Loose feel to steering

[stylesjas]

Well, my steering has a loose feel to it and the repair shops can't figure it out. I have to adjust my steering either left or right constantly....very annoying and dangerous. I think I may need to throw in the towel on my 03 QX4

Any last suggestions...
Tried wheel alignment, tire balances, bushings, struts are OK. No more money and tired of taking to the repair shops.

[atraudes]

Sorry to hear that I know the feeling.

My initial guesses are loose bearings (very dangerous), worn tie rods, or a problem with the steering rack. I'd raise the front wheels and try to turn the tire side to side by hand. If there's any slop, keep turning and start looking at the steering components and see which are moving around. I would hope that any of the places you've been to would have caught it, but it's worth a look. Tie rods and bearings are pretty easy and cheap to do yourself if you're up for it.

If everything's nice and tight my guess would be the rack n' pinion, though I don't have any personal experience to base that on. The good news is you could probably find a used one for a reasonable price.

Hope everything works out for you! Let us know what you find.

[Pathy415]

+1 With Atraudes.

Check your entire suspension with a fine tooth comb. Lift the car on the frame safely and check various suspension areas for excessive play/looseness. Grab the front wheels with them off the ground and try to move them back and forth at the 12 and 6 oclock spots and then at the 3 and 9 oclock spots. If you feel a lot of looseness its your bearings. grab inner and outer tie rods and check or play.

Also a possibility the steering rack has come a little loose off the frame? Good luck!

[Hawairish]

Which bushings were checked? Control arms or steering rack? The latter is generally the root cause.

A bent tie-rod can do it, too. There's also a rag joint on the lower steering link, and the link itself (and the pivot box it connects to above it) are other points to look at if you've ruled out everything else.

[stylesjas]

The rear lower control arms were replaced a few weeks ago, new rotors and brake pads and wheel bearings repacked last week along with a wheel alignment. Back at the shop today for follow up and now they suggest springs and or struts. Everything is tight under there that I and the shops can tell. Tie rods are strong, not loose or weak. I thought the rack could be loose, but nope, tight no play. Head scratcher!

[Hawairish]

But how are you determining the rack is tight? Just by the bolts on the brackets? It's the bushings underneath those that tend to be the culprit. Do you see any grime/grease lines on either side of those bushings as if the rack was moving left/right inside them?

I don't see how springs and struts would solve this problem.

[atraudes]

The steering box is also a possibility

http://www.auto-repair-help.com/auto_di ... sloppy.php

[AlanAZ]

I have to adjust my steering either left or right constantly....very annoying and dangerous.

I had the same problem. In addition, hitting a bump or pot hole would cause the steering to shake considerably, and, and making a turn across the concrete gutters that we have on minor intersections here in the PHX area, or over a rounded curb driveway, would make the steering saw back and forth.

I replaced the 2003 model steering rack bushings with Nissan factory replacements for about $16 ea. from Amazon, and it corrected all the above problems. The old bushings with 123K mls, all in the hot, dry climate of the Phoenix area were intact and looked OK in place. But once they were removed, you could see how much most of the bushing was permanently compressed from the areas where the original thickness was intact, and how hard and not grippy the rubber had become. A similar hardening effect had occurred to my front sway bar bushings.