Steering problem

[Obscure-Amnesia]

hey guys, i'm having a problem with my steering and was wondering if anyone could give me some insight as to what is going wrong:

sometimes when i am driving my car (1991 Corsair) it feels like the steering becomes loose and doesn't feel right, it almost feels like i have power steering when in fact i don't. it's becoming a bit more frequent which is causing me to worry. it also makes a rather loud clicking sound when i turn corners sharply.

also, this is nothing to do with the steering (i think) but it's also making a burning oil smell, it's not using any oil but there is a fair bit caked on the block for some reason or another, would an engine bay degrease fix this or do you think it's a bit more serious? it happens more regularly when i have the heater on, and the smell tends to come in through the vents

 

[BILL*69]

the clicking sound could be your cv's? i dont know about the loose steering though...

also, check your wheel nuts are all tight, i had a problem of weird feeling steering when someone tried to steal my wheels, three wheel nuts were loose!

[getaroundcar]

Ok bills right about cv's. the steering could be a number of problems. sounds like the bush is going in steering rack. jack up front end and try to wiggle front wheel if there is play and it's not the wheel bearing. then it's the steering rack. easy enough to fix if you know what your doing, but if you have not done one before take it to someone who has as there is many things you can frac up. the oil, well it could be from a dozen different places, my guess would be the rocker cover gasket of distributor o ring.
but that is only a guess with the limited info you have gave me.

[hrmmmm]

Most likely cv joint for the clicking noise, steering not sure on.
  The oil on the block could be blow-by coming out of the exhaust manifold, if the engine is getting high in mileage (i.e not rebuilt) or has run warm this can happen. I beleive it is caused by the piston rings wearing out from old age or being damaged from getting hot, if you think about it each ring goes up/down hundreds of thousands if not millions of times a day over the course of 18 yrs, eventually they will give in.

[Obscure-Amnesia]

thanks a bunch guys, i got my CV joints fixed, they were rooted, and the oil was a blown rocker cover gasket.

the steering thing is still bothering me, i thought it might tighten up a bit once the CV's were done, but it hasn't. but thanks for giving me a n insight i'm pretty hopeless when it comes to figuring out what is wrong with ym car

[LoW GLi]

I know this is an old thread, but was wondering if you came to a solution with the loose steering??

[Jono]

Tie rods?