steering floating, wheel loose sometimes

[bspurloc]

Just recently my daughters car seems to be floating, the steering wheel has a lot of play but only when driving 25mph+
Driving in a parking lot the steering is responsive, go down a road around a corner and u have to turn the wheel a bit more till the front end turns. I have not noticed if this goes for both directions or not. 75mph on highway seems worse.
right rear sway bar end was wasted and I figured that was it even though that makes no sense with play in the steering wheel. I replaced that and no change. left side is fine fronts are fine.
I know the racknpinion is leaking fluid but its not low. steering turns fine.

So is this a sign the racknpinion is worn out?

thanks

 

[Mounce]

Check inner and outer tie rods, common cause of play in steering.

Also check tire pressure and tire condition of course as that can have an impact on the feeling during turns and all.

 

[bspurloc]

Check inner and outer tie rods, common cause of play in steering.

Also check tire pressure and tire condition of course as that can have an impact on the feeling during turns and all.

Yeah one tire was at 11psi. that was filled and maintained its air, all are 32-34.
Still doesnt explain why I can move the steering wheel an inch before the wheels start turning.

 

[hockeyman]

I had the front alignment done on my old '03 Envoy after installing new ball joints and tie rods, and it started wandering on me as I was driving. The steering felt very loose at times and did not seem to want to drive in a straight line.

Took it back to the same place and a different person re-align it. The other guy said that it was done incorrectly by the previous person, and that the two front wheels were pointed to the same degree. He did it again saying that they have to be pointing slightly inwards by a difference of 1-2 degrees. Toe-In, I think...

Anyhow, I had no problems of it wandering on the road after that.

 

[bspurloc]

I know the right rear sway bar bushing is shot. But I don't see how that would make steering wheel unresponsive till u turn it more. Sigh.
Not sure on alignment. I drove it down hiway and it was not pulling either way. It went straight. But at 75 it got scary

 

[bspurloc]

blah. I had her take it to a shop cuz Im too busy for cars these days...
265,000 miles you can guess what the shop said.
Right upper control arm. right ball joint, upper and lower control arms.
Around $400 in parts around $40 a part which is maybe 10% high but beats markups others do... however said 5 hours labor. I know that is BS.
That seems like timing out labor Per job which is BS, because you have to remove or unbolt most of those things to get to each one.
So I asked to cut the hours down to 3 and will see what they say. 3 is even long.
but the car is getting worse quickly, the steering is about to go out.

 

[djthumper]

If you have to do one side the other is not too far behind. The entire job should be around 5 hours and I think it is around $750 including alignment. I just did it in June.

 

[bspurloc]

If you have to do one side the other is not too far behind. The entire job should be around 5 hours and I think it is around $750 including alignment. I just did it in June.

thats what I figured. thanks

 

[Mooseman]

Agreed. Makes no sense to change one side and not the other. Replacing the complete arms rather than rebuilding them saves on labour. The upper ball joints are in the knuckle instead of the arm so no way around that labour time but with everything else already apart, should just be about 15 minutes each to press out and in. He was basically adding up the book times for each job.