Panerai127

Today my mechanic adjusted pretensioner by 1/4, eventhough I read that people adjusted it 1/16 or 1/8, the steering feels tighter but my clunck problem did not go away when I get off this little hill from work with my steering turned half way to get onto the road, I always here lick a little clunck or crack noise coming from my front driver side wheel, could it be a ball joint?! Also my steering as I drive straight at any speed has a loose play feel and it is about 1 inch in either direction even after the adjustment. Even if I am parked and have my foot on a pedal, if I turn a steering wheel both direction half turn I hear clunk or little cracking noise coming from steering column that feels like something is loose, there is definetly some play in steeering, anyone has any idea what it is or what these simptoms are? I had that even before I changed my column with tilt motor on a much newer one with less miles, because my tilt motor failed. car is 01 GS430 with 100k miles.. any ideas?

LEXSOOS

Thats what i would check:

#1 Steering rack (rack & pinion) It may be source of worn gears causing play, evaluation of this problem must be performed by somone who really knows and work on daily basis with it.

#2 Check ON STEERING RACK BUSHINGS (MOUNTS) rubber pieces might be torn down, it also can cause exesisve play on your steering wheel

#3 Outer and Inner Tie Rods

#4 Lower and Upper control arm ball joints, bushings

#5 Did you ever replaced Power Steering Fluid?

Any cracking noise coming from bottom of your car may have 1000 reasons to do with it, It's hard to point the problem if you can't hear or see it. Thats what comes to my mind as of now, i hope it helps a bit. All i mentioned above, has more or less influance on what you feel at your steering wheel, good luck finding it

Panerai127

thanks man, I will check it and will post back sometimes this week

Panerai127

I also just noticed that my steering is abit to the right ( 1/2 inch) when I just drive straight and the steering should be centered and it has more play to the right then left, maybe 1 inch to the right and 1/2 inch to the left when I drive straight? since I just installed a new tilt column, would there be anything my mechanic could have not installed straight and aligned it? Or there could be 1 or all of the above things listed by LEXSOOS.. I found few threads and my simptoms sounds like the ball joints and tie rods need to be changed?! But the alignment of the steering wheel which as I described above confuses me. Any thoughts?

Panerai127

LEXSOOS, hey man. Got my car checked today by mechanic and told me that after they lifted the car and had a guy move steering back and forth for the guy under the car to see what is going on there with the steering paly, he said the gears in the rack&pinion are worn and looks like it needs to be replaced, he quoted me around $650 replaced including labor, and the clunk noise said could be the front struts (one of them is licking) but then again he said it could be tie rods, even though they look intact but I read another thread and people said they had same problem like I do and it went away after they had them changed.. So whado you think about the rack deal? I also noticed now I have play while I drive and my steering is tilted abit to the right when I go straight, and it did not do it before I had my tilt column replaced recently.. Could there be any adjustments there that the mechanic did not do right also and made it worse?

LEXSOOS

I'm going to do something with my steering rack as well. I found place where you can get whole steering rack assembly without outer tie rods(Remanufactured) for $305.xx + $150.00 (core) but i don't know whats the warranty on this. Here is home website : www.alleurasianautoparts.com.
Regarding tilted steering wheel, the fix could be simple. Just do your alignment, they will align steering wheel with no problem. Since you are thinking about replacing/or fixing steering rack alignment is waste of your money because you'll have to do it again after steering rack is replaced/fixed
Any questions you might have?

JeffTsai

iTrader: (1)

Jake, I read somewhere on here before. Someone put washers on the busings on the steering rack, and it got rid of that 1/2inch play in the steering. Supposedly it made the car handle a lot sharper. More of a point and go rather than how the stock setup is. Know anything about that?

LEXSOOS

Yeah, but i think it is common problem with SC models (steering rack bushings). I belive i read it on Sc forum awhile ago about bushings being fixed using washers, that doesn't mean that it can't be done on GS.

I think steering rack gearing is source of most problems. In my case i don't feel any play on steering wheel up to 60 mph, above 60 mph it is just Ridiculous loose feeling. I gonna start with adjusting pretensioner first, than we'll see what happends

Panerai127

thanks man I will give them a call after holidays.. I just found this new guy to look at it on monday for second opinion.. and he just fixed 3 of my door actuators.. so things are moving along a bit.

LEXSOOS

Good to hear this, 2nd opinion is very valuable in your case, good luck and let me know what is source of your steering problems

Panerai127

called the above website they said they do not have it?! my mech has someone for like $350, i will just get that

LEXSOOS

Let me know the results

Panerai127

LEXSOOS, hey man, got the new rack for $350 from IL, when we installed it with my friend mechanic along with new tie rods, it was not the rack but the rack joint..lol so, it set me back another $260 from Lexus.. After I did allignment and i start driving the car I get this cracking sound (like a metal string is so tight and it makes this sound like it is about to pop, the best I can describe it) and also makes this noise when I turn the steering wheel standing still. It is coming from underneath the car, but when we lift the car and the wheels are in the air, it does not do it. Any ideas?

LEXSOOS

I sugest to use different rack/lift, one of those where you pull your car on the top and than you raise car without wheels hanging, that will give a chance to examine noises being under car while car is lift up.
Damn bro..... i have no idea what it possibly could cause that cracking noise, did you let air out from steering system after you replaced steering rack? Whats the deal with rack joint? Can you take a picture of it (rack joint)? Do you still have loose feeling on steereing wheel like before you replaced steering rack?

Panerai127

what do you mean, let air out? My mechanic did it, I guess? I mean if this is what you usually do when you replace the rack. Will try find the noise today, hopefully! The rack & pinion joint is a rod with a joint, about 10 inches long that pops into the steering column and has a boot on it, you install it from the inside the car, the boot isolates the noise from the outside, right on the bottom of the floor panel and then you connect it to the rack itself, that is the joint that moves the rack, I think.. But yes, the loose feeling is gone, the feel is like BMW, nice and tight, that joint was the problem, when we took it out, it had a play in it, and that was the play I felt in the steering.. Night and day difference!! Now I have to fix that noise..