The steering on my Mk5 3.2 is feeling a bit loose and disconnected. I'm also coming up on the end of my 40K mile warranty. Is this common to this platform, or are there some end links, etc. that I should have the dealer check out?
Even if it is not a wear issue, what can I do to tighten up steering response and tracking? Ok so further searching with different terms gave me control arm bushings as a possible culprit.
So I was driving the other day and out of no where my cars steering started feeling really loose and the car darts the the left if your not holding the wheel towards the right. It barely turns and the whole front rocks back and forth when turning, the car is Not driveable it feels like the steering wheel barely does anything and it's very sloppy , I was thinking it could be the rack and pinion but idk everything looks intact underneath...
View 6 RepliesDisconnected my battery for about 15 minutes to wire up HIDs. Couldn't put them in due to the nut not coming off the battery bolt. tightened battery and started car. dash has amber steering light on and traction light. when i put it in reverse (AT) it banged into gear, then put in "manual mode" trans jumped and banged into 3rd gear. also noticed 1 touch windows not working. What might have gone wrong from a simple battery disconnect. no additional wires were hooked up to the car or did i forget to reset something.
View 4 RepliesAfter about 3 weeks, I finally get my 04 .:R32 back from the shop after getting a new fuel pump (long story there) and the mechanic mentioned the fans began to run and stay running when the key is turned to the on position and then turned off, key removed etc. I picked the car up tonight and repeated his claim turning the key to the on position and the fans kicked on and stayed on until the battery was disconnected. I am hoping there is an easy fix. What this could be? FCM maybe?
View 20 RepliesI was working on the car today and had the battery disconnected. When I was driving the car a few hours later i noticed my horn stopped working. the alarm sound when the car is locked stopped working too. I was hoping it would start working again like the one-touch windows do, but they didn't.... I think I possible popped a fuse but didn't see any when i checked. I really don't want to drive 60 miles tomorrow on i95 without a horn.
View 21 RepliesI just picked up a 1978 ranchero, and the steering wheel seems very loose. Lots of play in it.
View 2 RepliesLast week during some more aggressive driving i got a noise out of the front suspension area and immediately noticed the car had a much looser steering feel, I garaged the car for the week until i could take it into Lexus this weekend. However lexus couldn't find anything wrong with it, they found no codes in the steering system and no worn-out/broken parts in need of replacing yet it still has this vague steering feel to it even after I replaced the tires (245 front 275 rear PSS). What could cause this after they ruled out power steering systems AND suspension? It is still present on new PSS tires as well.
View 9 RepliesSeems mostly for DIY'rs. Would like to start taking care of this steering issue. Steering wheel turns about an inch in both directions before wheels start to turn . How do we tighten this up?
View 14 RepliesFor the past month or so my car is very twitchy and wanders a lot. The steering is so loose that it feels flimsy and sloppy. The front wheels grab every little rut and grooves in the road and pull my car left or right. I have to keep my hands on the steering all the time. I switched out my regular Lexus wheels/tires for my winter wheels/tires and the problem is still there so its not anything to do with the tires.
The car does not feel heavy or planted anymore. The steering feel is like an old Lexus ES from 10 years ago to be exact. At this moment I feel nervous driving the car. Never felt this way ever before.
I had my alignment done last year but haven't hit any potholes or anything. But this feeling feels like the steering pump leak, loose tie-rods, etc. I am not sure. Either way its unacceptable for a 2 year and 10 month old car with only 36k miles.
My car is just about at 60k, and I'm really starting to notice that its not the same. Power is not all there, steering is really loose, suspension has definitely begun to sag, it has rattles, the transmission slips and stutters...maybe it is all a sign.
View 19 Replies2016 tiguan sel. To make a long story short I drove a '14 r line and was told the '16 SEL would drive the same because they changed the trim lineup. The Sel has a noticeably more loose steering, braking, and suspension. It also doesn't hold revs the same. My sales person was an idiot and I couldn't drive model I bought because they had lost the keys and it was the only one they had.
View 2 RepliesI think the yellow colored thing is a clip but it isn't latching onto anything and I try to force it up but it just moves back. Here's a pic. It's right below the ignition start button and is below the steering wheel column.
View 2 RepliesGirlfriend went to start her car on a nice cold day, and said it wouldn't turn over. so after taking her to work, i tried to see what the issue was . . . and the key wont move. the steering wheel is loose, i used the transmission override to move the stick back and forth a few times. still no go.
Did the hammer tap on the key, and used electronics cleaner on the switch in case something was stuck.
Oddity was, the door ajar chimes come on without the key inserted. So am I chasing electrical gremlins or what? the car is a base model without keyless entry.
I recently had an accident which was absolutely scary. I was driving on a residential block and my steering became loose and started spinning. It was continuously spinning towards the right and my car scratched up a parked car until I finally was able to press the brakes and put it in park. After keeping it in park the steering wheel kept spinning out of control and didn't stop until the car was powered off.
View 14 RepliesI took it to a supposedly decent shop for replacing timing belt & diagnosing weird loud engine noise and that turned out to be the power steering pump. After done, I took car back and did some driving of it for work & errands. Today, I was just looking over engine and noticed a nut that's sticking out and not tightened to the engine and it's part of the power steering pump (see photo, roughly in the center). Nut wasn't loose loose per se, but it was turnable and not fastened properly unlike the other surrounding nuts. I ended up hand tightening it flush to the mounting location then finished with a small adjustable wrench to tighten securely in place.
The car/engine drove fine before I noticed this issue. Do you think any problem/damage could have occurred while that nut was kind of loose? Hope I'm safe & cross my fingers. On a side note, all the other nuts on the power steering pump appear to be fastened properly/ok, it's just this one nut, so I don't think it would be all wobbly when the engine was running. Good thing I noticed this in time.
Having this issue? 2016 IS350 F-Sport. Car has 2700 Miles on it.
View 14 RepliesMy Excursion only has 74000 miles and I just replaced the original shocks with Monroe Reflex and combined with my Goodyear Silent Armor tires was running beautifully. Then after a "deal" from Ford, I replaced the Goodyears with LTX-MS2's and had the alignment checked since my Goodyears did have a little cupping after 45000 miles. They also checked all the front end components and said that everything was in good shape! Upon driving it home, the Excursion steering was extremely loose and I was ready to return the tires and get new Silent Armors, but I figured that there probably was something screwy with the alignment that they just did. So I brought it back, test drove it with the tech at 75 mph and he decided he needed to recheck the alignment. After the realignment, it drove beautifully, but after reading the posts on various forums regarding the proper toe-in on the front, I am questioning whether the alignment is set properly?
After the 1st alignment (in degrees):
LF Camber .3; Caster 3.0; Toe .01
RF Camber -.2; Caster 3.2; Toe -.03
Total Toe -.03; Steer Ahead .02
LR Camber .1; Toe .12
RR Camber -.03; Toe .16
Total Toe .27; Thrust Angle -.02
After the Realignment (in degrees):
LF Camber .3; Caster 3.0; Toe -.03
RF Camber -.2; Caster 3.2; Toe -.04
Total Toe -.07; Steer Ahead 0.00
LR Camber .1; Toe .13
RR Camber -.3; Toe .18
Total Toe .31; Thrust Angle -.03
New to owning a 2005 Excursion Limited 4WD 6.0 Diesel 140k miles.
When I bought the Excursion I had to drive it about 200 miles back home and it was all over the place. The steering seems real loose and when I hit bumps or a large gust of wind comes along the Excursion is all over the road.
I took it to Ford to get an alignment the next day and they said I need new outer tie rods ends, upper & lower ball joints, front shocks, steering stabilizer, locking hubs.
After that I took it to my mechanic who said I did not really need all that stuff done but if I did it I should be set with the Excursion for a long time. I opted to do all of these suggestions because I will be doing a lot of traveling with my family and wanted the peace of mind that all is well. For shocks I put new front and rear bilstein shocks (nothing fancy, I think they were about $80 each, sales rep said they would provide a firmer ride for towing).
After that I took it to another Tire shop for an alignment, they complimented all the work done and said I just need to get used to the steering after coming from a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I took there word for it and headed on a 2k road trip.
I love the Excursion but once again it was all over the place. It seems worse around 65-70 mph, and I found going around 75-85 it would be a little bit easier of a drive until a Semi Truck would go by or I would get stuck in a lot of traffic or hit a lot of bumps.
At first I had a very firm grip on the wheel but quickly learned that a loose grip at around 4 & 8 o'clock on the wheel was best. I talked to a number of other Excursion owners who said there was very smooth and straight.
The way it drives right now does not seem safe.
The steering in my '12 feels extremely loose, at highway speeds just a minor twitch on the steering wheel sends me right or left.
View 4 RepliesMore lately I've been noticing that when moving slowly, if going over a bump in the road of any sort, the steering wheel seems loose and the car wants to jump to one side or another slightly.
Picture moving straight ahead, and hit a rough section of or a small pot hole, and the steering wheel will move by itself to the left or the right quite a bit. I haven't noticed anything on the highway.
What can cause that? How should I go about describing to the service advisor so that it doesn't seem trivial? Last thing I want is a steering rack or major front suspension component slowly dying right after my warranty runs out. All I know is that it has struck me as "hey this doesn't feel normal".
Am I just being overly sensitive now that my powertrain warranty has months left on the clock, or does this sound like a legitimate concern? The last few things I've had them look into at the dealership during other service visits have been returned to me as "no problem founds" and I'm starting to feel like I'm just going crazy.
After some additional googling, it seems like I'm describing something commonly called "bump steer"... how much bump steer is normal for this car with stock suspension, I don't know... all I know is that I seem to have become acutely attuned to it whereas I never noticed it before. Hopefully I don't get the "we didn't notice anything wrong" again if I mention it, and whatever it is, is covered.
2000 Honda Civic DX, green, four doors, 91,000 miles. A few weeks ago I noticed that the steering wheel was loose when driving but only about 30% of the time--didn't seem to be related to whether the car was warmed up or time of day or speed, just that it happened when the car was moving. The steering wheel would have play when the wheels were pointed/driving straight and the looseness went away when turning. I brought it in to the mechanic and of course he couldn't get it to happen when he drove it. Replaced worn inner tie rods, did a power steering flush/replaced the power steering fluid and did a front end alignment. Drove fine for two weeks but then it started occurring again, this time even more loose/more play in the steering, still only when driving straight. Oh, just one time (so far) a few days ago it was loose when I was standing still at a stop light.
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