Your case reminds me of my Ford Focus mk3 which was sold earlier this year due to a cock-up job by the mechanic. I'll avoid being Long-winded as it's late already and I don't have much time to type. Your mechanic stating that the steering requiring 3 months to half a year to work correctly is just a blatant lie. The steering wheel will work perfectly after a replacement. The thing is most if not all recond or 2nd hand steering racks are in poor condition. That is the main reason it's cheap to install and most unscrupulous mechanics make quick money this way. A good and honest mechanic will tell you beforehand if there would be any problems or issues before installing the steering rack. A bad and dishonest mechanic will just want your business and couldn't care less about the quality after installation, failing to warn customers on the issues prior to installation.

My advice is to bring it to a Honda service centre if you can't find a good workshop or mechanic to reliably fix the issue for you. The money you have spent on this reconditioned steering rack is likely wasted, as new steering racks are the safest bet for peace of mind. I may be wrong but based on my bad experiences with used steering racks on the Ford Focus mk3, they are all not reliable as all produced friction sound when the steering wheel was turned left and right. I'm not sure about Honda's steering racks. With the Ford Focus, it is a HUGE safety problem if the steering rack fails, as it can fail when you are driving the car and the vehicle is still moving on the roads at speed. When it fails, you will not be able to turn the steering wheel easily and need to stop the vehicle on the side of the road or worst is in the middle of the road if it's a female driver as the steering wheel will turn VERY stiff.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Jul 28 2024, 10:07 PM

Sorry, I didn't know you had bad experiences with Honda's service centres. I thought service centres are the best place to fix any issues, and the only issue with sending vehicles to service centres is the high price of replacement parts especially for vehicles which are already out of warranty. Yes, it's usually a cost issue where owners opt to send the vehicles to workshops outside instead of service centres. But to reliably fix an issue for instance the steering rack, in my mind service centres are the best place if disregarding the high price of the replacement. Hence, Jon97's experience is rather abnormal to me, perhaps a show of incompetence or unprofessionalism by the service centre. I am guessing that most workshops outside which specialise on recond or 2nd hand steering rack replacement are not professional, based on my experience.

FWIW the cost of a new steering rack of the Ford Focus mk3 in the service centre is claimed to be RM10k+. Outside workshop used to me RM9.8k several years ago but has now dropped to RM7.5k latest news. Used/recond steering racks cost around RM2.5k. For steering rack replacement, it is crucial to find a reliable workshop with the expertise to replace faulty steering racks. For the Ford Focus mk3 which is on Electric power steering(EPS), there is an electronic box attached to the steering rack. Once that box is damaged, the screen of the car will show a message that the steering assist has malfunction and the vehicle cannot be driven anymore as described in my earlier post. If your Honda's steering operates differently, then it's different.

As Jon97 has suggested, another option is to sell the car as is, hence you don't need to spend more money to fix the vehicle. That's what I did to my Ford Focus mk3 as the damage was already done. If you still want to keep the car and drive it for many years, in my view a new steering rack installed at the service centre or any reliable workshop is the best option. Not recommended to go for another recond or 2nd hand steering rack as chances are you will experience the same problem again, sooner or later. Recond/used steering racks all have their lifespan, and it's just a matter of (short) time before problems crop up. I was told that all new steering racks have their lifespan, that I'm not so sure though. For the Ford Focus mk3, I was told that the life span of the steering rack is around 8-10 years only. To prolong the lifespan, it is advised to drive the car slowly when going over puddles of water on the road as the splashes of water may go into the electronic box thus damaging the electronics or circuits it seems.