Something interesting has happened to the steering on the Jazz, after some minor work on the car.
What I am talking about here is the sticky, notchy steering feel which afflicts many older Jazzes, rather than the vague, wooly feeling and the lack of centreing, which is a characteristic of the Jazz steering and suspension set up. Ours has been similarly afflicted, however I have found this mostly tolerable, though there are times when it can become an irritation. I have noticed this has been getting steadily worse since last year.
As I think I have mentioned before, it has also occurred to me that the problem occurs more so once the engine is warm, the steering always feels perfectly okay when the car is stone cold. After driving 10 miles or so, the problem appears.
Anyway, some time ago, I acquired a nearly new steering wheel to replace the rather tatty object on our high miles Jazz. A few days ago, I thought I would change it, and all went without problem and the new steering wheel looks great. However, there has been a rather unexpected side effect - the sticky steering has gone. I didn't drive the car after changing the steering wheel, but my other half asked what I had done to fix the steering, and today I have driven over 60 miles and the steering feels perfect.
So, what have I done, or disturbed? It all sounds rather unlikely, but it's a strange coincidence, if that's what it is. The only thing I can think of during this procedure that may have affected the steering rack in any way is the shock you have to give the old steering wheel to release it from the splines, it takes a bit of thumping upwards to free the splines.
In any case, the problem appears to be completely fixed, at the moment. If it will return, I do not know, but I'll keep you updated.