposite direction and the wheel appears straight again. Take another corner and the alignment is biased in that direction and so on.
It's not alot, but drives me crazy because I typically drive with my hands and 9 and 3. Now it's usually at 10 and 4 or 8 and 2... depending on which way I turned last. Late spring I put a new set of tires on and had a 4-wheel alignment done. Car SEEMS to track straight, at least from the driver's seat, no wear patterns seen in the tires and car behaves great in the corners. PS Fluid level is good and no perceptable slop in the tie-rods.
Car is up for the winter now, any suggestions on things to replace or check are welcome.

 

Check the four bolts that hold the steering rack to the chassis.

 

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/check-your-steering-rack-mount-bolts-265138/

Check the driver side steering rack mount in particular. This is the only one that locates the rack side to side. When what you describe happened to me it was because one of the driver side steering rack mounting bolts had fallen out.

 

Thanks Tyler and Damon. It's going up on the lift this weekend and I will check just that.

 

Yeah, check where the rack mounts to the car. But if all looks tight, take a close look at your tie rod ends, and ball joints.

 

Back from the dead with an update.......
All rack bolts were tight back then, I also double checked the 'U' shaped clamps on the steering shaft from the firewall down (IIRC there are two). Everything was tight. I'd been living with this until recentlly, tire wear was normal and I was side-tracked with a coolant seal failure.

Recently I replaced both tie-rod ends after the boot on one tore. Note that I had checked them previously, but they appeared normal...no slop when it was on the lift. I had even considered just getting some boots, but figured with 94k, it just made more sense to replace the entire ends. To my surprise (but not White94RX's^) it seems to have cured the steering issue.
The old tie rods ends also seemed normal, a little "loose" as you'd expect, but no perceptable 'slop'. The only thing I can speculate...I didn't think to check this before tossing them, was that they were binding somehow. Apparently just when on the ground, but not binding when the car was on the lift and there was no weight on the tires.

 

I think you just won the prize for the most delayed update.

Thanks for reporting what the fix was.

 

^Yeah, I know, like I said....I was side-tracked for a while. Sorry.
I actually hesitated on it because of the delay, but figured what the hell. Maybe help someone else in another 3 years from now.

 

two years actually

 

Or more....

Thanks for reporting your findings. It's always helpful to the community!

Thanks!

Nick

 

Are there other bolts besides the 2 sets of 2 on the banjo type clamps?
I'm having the same issue, but those bolts on the banjos seem tight.


thanks

 

If those are tight then consider replacing your tie rod ends. Especially with 172k (assuming they've never been changed).

 

Thanks! Is there a "test" to see if it is the tie rod ends or the "steering rack"?
plenty of miles, so I'm guessing it could be either.


As always, Thanks.

 

I recall checking for any visual play in the rack and didn't see any.
As mentioned above, I neglected to really examine the old tie rods before tossing them. They were loose, but not binding in my hand... i.e. not under load. Again, I can only speculate that they may have been binding under suspension load/weight. I'd had those new tie rods for a while, buying them after failed rubber boots on the old ones. Finally changing them solved the issue but my next move was going to be the inner tie rods.
Hope it helps.