I posted earlier about loose steering and a slight loss of control in my 2000 Stratus (160,000 miles). I thought it was a ball joint or CV joint going bad, but I took the wheel off and everything looks tight and clean down there.

Did notice that the lugs were loose on one side, which was probably the cause of the control loss. That solves half my problem.

The wheel is still loose though, but the problem actually seems to be coming from the steering wheel itself, or somewhere high up on the steering column. There is quite a bit of play in the wheel, and after turning a sharp corner the wheel is struggling to straighten up.

I can hear a click sound coming from under the dash behind the wheel when I turn at stationary.

Anyone have any ideas? Could this just be something loose that needs to be tightened up?

I'll probably take this to my mechanic, because I don't want to mess with disconnecting the airbag. But I like gathering clues first.

 

to get a feel for how loose the column is, put it in park, and set the key to the "lock" position. turn the wheel to where it clicks into place. How much movement does it have while locked?

I had a similar issue many years ago with a '90 Pontiac 6000, the whole column was disconnected from it's mounting points. If it's just loose, it could explain the "clicking" you're hearing, maybe the threads of the mounting bolts slipping back and forth. I had my mechanic replace the whole column with a junkyard one.