Toyota Camry steering problem

Many possibilities:

- Bad Tie Rod Ends

- Bad ball joints

- Bad steering rack

- Loose steering rack

- Bad steering shaft universal joint

Any of these things could be very dangerous. This seems like a potentially very serious problem. I wouldn't risk my life waiting on speculation from members of this newsgroup. I suggest you take the car to a professional mechanic ASAP.

Ed

What year, model, mileage, and service history vehicle? Is this a new car to you? Did the looseness occur suddenly or over time?

Ed White's advice is very good, follow it especially if you are not familiar with the things he listed to check.

NOPE, not possible to cause 1" play in steering wheel.

NOPE, not possible to cause 1" play in steering wheel.

Possible.

possible

Possible.

Something tells me it could be the lower steering column shaft.

I was going to buy this car, don't have it bought yet.

Before you just said "significant, not 1". To be honest, I am not sure what

1" of play means. Do you mean the center of the wheel can move 1/2" in either direction around the neutral point without moving the wheels? If so, any of the things I mentioned could still be the cause. One inch of slop at the top of the wheel is only about 6 degrees of steering wheel movement, which translates into about a third of a degree of movement at the road wheels, or a few hundredths of an inch of slop at the steering components (tie rods, ball joints, bushings, etc).

Before I bought the car, I'd have it looked at by a competent front end mechanic.

Ed

Yes it is. 1" of rotational play at the outer rim of the steering wheel is only a mm or two of slop in the tie rod ends.

And 1" is nothing - try a 1953 1-ton Chebby Step-Van I had to drive for work in the 70's, that vehicle had (I kid you not) A GOOD 1/3 TURN worth of slop between the steering box and the linkage. And that wasn't the worst of it's "endearing qualities" by any means - Look up "Deathtrap" in the dictionary to see a picture.

After complaining my head off about it's faults and driving it like a live grenade with the pin pulled for a month, I just "happened to run into" ;-) one of the last CHP Mobile Vehicle Inspection stations.

Hey, I was just a high school senior on a Summer Job, I never knew I was supposed to see the inspection station ahead and go around the block to avoid it... That's my story, Boss, and I'm sticking to it.

They wrote the company owner a four-page Fix-It Ticket for bad steering, bald tires, no brakes (they did pump up...), broken suspension, no headlights or brake lights, no turn signals, no mirrors, no horn, no wipers, excessive blow-by...

He scrapped what was left of the truck. Problem solved. ;-)

If the ball joints were bad enough to feed slop back into the steering, the car would be all over the road just from that.

If the rest of the car is in good shape, go get the car checked out by a good front-end mechanic. Get a complete estimate including the repair costs to make it right.

Armed with the hard facts, you can make the car owner a reasonable offer to purchase, with the cost of repairs subtracted from the book value. If he still wants to sell it to you at full asking price, he can go get that list of repairs done first, or find another sucker.

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