Over the past month the play in my steering wheel started to increase gradually. First it started only as a small "slip" at freeway speeds on a tight turn then has progressed to something as small as a lane change or adjustment in a lane.

I originally thought it was the seals in the rack were starting to go out so I picked up a rebuilt rack and put it in last night. This afternoon I took it in for an alignment and after the tech was finished he said to me that the bushings were bad. I was confused and asked him what he meant. What he described was the exact same thing that was happening with the old rack. If I turned to the left, after I straightened out, the wheel would be turned slightly to the left (10 or 11 o'clock position) in stead of going back to the middle (12 o'clock) and the same for turns to the right (1 or 2 o'clock position).

so what could it be? are the mounts on the frame that the rack bolts too bad? are the bolts not tight enough? I'm at a loss but I need to figure out what my issue is.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that when I turn left or right there is a knocking noise coming from the area where the rack mounts on the driver side. This was happening with the old and new rack.

 

Are the splines tight on the steering column/gear going to the rack itself? When the rack was replaced, I would assume the bushings were inspected. If they were so far gone that you are getting the symptoms you described it would be very obvious.

 

The bushings were in good shape as far as I could tell.

 

What year is your car? i have a 98 ES300, just replaced the rack recently and honestly I didn't even notice any bushings on the rack or the mounting points. My steering has improved alot, with the bad rack it would automatically and randomly jerk a little to the left or the right.

 

I drive a 98 as well (243500 miles). I have the exact same symptoms I had with the old rack minus the steering is a little more firm with the new rack.

The only thing I can think of to figure out what is wrong is mounting a gopro camera near the rack and record it for a short time to see what's going on under the hood when I'm actually driving it.

I'm going to get back under the car tonight and make sure nothing has come loose.

 

Probably unlikely, but it wouldn't hurt to check the steering shaft also...

 

How would I go about doing that? Would I have to remove the steering wheel?

 

Problem solved. After getting back under the car I found that I had forgotten to torque down the bolt on the driver side. now that I have it tightened down properly it rides better than I've ever felt it drive before!