Hi everyone.

I just bought a 1993 Camry LE 4 cylinder wagon. The steering wheel is off about 5-10 degrees, although with hands off the wheel at highway speeds, it tracks nice and straight. I jacked up the front of the car behind each front wheel and checked for play in the steering by moving the tire/wheel assemblies left and right, and no looseness was found. I also grabbed each tire/wheel assembly top and bottom and checked for play and found none. There is what appears to me to be excess play in the steering wheel.

Is there an adjustment for this? The car has new complete front struts, the rear struts look fine, and the suspension height is equal at the rear and at the front (LR = RR; LF = RF).

thanks in advance for any help ! the car has around 135K miles on it.

Land O'Lakes Fred

 

Toyota did have a recall on a loose steering wheel nut but not sure if this extended to this year.

Have someone move the steering wheel while you look at the steering column base (inside the engine compartment). There is a set of u-joints located here as the shaft connects to the steering box, the joints may be worn out. If no play here determine if it is coming from the rack and pinion area. Meaning you can move the steering wheel but the tie rod arms connected to the steering knuckle do not move.

Once the source of the excess play is fixed, it is possible to readjust the steering wheel position by adjusting both tie rod ends.

Keep in mind there is also a swivel joint at the other end of the shaft the tie rod end is on, it is hidden by the steering boot.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

It turned out to be a LOOSE RACK AND PINION UNIT !!! Both bolts/nuts were loose. Another question: is the positioning of the rack unit adjustable, i.e., sideways? The steering wheel is just slightly off now, perhaps due to a tire or an alignment where the steering wheel was not correctly centered.

 

Great you caught the problem. Don't think rack housing has that much play to be able to adjust steering wheel position.

You can do this by adjusting the tie rod ends on the steering rods. Shorten one rod and increase the length of the other.