B serious

Thanks again. I drove the car for a while today and the steering felt like garbage. Even the slightest movement of my hand causes the car to wander and not want to straighten out. It's really annoying.

I'll have have some time to try the fix you posted on Tuesday and I'll repost with my results.

SpitfireS

I wonder who took the time to print-screen, edit and upload that picture of the service manual?

NikosX

Im having a similar issue with my car. The car wouldnt hold an alignment when I first got it. Had it aligned 4 times in 5k miles. Finally i realized that I had NO compliance bushings. I ordered new ones and had them pressed. Now an alignment holds.

A month later, I had my transmission replaced. Ive had some steering issues with the car ever since.

To the right, the wheel moves half an inch or so maybe even an inch before the car starts to slightly change lanes.

To the left, if I so much as move the wheel a hair, the car changes direction DRASTICALLY.

I dont know if my rack is bent? A suspension compoenet is bent? Alignment is off?

B serious

Weird. This car is so sensitive lol.

Stratocaster

You did and I thank you. over the years I I have told folks how to do this and when that picture was posted, I copied the URL

SpitfireS

Lets turn this ^ into an internet picture copyright frenzy!
That'll be cool.



Fact is, I don't even have control over that piece of server.
Can't edit, add or remove, nothing.
There is no telling how long it will be up, as the ISP "Tiscali" doens't exist anymore and was taken over by Telfort a while back.
Maybe someday a Telfort account manager, overly eager on cutting costs, will delete it all.
Oh well....

If you start at the end of the url and delete everything up to "onlinestaorage" (so you keep that) you can probably see the content of the server.

fatjoe10

check for a bent rack... it's the most overlooked issue.

NikosX

How do you troubleshoot a bent rack?

fatjoe10

^ Nevermind, I missed the part where the OP states a new rack was fitted.

What I did to discover one on my friend's s2k was to remove both the outer and inner tie rods along with the dust covers. Then I had someone turn the wheel as I watched the steering rod go left and right. If it is bent, you will see the rod coming out crooked as the wheel is turned, and of course, the wheel will get very hard to turn as the bent section is forced inside the straight rack bore.

B serious

Edit: I did the procedure but...still the same issue.....

There is a lot of uneven caster now that I had a chance to look at the alignment print out. There is 6.8 degrees on one side and 8.9 degrees on the other side. Idiots.

But why would that cause the wheel NOT to return to center on either right or left turns? Usually caster makes the wheel return better...or atleast it would only return badly to one side. The is at 0. The camber is at around 2.3-2.4 degrees neg up front (spec'd that way by me).

The car was fine before. It was aligned the same way (except for the uneven caster). It was lowered to the same height before.

It's really annoying trying to drive because if I even nudge the wheel or have a little more weight in one hand, it makes the car wander to one side. Then if I adjust...it wanders to the other side and I do this back and forth drunken motion for like a quarter mile till I can finally straighten it out to the exactly microscopic position where the car will actually go straight.

I'm thinking maybe rack preload adjustment but it's a brand new rack. Shouldn't that be adjusted from the factory?