Steering wheel not centred but only intermittently- please help! (1 Viewer)

[lost abound]

Hi people,

I have a 2004 lx470

Weirdest thing happens and I can not get my head around it.

Car drives fine, steering wheel centred, tracks perfectly down the road.

On the very odd occasion after completing a slow speed turn on full lock, the steering wheel ends up 90 degrees from centre yet you are driving down the road perfectly straight.

It’s only when turning and braking at a slowish speed does the steering wheel return to centre. Other wise you could be driving down the highway with a crooked steering wheel for hundreds of miles.

I have checked the steering wheel spines, the steering column splines/unis, the steering rack bushes, all the tie-rods ends are tight it’s had a wheel alignment and nothing could be found.

It’s not chewing tires out or anything and you can virtually drive 95% of the time and avoid it occurring but it’s my wife’s daily so I want to get it sorted.

Any ideas? It’s very disconcerting knowing that the steering wheel is not behaving correctly when you are driving!

 

[travis218]

uh...stop driving that car and have it towed to a mechanic. That has to be something mechanical and you're waiting for a disaster.

 

[flintknapper]

Sounds as if it would be steering rack related.

 

[medtro]

Sounds like VGRS related.

 

[Mark WV]

Definitely variable gear ratio steering related (vgrs) if it isn’t the rack bushings.

It you have techstream you can do a zero point calibration (ie: set the steering wheel straight ahead and tells the computer where straight ahead actually is located) which may solve the issue.

Driving with the zero point way off can have unexpected and dangerous results— computer can perceive that you are in a skid and try to correct with braking when in reality you are driving straight ahead in heavy traffic

Definitely get it to a shop or dealer that has the expertise with this system to diagnose and repair if needed as @travis218 stated

 

[lost abound]

Mark WV

Thanks I was not aware of this VGRS system. I know the steering wheel has been on and off to fix an airbag related issue.

So it needs to be recalibrated properly with the steering angle sensor I’m guessing.

I will speak with the local dealer.

Thanks again I’m hoping this is the issue because all looks good in out and underneath. Last ditch attempt I was gonna get the rack reco’d