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Crooked steering wheel.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Prius92, May 15, 2023.

  1. Prius92

    Prius92 Active Member

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    This is what mine looks like.
    Fullscreen capture 5152023 102006 AM.bmp.jpg


    It's been that way since I got it 4 years ago.

    Body shop said no evidence of frame horn damage.

    Have had it to Toyota twice and Good Year twice, they even showed me they set the steering wheel to zero before aligning, I think once at Toyota they even did so in Techstream.

    I even tried removing the steering wheel with the wheels locked straight and the next spline over would be too crooked to the right.

    What gives? Has anyone else seen a Prius like this?
     
  2. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    It is possible that you are noticing that just because of the "road crown" and are steering a tiny bit to the left
    just to make up for that.
    Have the brakes been checked ? A dragging caliper might cause that too.

    Regardless of the cause, you have done a LOT more than I would have and if the tires are not wearing unevenly,
    I think you should stop worrying about it. I don't think that most people would even notice.
     
  3. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    You may want to take a look at T-SB-0063-20, around page 18 and following.

    The car is not steer-by-wire. :LOL: There are some sensors that give steering info to computers for other purposes like skid control, and it's amazing how many mechanics, even at dealers, discover there are 'zero point' incantations for those sensors, and somehow think that will have any effect on which way the wheel points when the car's straight.

    As you can read in the TSB, they like to keep the adjusted length of the two tie rods within 1.5 mm of each other. So you have a choice of two splines that are closest, and if the tie rod adjustments now are equal, you'd want to make whichever choice is closer of the two, then take out the rest of the offset at the tie rods.

    If the tie rods are already adjusted to different lengths (i.e. somebody's tried to fix this before), then your choice of spline would be whichever position lets you achieve 'straight' without the tie rod lengths being more than 1.5 mm different. (You might start by returning the tie rods to equal length, shooting for correct toe and a car that goes straight, then put the wheel back on the nearest spline position to center, then finally tweak the tie rods from there.)

    Notice that the flow chart on page 8 of the TSB starts with checking basics (tires, vehicle condition, brake drag), and next whether the vehicle pulls to one side, or simply drives straight but with the wheel not centered. Assuming you just have a no-pull, wheel-not-centered situation, you just fix it at the tie rods and (after checking for pull and center again) call it a day.

    steer.png
     
    mr_guy_mann likes this.
  4. thetuningspoon

    thetuningspoon Junior Member

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    Drives me crazy too. This sometimes happens after I've had the car serviced. I once complained about it to the Toyota dealer I had a recall done at and they brought it back in and fixed it. I don't know what they did, but it was perfect after that.

    I now have the crooked wheel again as of a week ago when I had my oil changed and tires rotated. Probably needs a re-alignment.
     
  5. zeng

    zeng Junior Member

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    It's wheel mis-alignment.

    Do you have a vehicle pull/drift (subtle possibly) and if so to left or right?

    Mind sharing the alignment screenshot for details?
     
  6. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Two things are possible: (1) a pull (where without the driver correcting, the vehicle deviates from a straight path), or (2) a case where the vehicle doesn't pull—it goes straight without you having to steer it—only the wheel is not centered when it does.

    If you look at the flow chart in #3, you can see that's the next thing you check (the center box at the very top), after the few preliminary checks for obvious stuff. Then you follow the different branches depending on whether it is a pull, or just straight driving with the wheel off center.