Went rallying, need alignment help with steering wheel
 

So after my off road fun my steering wheel is turned slightly right but I drive straight as my tire hit something when I went into the grass. When I got home I jacked the car up to check the passenger front wheel and tire. All looks good. I spun and spun and spun the wheel and checked with my eyes and finger slightly pressed on the wheel for any deformation and I don't see or feel any so that's good! Wheel and tire also show no damage at all.

I also checked the bow in the tie rod end and each side are even.

So then I put the car on ramps and ran a string down the center line of the car underneath. I measured the front of the wheels to center line and the rears to center line and here's what I got...

Drivers front to center- 28.531"
Passenger front to center- 28.469"
Total 57.00"

Drivers rear to center- 28.469"
Passenger rear to center- 28.469"
Total 56.938"

Based on my last alignment I'm still slightly toed out at 0.062". But that's odd because 0.062" is also the difference of the fronts to center yet the rears are identical.

1. I'm not sure how the fronts can be off yet the rears be the same to center.

2. I checked all this with my steering wheel perfectly straight, yet when I drove home it was cocked sideways maybe 30 degrees. So I'm not sure how underneath can be what it is but my wheels off. I can get an alignment check I guess and I know you can't just pull the steering wheel and rotate it so it's centered.

:icon08:

OP, are running an aftermarket steering wheel? Anyway, 2 ways to fix it is either to remove your steering wheel (aftermarket or OEM) and then re-install it by centering it. Otherwise you will need it professionally adjusted if that doesn't work based on your explanation. Just an advise, do not step/press on your brake pedal while removing the airbag.

If he hit something off-road and now the steering wheel's 30 degrees off center, isn't adjusting the steering wheel itself the wrong thing to do?

It is possibly the wrong thing, but considering that if OP actually did check his toe, camber, arms and tie rods, it is possible that what happened to him is like mine which misaligned the steering rod (i forgot what it was exactly called) due to massive counter-steer when I hit something on the road. Had nissan and several shops took a look it, wherein everything was in spec, the fix was either re-align the steering rod, or pop the steering wheel off and then re-centering it. When I did mine, I just decided to put a momo steering wheel instead back then. I think the best way is to have it professionally put back.

Very possible. I've never taken my Z off road, but I would think an impact sufficient to misalign the steering rod would have damaged some other stuff, right? You didn't see any damage to anything but the steering rod?

I know right?! No damage even on the steering rod, I had all the shops scratching their heads and asked if Hulk drove it like he stole it. :roflpuke2:
But seriously, zero issues, but I no longer have an airbag. Love my Nardi!

I'll go to my grave not understanding how a hit like that would not mess up everything else in the suspension near it. :rofl2:

if the aftermarket hub jumped the splines, he's going to need a new hub...or worse :eekdance:

No still factory. But if I do that won't I throw a bunch of lights? I know people have complained about not getting the steering shaft back on perfect when they took it off so they could do headers. Is the wheel not the same as the shaft down below? What do you mean by professional adjusted?

I drifted a corner (not on purpose, cold tires), over corrected real fast with the wheel, the car snapped back very very fast, and I went off road. There was a ditch then berm so I just implied that's what I hit. The tire did have some mud on it and some was impacted into the gap in the wheel and rim area. So I assume that's what did the steering wheel in. But everything below again seems perfect.

First thing I'd do is get someone to check out the steering system to make sure you didn't do any damage - I agree with Chuck33079 that a hit hard enough to change the steering wheel position could have caused some damage. If everything checks out OK, the FSM has procedures for adjusting steering wheel position.

I'm at a loss. If everything under the car is in spec, I don't know how the wheel would be cockeyed.

You're talking about a bent rod from the wheel down to the power steering rack? That could be maybe.

Only thing I could find off is the sway bar but it was untouched do to seeing mud hits. If I measure the tip of the end of the sway bar to the lower control arm, drivers is like 0.98" and passenger is like 1.06". But that'd mean the huge whole lower arm is bent which I doubt, or that just the sway bar wasn't cut perfectly at the ends.

My guess is that's normal variance. If not you'd see other things attached to the lower control arm out of spec. I'd just take it to the alignment shop and see what shakes out.

Here's me straight by the way. Not 30* like I thought. Its 16.5*.

Ok so alignment and recalibration seems to help out the wheel but now the yaw light comes on and i cant turn right without the brakes being applied. I'm still here at the shop. Front camber and toe are not really any different than the alignment a month ago. He did adjust it more to zero toe. The rear however needed an adjustment because I put the toe lockout plate backwards on the passenger side and was -1.67 degrees which is prob why I slipped out in the turn to begin with.

So now I'm at a loss. Numbers seem fine, wheel seems fine, but I can turn right. I have to drive around with the yaw sensor killed.

Sounds like the steering wheel position sensor is out of adjustment.

Edit:
That sounds like a (serious) mechanical problem but I have no idea what it would be. After reading the thread you linked to, I'd double-check the tierod ends and other steering/suspension parts that may have been involved.

Seems to be a very similar issue...

Steering, ESP and slip problems - 350Z General - 350Z & 370Z UK

Can I check it?

Procedure is in the FSM but I don't remember if checking it can be done with "normal" tools.

Edit: I'd make sure there are no mechanical problems before I started worrying about the position sensor. Get the root problem fixed and the position sensor may "fix" itself.

Serious maybe. The steering wheel does seem now slightly cocked to the left after the alignment. I mean I checked "things", nothing seems bent or broken. With the brakes being applied its an electrical issue caused by a mechanical one maybe. The yaw might be one way but the steering angle or abs sensor might be another. I mean with the yaw killed everything is fine. Here's the sheet...remember the passenger toe was a backwards plate so nothing crazy happened it seems.

PS the car also drove and turned fine before the alignment (minus the cocked steering wheel to the right), after 3 recalibrations the car won't turn. Something in the computer or sensor is not playing nice.

If the steering wheel is straight now (and assuming the position sensor and yaw sensor are OK), then it sounds like it could be the wheel sensor causing the warning light but that shouldn't affect steering in the way you describe. Or maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean by having to put on the brakes to turn.

I edited the post you quoted. Steering is now slightly left instead of right but that might be the crown in the road. Before was like 16* tilt, now I'd say under 5* but left.

What I mean is I drive at say 35mph, the road has a slight curve right where I need to turn the wheel maybe 16*, the yaw light flashes but does not stay on (and yes, it's the yaw light that flashes, not the traction control light) and the brakes are pumped automatically causing me to plow left.

I don't remember how close you have to be to perfectly straight. Five degrees may be enough to throw the computer off. The FSM should have that spec.

If the steering wheel has moved at all, that indicates to me that there is a very real possibility of serious damage. I recommend taking the car to a collision repair shop and get them to check for damage. This is way too serious to be diagnosing over the Intertubes - especially by me.

Is this a problem? The lines don't match?

With all the other symptoms it sounds like the steering wheel position sensor and the yaw sensor are disagreeing and the car assumes it needs to correct. I still think the root cause is something more serious than the steering wheel/SWPS being out of adjustment. But I'm no expert.

Understood. I like you helping though. Haven't been wrong before :tup:

That's what I'm thinking. Is the pic the issue now? If those threads slipped from the hit then that's what let go.

I dunno, I don't remember seeing that under my hood (but then I've never really inspected the steering column mechanicals) so I'm assuming that's where the steering column connects to the rest of the steering. If the splines have slipped, that would cause the steering wheel to be cocked which would cause the VDC/TCS/et al to malfunction. It also sounds like something that could happen when you hit something hard. My guess is that you've found the problem. But it's just a guess.

Edit: If you hit hard enough to cause that connector to slip, you may have other damage. Get it checked by a pro.

Well that's not it. One spindle is larger and square vs small and V shaped for the rest. It only goes into the knuckle one way.

I'm out of ideas. Unless someone else can come up with something, I say take it to a shop that knows steering/suspensions.

Same here. I unplugged the battery to remove the steering wheel which I couldn't because I don't have an anti theft torque bit. So I went to the store to get one and now I can't get the yaw to activate like before. So the battery reset the system or I'm just unlucky as **** like I always am!! :shakes head: I'm now scared to death to turn right because I'm afraid the brakes will lock up and I'll hit a driver in the other lane.

The steering wheels still off which I hate to the left.

Good luck finding the problem and stay safe. Let us know what you find out. I am curious (yellow).

Edit: Link is NSFW

With the YAW light on. Your sensor on the rack needs reset by the dealer. It maybe affecting your stability control. The computer thinks the car needs help and is appling the brakes.

So I have to hit the kill switch, and let the dealer do their thing?

Wouldn't a brand new Hunter alignment machine plugged into the obd2 port do the same thing? I paid for a life time alignment so I'm going back again tomorrow. I want my wheel dead nuts! He'll probably try a recal for the 4 time after that.

Again, as of this moment though everything is fine and it's not applying brakes but the wheel is slightly off.

Do all the alignments you like. Still won't do anything for the sensor. The sensor it's self has to be reset. I ran into the sensor problem when I did my LTH's. ;)

I remember. Hence why I refused to take apart my steering when I did my LTH.

But what I'm saying is the Hunter plugs into the ecu and CAN reset everything. I'm just not sure the tech is resetting it right since the wheel is still crooked. He did it 3 times. First time he did it cause that was the final alignment step. Second time I left for home and the yaw light was constantly on. Third time was when I left for home again the light was off but the yaw kicked in and applied the brakes. Since then I've pulled the battery and haven't had another issue.

I still want to head back to get the wheel perfect, he'll reset a 4 time, and I hope its over with.