Disco Biscuit

I have looked at several threads and cant seem to find a match to my current steering experience. Very sorry in advance if this is discussed previously, I just cant seem to find it.

Car is a 2001 Honda S2000, all original with 49,000 miles.
Made contact with a curb with the left front wheel. Minor damage to the rim, but could tell the car tracked differently after impact.
Immediately took car to have 4 wheel alignment, told them to look for any other signs of damage. Suspension components seemed to be fine, alignment performed with a Hunter system.
Car felt much better. Could tell the impact changed the toe angle and appeared to be much better after alignment. I don't drive the car a lot so after a few days when I drove it again, it still wandered from a top dead center. You are just constantly adding input into the steering wheel to keep the car in its lane 30+ mph.
I am not having any issues with loss of power steering. No sputtering currently (has in the past if the car wasnt driven for a couple of weeks). I would say between 20 degrees left or right of center the wheel feels like your fighting it to stay centered?

I have tried to reset the EPS with the jump wire from 4 to 9 on the OBDII port, but i am not getting the sequence of lights on the dash as the write ups describe. Once the jumper is in place between 4 and 9, I turn the key on and the EPS light flashes 2 times briefly and then 4 times quickly after that.

Don't feel like taking the car in to Honda. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thank you Brett

s2000Junky

Toe, caster and camber can all influence this a lot, so there may not be anything wrong, just a different alignment then what you had pre wreck. Not saying thats the case since I dont have the pre/post alignment info, but just saying thats a possibility to not rule out yet. When you say "fighting the wheel to keep center" does that mean its lazy and will hold some amount of a turn if you let go of the wheel in either direction, or the opposite with the wheel fighting you/the road to track strait? Or?

Disco Biscuit

I think you hit it spot on with ..... its lazy and will hold some amount of a turn if you let go of the wheel in either direction, between 20 degrees left or right of center, holds positions and wanders.

I wish I had the print out of the alignment before and after. I need to call and see if they saved the info?

Car Analogy

This sounds like play in the steering. You set a course with the steering wheel, but tires are free to wander left or right from that course within the limits of the free play, as the road imperfections guide them. As you try to correct, your initial steering action is really just taking up the play. Once you finally do move into the realm of actually causing tire directional movement, the tires have already begun to plot a new course. Its like steering with a pair of ropes.

Look for play somewhere. It should be obvious with that much difficulty.

While you are at it, check tire pressures all around. Make sure all are the same, especially the rears.

Disco Biscuit

No play in the steering. Im working on getting the print out from the alignment. Highly suspect its an issue with a poor alignment as S2000 Junky mentioned. I am going to take it back in and have them recheck it, they agreed to check again.
Is there a way to upload videos direct to the forum or easier to attach a link from youtube?

Soviet

YouTube is best, should just be able to paste the link.

silverstone_f22

From my understanding more caster would help with making the steering wheel want to stay straight, possibly they didn't get it in range.

s2000Junky

Yes correct, there is a lot of caster dialed in from factory on the s2k. You want it in the 6-7 degrees range for a lively return to center wile offering a bit more resistance/feedback (which you want in a somewhat already lacking feedback eps) If the OP gets the printout and caster is shown to be in the 4-5 degree range, im near positive thats the problem. More caster the better really on this car, on the high end of oem spec, even a bit more if desired. Keep in mind too, at minimal speeds, the steering isn't going to have the same return rate as it would at higher speeds.

I noticed that when I went to a smaller diameter 330mm race steering wheel that my steering became a bit lazier to return for what ever reason. Maybe leverage changed. A little more caster dialed in solved that. If i recall my latest alignment im right about 6.5-7 degrees and that feels proper to me.

Disco Biscuit

Finally had time to get back on the alignment rack this morning. They did have the original printout after correcting the alignment which showed FRONT -0.5/-0.6 camber, 5.7/5.9 Caster, 0/0 Toe.
Comparing the alignment before adjusting the only major difference was I had knocked the toe out. Also want to add I really didn't hit the curb that hard, low speed and minimal cosmetic damage to the wheel (maybe a 1.5" curb rash), the tire absorbed most of the impact
They test drove the car and immediately noticed what I described above. They put it back on the rack and checked again, test drove again, ran another alignment check, test drove again. They did connect to their system to see if they could find any codes and returned with no faults or codes. They suspected a torque sensor?
I have attached a youtube video. I couldn't find an empty parking lot nearby where I could get the speeds up, but I assure you its the same issue at higher speeds. I realize that you cant see my hands releasing the steering wheel, but you get the idea. The quicker changes in the wheel are me avoiding curbs, and when you see my hands let go and the wheel remains on the same path, this is the issue I am having. Thank you for everyone's help.

Car Analogy

Ok, so this adds clarity. It seems like there is too much friction in the steering, such that the force of caster is not enough to overcome this friction, so the steering doesn't want to self center. So like maybe something is binding.

Jack up front wheels off the ground, key on, see how much effort it takes to turn the steering by grabbing tire and steering it. See if you can feel a difference in effort required at certain points as you go full left vs full right.