A week or so ago, as I left in the AM, I noticed the steering was tough and jerky on every turn. (This came out of the blue, as it was fine the day before.)

Then I noticed that the steering wheel was not returning after turns - the car wanted to keep going in the direction of the turn. That is SCARY when you don't expect it. The next day the steering was fine but I noticed that my steering wheel was not straight - it was off a few degrees. the next day the tough, jerky steering was back. I'd had enough.

Mechanic said it was a little low on fluid, so he topped it off. After driving off, it was still the same, so I returned it and told him I wouldn't even drive it. He said to leave the car. Next day he called to say he found the problem and asked me to come over.

He said the universal joint on the shaft was seized. He replaced it and everything's fine now, except the the wheel is still off some. (He didn't give me a price yet ....) He said it will now have to be aligned. I'll do that , but here's my question : A friend told me that he saw somewhere that Lexus had a recall involving the '98 ES300 steering. Is anyone aware of that, and did it concern my problem ?

I am the original owner, and I think I would have been notified .....

Walt

 

That is not an uncommon failure, your mechanic should have known to check it. You can do a recall search here.

 

Thanks for the reply .

(1) recall (steering, but not mine ......