Hi guys, my steering wheel feels abit loose and have alot of play, i did a search and did not find anything on the topic. alignment feels fine, just too much play. any ideas on how to fix it before i bring it in?

 

Have you ever had the wheel off? Normally my first guess would be worn tie rods.

Then maybe the rack, where the gear (pinion) from the steering shaft mates with the rack. There's an adjustment called the "Rack Guide Screw" which pushes the rack against the pinion gear. Page 17-14 has the adjustment procedure.

Manual shows how much play there should be, page 17-4. .39" of steering wheel movement with no movement of the wheels.

 

Whats the special tool that needed to loosen the rack guide screw?

 

Has the transmission ever been out? If so chances are the steering column coupler which must be removed probably isn't tight.

What kind of wheels/tires and what pressures are in them?

High air pressure settings and different widths can effect steering feel. I'm pretty reluctant to blame the steering rack.

 

How often do tie rods go bad? The racks do seem pretty bullet proof.

 

Tie rods are also pretty tough for street use, unless you have a nasty habit of hitting pot holes.

 

i'll double check the tire pressure, i dont belive the tranny ever been out, my car only has 13k miles

 

That would be the first thing I would check.

 

i had my tranny/clutch/brake fluid changed today and had Honda checked out my issue this is what they report

"C/S STEERING FEELS LOOSE WHEN DRIVING. MAY NEED ALIGNMENT. TECH ROAD TEST VECHICLE. WAS ABLE TO DUPLICATE COMPLAINT. TECH FOUND SENSOR GEAR INTO PINION FROM INNER GEAR RACK HAS SLACK. NEEDS NEW SEERING RACK. GEAR SENSOR. AND 2 WASHERS. GAVE ESTIMATE OF $1,890.00 PARTS & LABORS TO REPAIR"

I

 

I'd suggest you try getting that "Rack Guide Screw" adjusted first before you lay out $1000. It's the same basic design as my civic, when I had slack I was able to dial some out with that adjustement.

Now don't you S2K snobs give me crap about the S2K being different than a civic. Internally the rack and pinion interface AND "Rack Guide Screw" are pretty much the same.