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Steering Rack Issue, not re-centering, keeps pulling right or left after turn.

7.9K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  williamsji  
#1 ·
My daughters 2008, 217k CRV had a problem for a while that it was very sensitive to right road crown and just not "comfortable" on trips. You always needed to focus to stay in lane with constant small adjustments. New tires, alignment with rear camber kit installed, all front end components checked and rechecked with no issues. I had replaced fluid 4- 5 times with Honda PSF also to flush it out some. I took a longer trip with her recently and had to maintain left pressure on steering wheel all the time, very annoying. Tried driving in left lane with left crown and it would go almost straight but even sometimes slightly left. I brought it back to shop again to ask if they could change caster or some setting to give it more straight stability. My old Sequoia had that with some details from a Hunter Engineer on the forums. He spec'd exact numbers that were "in range" but at max caster, I asked if they could possibly try that.

On the way to shop it was pulling left even with a visually obvious right crown on a 2 lane road which was odd. Shop rechecked alignment settings, spot on center of ranges. Re-checked front end, all solid. They did the full tire move around L>R, F>R etc. no change and kept pulling right on their test drive. I don't recall if it was accidentally or part of trial. The road they use to test has a cross intersection. They usually make a right onto it and do their drive tests. They turned around for something and made a left onto the same road. Car was pulling left after that. They were able to duplicate it repeatedly. If you made a right turn on last direction it would keep pulling slightly right. If you made a left turn last it would keep pulling slightly left.

Shop had not seen it before, couldn't really pinpoint except something faulty in the rack valving or somewhere internal that would just not re-center fully after completing a turn. They replaced the rack, reset alignment to same specs and it drives great now. Stays straight in lane, no constant adjusting. My wife drove it for about 2 hours and was amazed at the difference. Yes it cost $1600 all said and done but I'm happy and feel much more comfortable having my daughter driving it. She also is much happier with it now.

The left pulling on way to shop was because I had made lefts onto all the major roads getting to them. Made sense after they found the issue.
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
interesting, never heard of this issue. glad it worked out for you.
Part of why I wanted to post it just in case some one else encounters a pull that can't seem to be fixed by normal repairs and everything seems perfect. Shop has replaced numerous racks on other brands for leaking or or other damage, never that. Joys of long life and high mileage.

Obviously probably the most expensive and last resort fix but maybe someone searching will come across to help diagnose. During the alignment check they did the "bounce" test a couple times to get everything moving and all stayed centered in range. All control arm bushings and mounts close inspections. They had checked alignment prior to test drives and even re-checked after like 3rd drive with tires swapped looking for a shifted belt/radial pull, alignment still at settings so definitely had a chance to "move" if there was worn stuff.
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
I think the rack is is very UN-common issue but it happens. Does it do it both ways, left and right like mine did? Some times the alignment settings just might need to be changed even though "in spec range". As long as all that is good then could be a similar and not inexpensive repair. I would definitely explore all other potentials first. Mine was barely noticeable in steering wheel just that pull when driving and constant correction.

This same shop for me on a different vehicle (either my Sonata or Corolla) had done an alignment and all was in spec range, it drove fine BUT if I were to turn into a parking spot after about 3/4 steering wheel turn it would spin the rest of the way to full lock by itself and almost an effort to bring back like what you describe. It was easy to show them in their parking lot. They brought it back in and realigned it to previous settings form a couple years earlier. All settings were in spec but at different parts of the range. That issue went away when changed.

If your tires are worn from bad alignment that can add to it. Here is basic description of the 3 settings.
Town Fair Tire - Caster, Camber, And Toe Alignments
 
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