chadmg7 Posted October 21, 2004 Posted October 21, 2004 Brought my car to my local mechanic today and he said that the rack and pinion needs to be replaced soon. Could this be contributing to the "clunking" noise in the front (what might be the strut mounts)? What "bad sounds" will fixing the rack and pinion correct? And what will I notice if I replace it? He said it would cost about $650. Is that about right? Thanks!
ArmyofOne Posted October 21, 2004 Posted October 21, 2004 Brought my car to my local mechanic today and he said that the rack and pinion needs to be replaced soon. Could this be contributing to the "clunking" noise in the front (what might be the strut mounts)?What "bad sounds" will fixing the rack and pinion correct? And what will I notice if I replace it? He said it would cost about $650. Is that about right? Thanks! ← heh, i was told $1300 for mine, so if you can get yours done for $650 all the more power to ya :) . the clunk you have in your front end is most likely the rack and pinion system. other symptoms are: -when i make a left turn and bring the car back straight, the steering wheel is off centered to the left about 10 degrees or so. when i make a right turn, the wheel does the same thing in the opposite direction. -between 60 and 80 mph, the car is damned near impossible to control, even in a straight line. -you get a very hard CLUNK in the front (usually the left, sometimes both sides) that sounds similar to a bad/decompressed strut. -lift the car up on a jack and you will find that one, or both front wheels will be loose in the rack. that is to say they will have excessive play to the left and the right on the axle with little or no forse applied. lots of play in the axle/steering means your tires are leaning at a negative camber, this is killer for tire wear. -at highway speeds, the steering is late to respond in 1 direction, sometimes both. on mine you have to turn the wheel about a half a rotation before the car will go around a curve to the left at 65-70 MPH. -above 80 MPH, the steering wheel comes back straight and all feel returns to normal. this is because there is suffecient drag on the tires to bring them back into proper alignment. -when the rack and pinion assembly does break, you will have NO CONTROL OVER WHICH DIRECTION YOUR VEHICLE GOES. your tie rod ends will break and you will have no steering. just be prepared for this and keep to low speed surface streets so that you can pull over quickly and do not lose control of the car. when these things break, your tires will turnm left and right independant of each other, can you imagine that when you are doing 80? (and your doing 80, becuase you are constantly fighhting thecar between 60 and 80) LOL. -there will be a slight tap in you accellerator pedal if you let it get bad enough. -all the suspension.steering comonents in the front are tied together. as such, driving long with a worn rack will cause the following parts to fail prematurely: Wheel bearings CV joints Halfshaft Transaxle Bearings Shocks/Struts Ball joints Tie Rods and im sure theres more, but its midnight here, i have to be to work at 4 am...good nite :P
SKperformance Posted October 21, 2004 Posted October 21, 2004 I have never seen a rack break,EVER! It may wear but it takes forever and a physical hit to break. Stop trying to make the guy think it is something that needs to be done yeaterday or he will fall off the road. The rack is variable assist but it is all because of the pump to do that not the rack. Which could make it more expensive.
ArmyofOne Posted October 21, 2004 Posted October 21, 2004 it wasnt my intention to make him feel that way...just pointing out the sympotms i have noticed in my car. The rack is variable assist but it is all because of the pump to do that not the rack. are you sayingthat my pump is causing the problem?? if so then perhaps i do actually have decompressed strut in the front. EDIT: and i have seen racks break on a few occasions...its rare but it does happen. the last one was a chevy cavalier (i know, these are not chevy's) and it happened at 55 mPH...the outcome wasnt pretty.
tckcumming Posted October 22, 2004 Posted October 22, 2004 ______________________________ *** -when i make a left turn and bring the car back straight, the steering wheel is off centered to the left about 10 degrees or so. when i make a right turn, the wheel does the same thing in the opposite direction. -at highway speeds, the steering is late to respond in 1 direction, sometimes both. on mine you have to turn the wheel about a half a rotation before the car will go around a curve to the left at 65-70 MPH. -above 80 MPH, the steering wheel comes back straight and all feel returns to normal. this is because there is suffecient drag on the tires to bring them back into proper alignment. *** ___________________ My '93 ES300 had these exact symptoms a couple of years ago. I was on a vacation to Prince Edward Island at the time. I stopped at a Toyota dealer (in Summerside? - I think), they told me my steering rack was bad and had to be replaced. I continued on my way. Later in the week I went to a small garage in a little village in PEI, just to have it checked again as I was concerned about driving all the way back to Ontario with "bad" steering. The mechanic pulled the car into his garage, and within 10 minutes he pronounced the steering fixed. I was skeptical. I drove it around the block, it handled like a new car! Tight steering, no play at all. I asked him what he did to it. He said that he noticed that the steering rack mounts seemed loose, so he just cranked them on really tight - problem solved. He said he'd seen the problem before on some GM cars, he thought it might be from driving on bumpy country roads. The best part of all - he didn't even charge me for the repair! A long story, I know, but it couldn't hurt to check the steering rack mounts for looseness. If they're loose, you can see some lateral movement of the rack if someone moves the steering wheel back and forth while you look at the rack. An easy fix. Good luck!!
ArmyofOne Posted October 22, 2004 Posted October 22, 2004 ______________________________*** -when i make a left turn and bring the car back straight, the steering wheel is off centered to the left about 10 degrees or so. when i make a right turn, the wheel does the same thing in the opposite direction. -at highway speeds, the steering is late to respond in 1 direction, sometimes both. on mine you have to turn the wheel about a half a rotation before the car will go around a curve to the left at 65-70 MPH. -above 80 MPH, the steering wheel comes back straight and all feel returns to normal. this is because there is suffecient drag on the tires to bring them back into proper alignment. *** ___________________ My '93 ES300 had these exact symptoms a couple of years ago. I was on a vacation to Prince Edward Island at the time. I stopped at a Toyota dealer (in Summerside? - I think), they told me my steering rack was bad and had to be replaced. I continued on my way. Later in the week I went to a small garage in a little village in PEI, just to have it checked again as I was concerned about driving all the way back to Ontario with "bad" steering. The mechanic pulled the car into his garage, and within 10 minutes he pronounced the steering fixed. I was skeptical. I drove it around the block, it handled like a new car! Tight steering, no play at all. I asked him what he did to it. He said that he noticed that the steering rack mounts seemed loose, so he just cranked them on really tight - problem solved. He said he'd seen the problem before on some GM cars, he thought it might be from driving on bumpy country roads. The best part of all - he didn't even charge me for the repair! A long story, I know, but it couldn't hurt to check the steering rack mounts for looseness. If they're loose, you can see some lateral movement of the rack if someone moves the steering wheel back and forth while you look at the rack. An easy fix. Good luck!! ← WOW, i didnt knwo that, thats something i can check myself! thanks.
SKperformance Posted October 22, 2004 Posted October 22, 2004 I was just mentioning the variable rack not that it was a problem
chadmg7 Posted October 22, 2004 Author Posted October 22, 2004 Hey, thanks to everyone that replied! I really appreciate the advice. It's nice to know that I can always count on you all for questions! :)
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now