Steering issue, or did I just get hosed by my dealership?

Years and years ago, I had an issue with my trusty '02. The steering wheel would shake VIOLENTLY back and forth. I went round and round with Toyota, but at the end of all the angry phone calls and emails the issue never got fixed, but they paid for an after market steering rack. I wasn't about to pay the 4-5K to get the issue fixed, so I just pulled the PS relay, and have been driving merrily along with no power steering for about 90K miles. I'm now at about 195K.

About a month ago, I noticed some symptoms. 1) some play in the steering. 2) when I went over some bumps, I could really feel the bounce, and it felt like metal bumping into metal. 3) when I punched the accelerator, there was a delay and a "thunk" feeling. I was coming up on a major servicing, so I took it in to the dealership. They sorted out a few things that I knew were overdue (wheel bearings, battery coolant, transaxle lube), and came to the decision that the steering problem was that I needed a new rack, which they would sell me for $4K. I told the gobsmacked mechanic that I just happened to have one, and they put it in, and they recalibrated the steering sensor paddles so that I would again have power steering. When I started the car up in the dealership lot, VIOLENT SHAKING. They took it back in, and declared that was because my ignition battery was marginal (which it was), and that a new battery would sort this out. I thus spent far too much money on a new battery. Two days later, wheel starts shaking, and again I pull the relay. All is normal again.

The questions are these:
1) Can that kind of shaking be repaired?
2) Could it really have been a battery issue? (the battery reads a nice even 12.6 and has a wonderfull warrentee)
3) Was my issue just tie rods the whole time?

Thanks for the help. In the meantime, I'm going to get 238K (distance from earth to moon) if it kills us all.

Ray

 

What does the push/pull test do? I have to admit that I know just about nothing about tie rods.

As to the battery, the 12.6 was for the new one. The old one had been dying for about two years, with the starting getting a little sluggish lately. I think I have the I am pretty sure I've only ever changed it once, and at 195K, I can live with that.

As to the other stuff, it wasn't too expensive to get the new rack put in (since I had one handy), and between that, the new wheel bearings and the alignment, it feels like a new car. But since I plan on keeping the electric hooptie around for a few more years, I want to know if this was a tie rod thing should it happen again. Because steering racks are expensive, and tie rods are cheap.