Corolla steering problem

[sean3578]

Hi guys,

I have a '99 Corolla 160iGLE that has recently started giving me problems with the steering. It started the other evening on my way home when all of a sudden the steering started jolting to the left and a strange noise came from the front of the vehicle. When i applied brakes the steering wheel and the front end (steering section) of the car shook violently (i could also feel this on the pedals)... I then had 3 mechanics take a look at it and they cannot tell me what the problem is without fault finding (very expensive) and murpheys law every time they drove the car it would not do a thing! Untill one of the mechs came to my house and drove the car first thing in the morning, he was shocked at the intensity of the steering jolting but could not offer me a solution. We did however establish that once the car heats up the problem goes away!!!! Which brings me to the second part, the power steering pump makes a zinging noise when i start the car (cold) and goes away after a few minutes as well.

The plot does thicken though! The steering shaking and so on (when it happens) only does so when i accelerate, as soon as i decelerate it goes away...

The steering does not gradually go to the left like a wheel alignment issue, it actually jolts about 3 - 5cm at a time and as mentioned when i apply brakes it makes everything worse.


Please help, I have just spent a fortune reparing a dust seal for my CV joint that was mistaken for a gearbox problem!!!!

My apologies, i see i have posted this in the wrong GEN

[bakwoods]

Wow...that is truly incredible. I mean for three mechanics to have no idea, not even being able to offer you the answer is strange.

It's one of two things. Either bad axles or power steering rack.

1. Bad axles make the infamous "pop-pop-pop" when turning left or right and I mean EXTREME left or right. So do some donuts in a parking lot and listen.

2. Bad power steering rack might make sense too seeing as to how it's directly related to the power steering pump.

Describe the power steering pump "zinging noise" because I'm a little puzzled by that. Paint me a word picture if you will.

If I was a mechanic I'd start with the axles as they are the cheapest to replace and go from there. You can pop you're own axles into place and they are relatively cheap. If you got the OEM ones, I'd replace both fronts for good measure. Afterwards if the problem continues replace the rack.

Other things to look at while you have the axle/hub out of the way, what about tie rods and ball joints? It wouldn't cause this kind of effect, but if they are worn they can contribute.

I am leaning towards axles BECAUSE the car does it upon acceleration. Now we all know the axle spins more due to the transmission putting out more power to the wheels. The only thing that gets power to the wheels is the axle and THAT shaking would only get more violent with increased speed. Additionally, if the hub is shaking due to axle shake, the whole car will shake more violently than a troubled child on crack.