I bought a 98 EX for my daughter with 90k miles and when I drive it, the steering wheel has a little play in it. Not like the front end was loose, but the actual steering wheel was loose. It also appeared that the shroud around the base of the sterring wheel was not centered on the dash. It almost acted as though the wheel adjustment lock was not engaged, but it was. The car was owned by the first owner and appears to be well maintained and the carfax shows up clean. The car is completely stock and drives staright and true on the open road.

Any ideas? Thanks for the help.

 

its just the way it is...all hondas are like that, well...not all but some, i no my driving instructer civic shook like crazy..like real bad, mine does it a little with stock tires at highway speeds..with my low pro tires i can feel it alot more, and my dad drove a CRV the other day on the highway and he sead once he got it up to 120km/h there was soooo much shake on the steering wheel..so thats 3 hondas, thats just the steering wheel ...if you want to be sure you can get a alingment and wheels balanced

 

It's not really shaking like a tire out of balance. It's actually play; you turn the steering wheel to the right or left about 3 or 4 inches before the front wheels respond. I also notice that the plastic shroud around the steering wheel seems to be offset like the car had an an accident and the steering column is not aligned vetically with the shroud. But like I said, the car rides great even at high speeds, no wobble.

Am I just being too **** and should I just drive the car? This is my 6th Honda and I never noticed something like this before. By the way, it passed the state inspection with flying colors.

 

i think its just an **** mental thing. its probably just the fact that its power steering and theres some electronic and fluid stuff that needs to move about for the steering to respond.

 

My guess is that the brake rotors got warped and repeated shaking from braking wore out the bushings some where in the steering column.

 

Where are the bushings located? Is this something I can fix if I buy the Clymer or Haynes manual - will it be covered in there?

Thanks.

 

yes