w1437

This will be my first post, and i'm hopeful someone can help me. After looking around for a couple of months, i bought a 2001 RX300 with 125K miles. It had about 20 miles on a rebuilt transmission, new brakes, and about 3 month old tires. It seemed to be a pretty good car, has some normal wear but nothing big. Today, while I was out driving with my wife in a winding canyon, the car suddenly lurched to one side and some alarm on the dash started going off. I was frankly too busy trying to keep the car under control to look at the instruments to see if some light was flashing. It felt like it had a flat tire. I could hear something rubbing. Then it stopped, and as i was trying to figure out what was that (?) it did it again only a few hundred yards later, stopping almost as soon as it started.
I got the car home, it did not happen again. But I am noticing that the steering wheel is centered sometimes, and sometimes it is about 20 degrees left of center when going straight. I have no idea what is going on with this, can anyone point me in the right direction?

Lexmex

I had this happen about 12 years ago in Mexico and the awful roads there jarred one of the bolts holding the steering rack together. There are 2 bolts holding either side and they can cause the exact problem your are describing.

ukrkoz

That^^^^ or something else happened to your steering. Reck'n'pinion.
Something's off kilter or simply broke. I'd not be driving that car till fixed.

w1437

Took the car to a local shop, messed around a little then finally put in on a 4 post life with the weight on the suspension, cranking the wheels back and forth you could see the rack on one side moving 1/2-3/4 inch. Tightened it up, checked the alignment, all is well now. Thanks Lexmex, if you're ever in Denver lunch is on me-