My front motor mount is definitly bad. The front trans mount doesn't look so hot either. When I step on the gas from a stop I feel a pop. It's the motor moving due to the bad front mount. Could this cause a "floaty" feeling in the steering. On the highway sometimes it feels odd. I checked ball joint and the front end seems tight. I also need strut mounts. I was thinking if the motor and trans mounts are bad, the motor could be moving back and forth casuing changes in the steering symmetry.

 

My 90 GXE has the same problem, only i think it's just a simple realignment issue. After kicking into 2nd or 3rd gear is dips to the left and i have to keep it there for my max to keep flying straight.

 

Both of you guys need to replace your control arm bushings..

 

Thanks, now if i can figure out how to do it :X.

 

i had it aligned. I looked and everything seems nice and tight.

 

You need to buy new control arms with new bushings already installed..Look for member internetautomart here,pm him for prices on new control arms..

Replacement procedure--> http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=382030

 

actually due to forum limits it's only internetautomar no t


the arms are $57.75 ea currently (plus shipping)

they are actually a high quality arm, unlike some brands that I have sold previously. some arms you have to rotate the bushing on them in order to get them to fit. I've had ones where the bushing failed very shortly afterward, and ones where the sleeve was welded on wrong. Obviously I dropped that brand and now deal with one where I have had 0 problems in the 4 years I've used them

 

Actually,I think the new server will allow the "t" now..PM dan or another admin of your choice if you want it added..

 

I wonder if that would confuse some of our members here though

 

will the steering get nuked if i keep driving with a bad control arm bushing? Or will it just continue being annoying.


i can handle annoying.

 

to put it simply. it is dangerous and stupid to keep driving with bad bushings.

 

Mine does that! I just got the transmission rebuilt and noticed that the inner tread on the tires was wearing pretty fast... So I got an alignment. Ever since then it does that "floaty" thing (usually right after the tranny shifts during acceleration.) At first I thought it was uneven torque from the rebuild... Now I'm wondering if the alignment people screwed up the control arms? Hmmm...
Any thoughts?

 

Do you have slack in the wheel when the car is shut off? I had slack where the steering shaft meets the rack in front of the fire wall. Just grab the steering shaft near that u joint that looks like a drive shaft and twist it back and forth. I had slack because I could twist the shaft easily and not move the rack. I got a rebuilt rack and new tie rod ends and lower control arms at the same time and now she drives like a dream and zero slack.

 

Thanks for the response... I'll check that tomorrow. From what I can tell with all the handy dandy posts on here... the control arm bushing is probably shot. My power steering leaks (which probably helped destroy the bushing) and I'm pretty sure the rack's days are numbered as well Always something.

 

Check your rack for torn boots. Turn the wheel one way, check one side, turn the other way and check the other side. Mine has one broken boot and I'm going to replace the boot for now, and replace the rack later.

And of all the maximas Ive seen in the yard, the ones Ive looked at always have broken steering rack boots.

~Alex

 

Yup... Torn boot. AND a bad rear control arm bushing thanks to the leaky power steering. (This definitely explains the "floaty" thing for sure!)

Now I have two new questions:
1. What is the best way to figure out where the power steering fluid is leaking from? (clean it and wait? colored dye? bubbles? fortune teller?)

...and when all that leaky fluid destroys your rear control arm bushing to the point that there is NO rubber left at all (Bonus~ No air chisel needed to dig out the old one!) does that:

2. Provide any sort of advantage in replacing the rear bushing (only) without taking the whole thing apart (ball joint, knuckle, etc.)?

Can't I just spray some of that "Great Stuff" foam from Home Depot into the vacant space in the control arm and call it a day?

 

a torn boot does in and of itself cause ANY problems. the boot is there to protect the tie rod, it does not hold fluid, and if yours is, then you need to either rebuild your rack or get a new one.
2.