Weird Alignment Problem...

striderzz

So the problem is that my driver-side front tire will not hold an alignment. Below is a time-line of what has happened and what I have done. I am sorry if this is long winded...
- I have owned the car for 3 years. It has been driven to Alaska and back and in total I have probably put over 30K miles on it. It has never had any alignment issues.
- I have driven this car extensively off road and never had any problems.
- I wrecked the car on 11/05 when I hit a patch of ice. I had to replace the shock, upper and lower control arms and a few other small parts on the PASSENGER FRONT. After this the car drove just fine and went into alignment spec easily.
- Jan. 07 I went for a road trip to mexico from the SF Bay Area. Coming back from Mexico the driver-side front wheel went "spontaneously" out of camber and toe-angle. I say "spontaneously" because I have NO memory of hitting anything significant. It was so bad that when I drove, the steering wheel was 90 degrees clockwise from normal and the tire constantly squealed when driving ANY speed. The time I noticed a slight difference in the steering to the time it was no longer drivable was ~70-100 miles. Car was towed, re-aligned and the mechanic could find no reason why. Car was tehn driven another 200+ miles and didn't have a problem until yesterday.
- Car again went out of alignment for "no reason". This time is was around 60 miles from when I noticed to when it could not be driven. Taken to shop, re-aligned and the mechanic could find no reason why.
- I was 50 miles from home when I drove the car from the mechanic and guess what? Right about when I got home the alignment was so bad the car could not be driven. It is now stuck at my house and must be towed to be repaired.

Any ideas?

-n

mike805

Sounds to me like the problem is internal to the steering unit. It may have been damaged in the wreck and occasionally slips several teeth on the rack and pinion. The alignment people wouldn't see anything on the outside. The camber problem would only cause tire wear and not a real drivability issue you would notice unless it is far out. Hope this gives you some idea where to look.
Mike

bandit10

I agree with mike805. The teeth can jump several teeth in the rack & pinion and the alignment person wouldn't be able to visably see it. But I believe if you bring it to Toyota and tell them your experiences with several alignment atempts, they will definatly go to the Rack & Pinion as the first source of the problem solving. I am a firm believer that there are times when only the dealer can resolve difficult problems. Because their trainng is specfic in their vehicles.