I have a 2000 camry that has become very hard to steer. I have had a couple people tell me that it is my rack and pinion while others say its the rack and pinion u-joint.
I is hard to turn in both directions and if you listen you can hear a click when it turns.
anyone have any help on how i can determine what to replace?
Put it up on jack stands and get someone to turn the wheel back and forth. See if you can isolate that click. I believe that you can see the U-joint that you mentioned right above the rack & pinion. If you squirted it with WD40 and it fixed it that's probably your problem. However, if the U joint turns out not to be the problem the WD40 might wash away some of its grease and shorten its life span.
It started only when it was cold but now its all the time.
What about using teflon spay on the u-joint instead of WD40 will that still cause problems if its not the u-joint?