I made a shape turn last night and as I was turning the other direction the steering wheel pulled hard toward the direction the car was goin and wouldnt allow the car to go the direction I wanted till couple of seconds later. This was extremely bad since I almost smashed my car into a concrete wall So could this be bad steering rack?

 

can you say left/right? this side and that side gets confusing. anyhow, did the wheel just feel locked or was it actually turning the wrong way? If it was locked and didn't want to let you turn it, then its possible your PS pump is bad. Do you hear a whine from the cylinder-1 area at idle? and it increases in pitch when you are lightly touching the gas, like a gentle launch? mine whines... so i gotta get a new pump sooner or later (probably later but hey)

 

Sounds like something in your steering system is binding up,start it up/then have helper turn the steering from lock to lock while you are looking closely(preferably with a good flashlight) at the various steering components,focus on the tie rod ends(inner/outer)/rack bushings/axles/ball joints/control arms/etc.etc.

 

what is your fluid level?
you may have temporarily starved your rack of fluid and that caused it to be stiff which you interpreted as locked.
just a thought and a cheap place to start.

 

+1
If thats fact you wont find me driving that thing at all.

Were you not contemplating steering stop adjusters and their limits recently? ............................ or am I thinking of somebody else?

 

Nope,this guy

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=407086

and this one.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=406605


The op had a previous issue with his d-side axle just popping out while driving which makes me think that there is something seriously wrong with something in the steering system,it may be from something he done wrong in his X2 5 speed swap fiasco,or one of the steering components have broken.

Nforce: Also look at your strut bolts,both top and bottom for loose bolts.

 

I did check fluid levels and they seem to be normal. I havent checked other things though. The tie rod ends are new but inters have never been replaced. The ball joints are new also. My steering wheel is still turned to the right due to none of the alignment shops being able to fix my alignment.

 

Try my helper method first,see if you find any binding/or broken steering parts on your own,maybe throw up i video of this procedure. Try it first with car on the ground,then with the front wheels off the ground.

your alignment issue also leads me to believe there is something not right with your steering system.

 

The steering wheel didnt lock it became super loose kinda like something broke and it didnt want to go the direction I wanted it to go but about a second later it got tight again and went the right direction. It kinda felt like large amount of weight went to the front right end of the car and the car couldnt take it. Maybe my left tire went air born?

 

if it did then you seriously need struts BADLY

 

i've only ever done it badly once so i don't remember clearly... but would a massive eposide of understeer change steering feel when trying to turn the wheel, or would it have the same weight, just that the car would refuse to actually turn?

 

I tried to get it to happen again but was unsuccessful. Here is my theory after checking everything. The area where this happened is a area were concrete isn’t level and it goes from a uphill to a big drop (this is a on ramp to hwy) and the turn is really sharp and I took it at about 30mph so the weight of the car could have shifted to that front tire and since that tire was on the uneven area of the concrete it could have off set the turn causing my steering to jerk and have loose feeling. Another thought is since my rear tranny mount is broke maybe the engine/tranny shifted into the turn causing the car to kind of jerk hard into the turn. So I don’t know but I tried about 5 times to get it to do it again but never happened so I believe it has to do with uneven surface.

 

 

Check the linkage from the steering column, it was loose on my 240 and kinda did something like that. But it was changing steering wheel position randomly and felt very loose in the steering wheel. (disclaimer I never touched it on your car its just an idea)

Weren't your inner tie rod boots cracked or starting too? What about the ball joints are they still good? How many miles have you put on the car since the new transmission?

Edit- do you mean you were counter steering while you were turning? AKA kinda like drifting? or were you just trying to straighten out the car? It almost sounds like the front tire(s) were off the ground, if there was a peak mid corner, it might have launched it a little. Did you hit the ground hard or bottom out? Do you struts still feel solid?

~Alex

 

When are you going to pay him something?

It's been 5 months since the swap fiasco.

 

Why don't you leave that between the two of us?

Todd- if you want to talk to me about don't be afraid to im/call me...

~Alex

 

Just looking out for my fellow 3rd genners


Why should he be calling you? YOU should be calling him.If you think this is just going to get forgotten about,think again.You have had more than ample time to compensate him for that mess you made. As a matter of fact,i am going to suggest he start a thread in the buyer seller feedback forum if this issue does not get resolved quickly.

I understand mistakes can be made when working on cars,but this is not the issue,you need to man up and pay him for the damage you caused.

 

lol guess your right...

No it wasnt like a drift and no the car didnt leave the ground. I did replace the ball joints too but never did replace inter tie or rods. So dont know.. I dont even know were they are ha..

On the other hand I will talk to you alex next time your on aim. We spoke couple weeks back and haven’t heard anything from you in a while on your status.