Heeeellllpppp

July 16, 2004

I have a 1996 Camry with 77K miles. Looks great inside and out, and never had a problem with it until about 6 months ago. In the last 6 months, on three different occassions, the steering went out and I was unable to turn the steering wheel, while the car was in motion. On every occassion it was raining.

I have taken it to four different places and no one can either identify the problem or get the car to replicate this behavior. Needless to say I am not eager to drive the car until the problem is solved.

ANY IDEAS AT ALL???? Anyone....anyone....anyone...

July 16, 2004

I know this sounds i bit simple which most garages would of picked up if this was the fault, but is it the PAS belt loose and slipping when getting wet!? The only way your steering can get heavy is for either your PAS pump vane to fail or your rack! But i work for toyota and ive never replaced a rack apart from on avensis's cuz they squeek!

July 16, 2004

I ment ive never replaced a rack due to failure! So i would pretty much eliminate that fault!

July 16, 2004

Mine ('96 LE, 94k) does the same thing. Usually, it happens when turning with your foot off the gas in wet, right? In any case, I wouldn't worry about not driving the car until you can get it fixed. It'll be okay.

The belt is slipping.

I haven't got around to tightening it up myself, yet. I usually just give it a tiny bit of gas while turning in the wet (a VERY tiny abount) , which is enough to keep the steering working.

July 17, 2004

Thank you all for your replies. It is not the belt. The belt is about 2 years old and everyplace that I have taken it to has checked it, wetted it down, and checked it again.

As for the comment "I wouldn't worry about driving the car until you get it fixed, it will be okay", I appreciate the attempt to soothe, but when your steering goes out on an off ramp going 40 mph, I beg to differ. It is anything but ok.

How about an electrical problem? Any chance the engine was cutting off and re-engaging? I never saw a check engine light, but I was pretty occupied with keeping the car on the road and not ruining my shorts, so the light could have been on and I missed it.

The only other two things I can mention are these. (1) About a week or so before this first occurence, I hit a big-***** pot hole. A man-eater. Got the alignemnt checked when I rotated my tires, shortly thereafter. (2) Every once in a while, when I flip by turn signal to the right, there is the sound of an electrical short, a quick 'buzz'. I doubt this is related, as the 'buzz' has been around for years, but the steering loss started in February. Like I said, the car is damn near perfect when it is not trying to kill me. Unfortunately, afternoon thunderstorms are a big thing in the DC area during the summer.

Any other ideas?