Weird Steering Problem - Need Help

[xxsn0blindxx]

This is in the wife's 2003 Mazda 6i (4-cyl auto). After driving for an extended period of time (an hour or more) the steering wheel will kind of kick to the right on it's own. In all cases so far this has been while driving on the freeway. It's an odd feeling because you'll be going straight and it feels like somebody just kicked the tire really hard and the steering wheel kicks slightly to the right, and always to the right. It's not enough to cause you to leave control, but it's un-nerving. It it is very sporadic when it happens, it isn't rythmic at all, but does seem to happen more when giving it a little gas to maintain speed. It is a very intermittent issue. We drove for two hours on Christmas Eve before it started doing it, about an hour on Christmas day before it started doing it, then it stopped and started a few more times on the 3 hour drive an yesterday on the way home it did it in hour into the 3 hour drive for about 5 minutes and then stopped. I took it into a tires plus while we were traveling to have them check it out to make sure it was safe to drive. They checked tie rods, ball joints axle shafts, etc. and didn't see anything obviously wrong. It is worth noting that a day or two before my wife first noticed this she had a flat tire. I don't know what caused the flat tire other than possibly being underinflated and unseating the bead, because I was able to re-seat the bead and fill it up and it held air fine since then and there were no leaks or signs of problems. I don't think it is a tire issue because it won't appear for hours of driving at a constant speed and it isn't rythmic like an out of balance tire would be.

Cliff's note:
-Intermittently the steering wheel kicks to the right
-Not a vibration, more of a violent kicking feeling
-Happens after 1+ hours of driving on freeway
-Will go away and come back with several minutes to hours in between occurances
-When it happens it is sporadic, not rythmic at all
-Tie rods, ball joints, CV shafts all look good

[lordairgtar]

You just might have a bad tire and it is not evident just from visual inspection. When it warms up at speed, it probably is coming out of round.

[Russ Jerome]

Believe it or not Joe a ball joint or upper strut bearing can be bound up after a turn and not release for some time, seen it 3 times now 2 being lower ball joints (Brianna's fell off!) and one an upper bearing. Its not too hard to figure out after you have the vehicle reproducing the issue, purposely u-turn hard one way and drive, turn the opposite way and drive. When you figure out which direction causes the bind have an assistant (beer welcome in stallis, have lights ready) watch for a jerky reaction while turing in driveway.

Im doubting tire because of the duration of driving, likewise the steering rack and fluid have been up to that temp for some time already before the failure.

[Russ Jerome]

Oh and take note of how centerd the steer wheel is coming out of sharp/hard corners, if its biasing one way it will give us a side to keep and eye on.

[lordairgtar]

Good point Russ. I'm just looking at cheaper fixes first not having driven the vehicle. Think maybe the wheel is not seated properly after putting back on?

[xxsn0blindxx]

This car has a short-long arm front suspension so no strut bearing, but 3 ball joints (2 on the bottom arm 1 on the top). So far the problem has only shown up on the highway and goes away within a couple minutes so I haven't been able to see what it does in relation to the steering angle. I did notice that when it is acting up, it seems to happen when applying throttle and not when lifting from throttle.

[Russ Jerome]

The torquing action under accel relaxing the bound suspension? The last two similar complaints I was relating too could be duplicated after a corner in town, pretty sure the sticking ball joint in Brianna's W-body GM car would "snap" back to center by onramp but began intermitent at best.

Keeping an eye on the steering wheel should help diag, if it remains strait I would suspect its not my steering issue idea. If steer wheel is noticably off before the reaction Im sticking with steer/suspension. I've seen crazy tire related issues but short of loose lug nuts nothing like the complaint....so far!

[xxsn0blindxx]

The steering wheel is straight while driving and after the kick it goes back straight. The alignment is straight and it doesn't wander. When it happens it turns the steering wheel about an inch and then it goes back to center. It feels like somebody is kicking the wheel.

Wife just said she drove back and forth from Waukesha to Grafton today and it didn't do it.

I forgot to mention I changed the fluid on Monday before we drove back from MN. It was really nasty looking bu the level was ok and wasn't foamy. I don't think that did anything since it happened during the drive home.

[Al]

I think it sounds like a loose bolt/nut somewhere. That is, it is tightened, but not enough. Something binds up and then suddenly lets loose.


You just might have a bad tire and it is not evident just from visual inspection. When it warms up at speed, it probably is coming out of round.

Maybe rotate the tires?

[05caddyext]

I had an 06 Mazda 6i with a nearly identical problem. I finally was able to get the dealership to keep the car for 2 weeks and had them drive it all around town. Not my preferred option, but could never get the problem to happen when I would just show up. After that time they ended up replacing the entire steering column and something on the rack also. They said the problem was caused by something that was worn on the rack due to over cranking the wheel in turns. When I lived at my apartment, I had to do a ton of parallel parking on either side of the street and they said that probably caused the wear when the wheel was cranked to one side or the other. The tire would actually skip across the ground, not drive because the wheel was turned all the way. Problem was under warranty at the time, saw the bill, was nearly $2000 for the entire time, including a free rental car.