Is my rack defenatly gone? - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

mmurray70 · 02-12-2005, 10:55 AM

Ok, I dissconnected the two tie rod ends and am still getting a little binding in my steering. Seems to bind up in random places, and sometimes it even dissappears. There is no play in the system. Binding can still be seen even with the car shut off (no power assist).

Any idea exactly whats wrong here? I'm thinking if it was a problem with the gears there would be play in the steering and the problem would always be there. Any chance there is some dirt in the fluid or something?

Is there any point in draining the fluid and refilling? Any other ideas or does it defeantly have to be replaced?

Hydraulic · 02-12-2005, 11:36 AM

How old is it? Maybe the rack has somehow overtightened hence not feeling any slack....could be anything really, time for an autopsy!!!!

anuthaCamry · 02-12-2005, 12:28 PM

you probably have loose chunks of metal in the gearing which at any time can freeze the steering wheel

well, at least it's not the ball joints..., does it do that when the engine is off?

mmurray70 · 02-12-2005, 02:21 PM

Ball joints would be a much cheaper fix

Its like it all the time yeah. Engine running or not. Keep turning back and forth from lock to lock are there are random tight spots. And sometimes it goes perfect. Any other suggestions?

Car has 270 thousand kilometers. Thats about 168k Miles. I'm kind of dissapointed in this. One of the last things I expected to have to replace on a toyota. These things normally keep running till they rust apart. And the darn rack isnt even leaking.

87Camry5Speed · 02-12-2005, 06:05 PM

Just try flushing out the rack first, it's not terribly hard and not terribly expensive... My old Camry had a lot of binding in the rack too and it only had 128k, but it was also 17 years old. My 95 has almost 163k on it, so I'm right behind you, but it's only hard to turn the wheel when it's very cold outside.

Steve

ArmyofOne · 02-12-2005, 06:24 PM

i just replace dmine on my 15 year old GEN II (es250). let me tell ya, if your rack is gone, you know it, and binding steering is definately not a symptom. mine had anything but. it had loose steering. the wheel had to be rotated 90 degrees to change lanes.

THATS a bad rack.

mmurray70 · 02-12-2005, 07:15 PM

Thanks for the help so far guys. I did some more thinking tonight. If the gears were binding in the rack, there would be more force on the torsion valve thing thats in there, and it would be giving it more hydraulic assist. The idle RPM's are NOT changing at all when you hit a binding area. No extra strain on the power steering at all.

I just took it for another quick test drive and the problem seems mostly gone?? Hardly noticable tonight, but it is still there. I'm going to pull the universal joint at the bottom of the steering colum first thing tomorrow and see if that gets me anywhere.

Can somebody post details on how to flush the system? I tried pulling the pressure line from the rack today and drain the fluid that way. The nut loosened but the line (which didnt flex) turned with it limiting me to turn it only about 90 degrees. I didnt want to force it without really knowing what i'm doing. Should the nut rotate without the line turning with it?