wytiak

I get this annoying knocking sound that seem to be coming from having a loose steering rack or something I can't trace yet. I searched here and the closest I found was by bakeoff and I quote:

"it could also be a loose steering rack. There is a 14mm nut on the bottom of the rack. It puts tension on the driver's side end of the main shaft in the rack.
Jack it up, have someone crank the steering wheel until it locks, and then hold it tightly against the lock. With it held firmly, go to both sides and try shaking the wheels side to side and top to bottom. If you have any side to side wiggle, it is steering related. Any top to bottom is ball joint related. Having the steering wheel locked and firm up against the lock is crucial. It took having two people helping for me to finally figure out the steering rack issue on my hatch."

Where is this 14 mm nut on the bottom of the rack in the attached picture? This picture also came from HAN. Good stuff!

Also, from 1 to 5 scale, how hard is it to replace the steering rack bushings with Poly rubber?

Thanks in advance.

wytiak

It's not so much of a vibration really, more like a fast "kruug...kruug...kruug" sound.

jdmeg6hatchy

my friend was was having a similar problem

jdmeg6hatchy

PM me if anyone helps you, or has an answer.

wytiak

It snowed light last night. This morning, the car was wandering left and right on it's own. Light or almost no snow on the road but slippery. I also heard the front end making a "clacking" sound on rough roads then seemed to be transfering to the steering. Is this now the cv joint making that noise? There are visible cracks on the cv rubber boots but not opened yet...Car has 170k miles. I ordered new tires from discounttiredirect.com. I got some Falken Ziex ZE 512 all season tires. 195/65/14 to go on oem steelies. The original tire was 175/65/14. $46 bucks each free shipping. Will they fit without rubbing or any problems? Did I choose a good brand tire on snowy place like here in MN?

And yeah, feel free to say something...anything.

Highmile

there are a bunch of things that could be worn out. It's not the CV joints. look at the Lower control arm bushings. Look at tie rod ends and ball joints. Raise the car one side at a time and push, pull, wiggle the wheel everywhichway you can. Kick it, any clanking noise? Where? If everything seems good, go get an alignment check.

wytiak

I'll check it later. I will also get it checked-out at a shop. But I will do the work myself. I hope it's not the steering rack, JC!, that will be hard to replace, I think...?

Jafro

For the record, my friend had the exact same problem in a Glant VR-4, and he found that when his car was running and he turned the wheel that the belt on the pump was slipping. You could see the pulley on the pump physically stop turning for a split second. Tightened his belt and it stopped.

I have the same problem with my '90 laser (which is a donor car for another chassis), and I'd spend time diagnosing it, but the ECU fried last week and it's not going anywhere until I gut it. 'don't need power steering in the Colt which has a manual rack already... so...

Hope it's something simple. Get someone to watch the pump while you honk the wheel left-right. Could just be a glazed belt.

90CvcDX

i have this same problem on my hatch, went thru every thing i could possibly think of, replaced bearings checked joints, the whole nine yards and still car makes sounds and slides when i'm going down a straight road. never thought it could be the steering rack though...

5speedonly

My car was pulling to one side(right) due to a cracked control arm bushings. I did a 4 wheel alignement to minimize the pull and it worked pretty good. A slight pull still exsisting though.