Why is my steering wheel shifting??
 

I'm at a loss now. I've been fighting a problem with the steering system on my s13 shifting. For instance, if I'm driving straight, and the steering wheel is straight. Then if I make a u-turn to the left, once I straighten out the steering wheel is then turned to the left a little bit while driving straight. Making a right will straighten it out, but another right will make it turned to the right while driving straight. If I hit a bump while taking a corner aggressively, the car will actually straighten a little bit.

So far I have replaced the tie rods (z32 inner, s14 outer, has bolt on tie rod spacer) both flcas, steering rack(twice), steering shafts bushing (solid), rack bushings (pbm eccentric, and sway bar bushings. Only thing left is the tension rods, which look/ feel fine. Has anyone had this problem? Its really annoying. Any help is much appreciated.

Steering column bushing could have gone completely out, but I somehow doubt it could be that. Wouldnt hurt to change it if its never been changed.

http://www.frsport.com/DIF-CNC-Machi...40sx_t_89.html

Bad LCA ball joint usually. It will bind until you hit a bump and then shift. I've had this happen a few times.

Your worm gear is worn in your rack and pinion. Needs a new rack.

I've never seen this happen. Are you suggesting that the rack is skipping teeth? I'm not saying it's not possible, I've just never seen it before.

Literally all of those suggestions have been replaced

Ive had this problem on a sentra but it had cut springs on it. The spring would slide off the perch while turning one direction and the keep the suspension pulled in that direction. I imagine you are not running cut springs though but just a thought, maybe something is wrong in your spring or upper mount.
Also maybe your caster is out of spec with your suspenison mods?

I have 2 friends who have had this happen on their s14s. Sometimes you will hear a popping noise and sometimes you won't and it gets progressively worse. One of them the steering wheel would have to be completely sideways for the car to track straight after a u turn. So you ended up needing to turn the wheel 1/2 rotation more- don't let it get to that point it's really unsafe!

Have you replaced the u joint to the rack?

This is the only thing that hasn't bee replaced. I need to find one I guess.

Pillowball mount on the coilover, assuming you have coils. If you do guarantee that's your issue.

Something similar happen to my s13. The rack would "pop" and I assume skip a teeth and I would gain toe. I had to stop and turn the wheel the opposite way and hear a pop, then I'd have 0 toe. I discovered it after braking hard once on the freeway, hear a pop then when I started driving the car drove weird and it smelled like burning rubber. Pulled over and saw that the rack has skipped a teeth and messed with it and figured I had to turn it, let the wheel rub against the wheel well, listen for a pop and it'll correct itself.

After that I don't have a hard time believing that the steering racks fail. I have an s14 steering rack/pinion on my s13 now

this is your problem i bet...my PSM coils did this

Why is my steering wheel shifting??
 

It's funny, I'm having the same problem, it was doing it before I went coilovers so I wouldn't think it's that, I'm keeping an eye here see what anyone finds out


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Is there any fixing it or do I just need to replace the mount? What do I need to look for to confirm this?

It might make noise. Pop ping or just bind. What coils do you have? I made stance give me ball bearing Pillowball top hats and all my issues went away. You can try lithium grease

They are BC BR's. There is no pops or pings with them though.

Coil bind? You should grab some roller thrust bearings and put them on your spring perch, or do as Beems did and get pillow all mounts.

I have brand new bc br on my acura tl as well. I slightly feel the symptoms in my steering wheel but just ignore it.

either your ball joints or upper strut bearing.

I had this exact issue before and it was my solid rack bushings. They allowed the rack to slide back and forth a few MMs under loads such as hitting the steering stops.

They were Yanack bushes in particular, the setup was 235 R-comps and a remanned rack with D2 coilovers, SPL outers and stock FLCA's and tension rods.

I ended up using a wire wheel to scuff up both sides of the aluminum Yanack bushings. Then I took a spare passenger side energy suspension rack bushing that I had laying around and I cut the two edges off so I had a curved strip of urethane. I cut the urethane strip in half and put one piece between each sides rack bushes and the rack clamps to take up any extra slack and then I tightened the shit out of the brackets.

I would bet that is what your issue is. It drove me bonkers.

Hm... I wonder if that's what's going on with my PBM rack spacers...

sounds like oil is leaking on the rack and letting is squirm around in the bushings.

I'd start here. I had the same problem but just with old crummy bushings. They were allowing the rack to slop around and each time the wheels were turned the steering wheel would stick to that side. I popped some of these in and they seemed to solve the issue:

http://www.frsport.com/Energy-Suspen...ED_p_1386.html

Only thing is I also did the rack at the same time since mine was leaking, so I'm not sure if the rack had an issues as well other than bad seals. Its cheap and easy though so I'd start there.

I'll hafta check that too. I'm running the PBM solid bushings also.

Fuck! I used to get this same problem. I can't tell if I still have the issue cause I don't drive my car on a regular basis. I feel like it stopped doing the popping, ghost steering thing after I raised my car.

I really don't understand how the bushings could allow movement when the drivers side bushing sits snug in that little crevice, but anything could happen I guess. I didn't have this problem with my s13 rack, but I was using s14 bushings with it so maybe it was so tight that it couldn't move, if that makes sense. The two new racks have been s14's, and neither leak.

I went reman after a leaky rack, went alternate reman again after a shitty first reman, and then got a decent one. I had the solid bushings on through all three racks. All of this is in a S14 and all were S14 racks. The yanack bushing has the cow hoof pattern too, still slipped around, and I've had the PBM's as well.

Mine may or not have done it all along , it could have started after getting juicy during a rack swap. In the beginning I paid it no mind, I had issues with the SPL outers creaking and moaning like a pirate ship. Just slip an extra rubber/urethane layer in your setup.

I can feel it when I drive down a particular street by my house. It's MAD sketch like it pushes the car to the outside of the turn for a quick second. Ugh...

im also having the same issue on my s14. the angle of my steering wheel changes depending on the turn i take.