Steering not returning to central position

[grasmere59]

Bit of a weird one but the steering on my 2003 2.0hdi has become heavy at slow speed and if you take a slow corner either left or right you have to self center the steering wheel yourself the last half a turn of the steering wheel,if you take your hands off the wheel the car would just keep going in that direction,top mounts and bearings were done about 20k miles ago with good quality replacements,any other ideas guys?

[steve_earwig]

Seized track rod end, seized ball joint?

[PeterN]

..or universal joint at the bottom of the steering column.

Peter

[grasmere59]

Cheers guys i'll try and check all those at the weekend,seems strange tho as it came on all of a sudden.

[Doggy]

Get both front wheels off the ground and if need be an assistant to twiddle the wheel while you watch/listen.

[grasmere59]

Think it's sorted,traced it down i think to the steering knuckle joint between the bulkhead and the rack,didn't
have a lot of time but doused it liberally with WD40 and worked it in and it seems to have freed up somewhat,not an ideal fix but when i've a bit more time i'll take it off and have a good look but elevated the problem in the short term,thanks for all the suggestions guys

[GingerMagic]

Also check out your strut top bearings - one of my old 406s failed the MOT on non-return steering, turned out to be the bearings....

[grasmere59]

Luckily the strut top bearings were done not that long ago,packed the knuckle joint with grease today and the steering seems back to normal,treated it to new discs and pads all round today aswell so she's good to go for a few more miles