can not steer help!

[coolman603]

ok so the other day i was driving home and noticed when i was driving straight my steering wheel was like side ways well when i got home i can not steer right now the steering wheel just spins freely and i can some time steer to the left. i think my steering rack is gone? what do you guys think? thanks for any help!


also check out my updates i have done
http://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=74125

[phrenology]

First make sure the wheel itself is on tight and that the column isn't screwed up. When the power in the rack goes, it will be hard to steer, you won't lose total control. Check under the car to see if the rack is leaking, and your PS fluid reservoir. If the wheel just spins wildly, then you might have stripped a gear or something. The rack is a pain in the ass to replace but it can be done.

[coolman603]

i also should of said for the last year or so the steering has been tight so i think the rack has finlay died

[87.3dr.lxi]

ok so the other day i was driving home and noticed when i was driving straight my steering wheel was like side ways well when i got home i can not steer right now the steering wheel just spins freely and i can some time steer to the left. i think my steering rack is gone? what do you guys think? thanks for any help!


Of course being able to look things over would be a help but a wild guess at this point is that this sounds suspiciously like one of the u-joints between steering column either at the end of the steering column or right at the rack... if the "power" has been out - the extra force to turn things may have finally taken out one of those two u-joints...

[Dr_Snooz]

I would start by removing all the skulls all over the car...

That is a very atypical problem and any number of things might have gone wrong. Start by giving everything a close inspection. I suspect the problem will be more than obvious when you see it.

[Xaisk]

Yeah I would definatly check the steering wheel mount bolt. If its loose then thats your problem. Start light and cheap then inspect the more expensive pieces.

Words from a great man. Dr_snooz

[neo_blue_accord]

My car had a problem like that but it pulled out of my seat when it happen and the car took a sharp right. I just took the belt off and said fuck it mess with it later.

[lostforawhile]

judging by where you are from I would suspect something is rusted in half. are your floor pans badly rusted? if you pull the carpet back, where the colum goes into the floor, there is a panel that comes out of the floor, there are plastic half turn fasteners that hold it, the U joints are in there. if they use salt on the roads there it may have been collecting in that low spot and eating the U joint. if not that it may have destroyed a tie rod end or a ball joint.

[lostforawhile]

Of course being able to look things over would be a help but a wild guess at this point is that this sounds suspiciously like one of the u-joints between steering column either at the end of the steering column or right at the rack... if the "power" has been out - the extra force to turn things may have finally taken out one of those two u-joints...

you don't have power assist over 15, it reverts to manual:facepalm:

[87.3dr.lxi]

you don't have power assist over 15, it reverts to manual:facepalm:

Which means you *should* have power assist below 15 - where steering is the hardest (as far as moving tires against the ground). In another place - far, far away (Guam); eons ago (1973); in a car where the power steering pump failed (a "plug" in an internal passage blew out allowing the fluid to just run in circles inside the pump) - there was a "shock coupling" between the steering column and the power steering box. when the power steering went out - it didn't take but a short time driving (lots of curves on Guam roads) until the rubber in the shock coupling failed - and we wound up steering by "winding up" a ground wire that jumped the (former) coupling. That is until the wire also broke (didn't take long)... Just saying - when power steering goes out (or steering gets harder than normal for whatever reason) - it can put unusual stress on parts not designed to handle it. :dunno:

[lostforawhile]

Which means you *should* have power assist below 15 - where steering is the hardest (as far as moving tires against the ground). In another place - far, far away (Guam); eons ago (1973); in a car where the power steering pump failed (a "plug" in an internal passage blew out allowing the fluid to just run in circles inside the pump) - there was a "shock coupling" between the steering column and the power steering box. when the power steering went out - it didn't take but a short time driving (lots of curves on Guam roads) until the rubber in the shock coupling failed - and we wound up steering by "winding up" a ground wire that jumped the (former) coupling. That is until the wire also broke (didn't take long)... Just saying - when power steering goes out (or steering gets harder than normal for whatever reason) - it can put unusual stress on parts not designed to handle it. :dunno:you aren't going to break one of these u joints from steering without power, the way it pulled to one side, he probably broke a tie rod end

[cubert]

you aren't going to break one of these u joints from steering without power, the way it pulled to one side, he probably broke a tie rod end


Funny...i swear a few posts up you said one of the possibilities was a U-joint...

[lostforawhile]

Funny...i swear a few posts up you said one of the possibilities was a U-joint...

I said from rust, not from the power steering not working, he's in the north, I'm thinking something broke from rust, that is the lowest point in the floor, it's actually below the floor pan, I'm from the north grew up with rustbuckets , the bottom of the car is probably swiss cheese, 25 years of northern winters aren't good to suspension parts

[gojrracing]

stripped rack?

[coolman603]

ok so after a hard time making left turns i got the car into the garage. i pulled off the cover that covers the u bolts and i can see them and when i turn the wheel they all turn and im thinking its a gear or something like that in the rack or just b4 the rack i also took of the steering wheel and everything is fine. i think i might rip the rack apart tomorrow and see what i find.