Buick - Regal :: 1998 - Steering Wheel Randomly Locks Up While Driving
Jul 27, 2013
I have a 1998 Buick Regal where the steering wheel randomly locks up while I am driving it. I usually stop the car and start it back up with success. The last time this happened was after I had the supercharge engine replaced. Once it locked up it I tried to start it up. The first time it did not restart, but the second attempt worked. I have taken it two really good mechanics and neither were able to diagnose the problem. I cannot remember if I am running the air conditioner when it happens. I know that sometimes I am. What could be causing my car to randomly lock up like this?
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As I am driving the steering wheel will randomly lock for about 2 seconds. It has happened while changing lanes on the highway, also happening while making turns in intersections. Took it in to the dealer, all they did was clear the code and give it back to me. I have notified Hyundai Customer Care and they are supposed to contact me but right now the car is unsafe to drive.
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I have a 1995 Buick Regal, with a 3.8L engine. When I start the car sometimes it rough idles and I have to give it a lot of gas and then it runs fine. This is completely random. Sometimes it runs just a little rough, other times really rough. The rough idling when starting the car happens about 1 out of 25 times. Sometimes when this happens I get a check engine light, most of the time not. When I am driving around I also will randomly get a check engine light, but I can't tell anything common to it. It has come on while braking, while coasting with foot off the gas and brake, normal city driving, highway driving. Also my CEL always turns off when I turn off the car and doesn't come back when I restart the car. Always.
I haven't been able to figure out what is wrong and since my car is transition OBD1 to OBD2 I can't use a OBD2 code scanner (it is an OBD1 port), nor will shorting the pins in my OBD1 type port give me codes. Being this the case I took it to a local mechanic and they scanned the computer and said they got 16 error codes. They reset the codes but couldn't get the CEL to come back on. I took it drove it for a couple of days the light came back on so I took it back to the shop and they got 18 codes out of it, but they were mostly different, with some of them giving the opposite readings of before (O2 sensor high one time, then low the next check). They said they didn't know what was going on but wanted 3-4 hours to diagnose the PCM (Powertrain control module) and would probably replace the PCM (~500 on top of the diagnostic fee). That was a bit much for me, so I took the car back.
The things I have checked are fuel pressure (seems fine at idle and revving the car in park)Vacuum is 19 and when I rev quick it drops to zero or so then up to 25 and slowly goes back to 19 (I think that means vacuum is ok). I put the gauge in the O2 sensor before the CAT and I didn't read any pressure, so I think the CAT is ok.I put on a new fuel pressure regulator, and a new fuel filter. I got the same PCM at a Pick-n-pull place and put it is my car 3 days ago. Yesterday I got a check engine light while driving again. The mechanic will charge me to check the codes, but I think it is just doing the same thing as always. I am sort of at a loss as what to do. I though it I was to dive around with a scanner hooked up and the light went on then I could see what the sensors were doing when all the trouble codes fire. I was looking at the Actron CP9190, but it doesn't log the data stream for OBD1 cars, only for OBD2.
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The horn on the vehicle is not working. The fuse and relay have both been tested and replaced. The horn itself does work when connected in an alternate method. Trying to find wiring from steering column to horn to determine issue. Any wiring diagram that shows color of horn wire from steering column and route it takes
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Mine is starting to leak. Watched a couple vids, they lifted the motor passenger side with a hoist and removed the bracket and mount, dogbones etc. That bracket had two bolts on one side and three on the other. They didn't unhook the exhaust or lower the frame either.
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I have a 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. While driving the other day the steering wheel totally locked up. It was not like just losing power steering; you could not turn the wheel at all. I had the same thing happen 3 years ago and knew that if I turned off the car and restarted it the steering would unlock. I did that, it unlocked, and I continued on my way. A few blocks later, the wheel locked up again and this time the engine died after the wheel locked up. A few blocks more and it locked up a third time, the engine died, and I could not get the vehicle to restart for several minutes. The engine would turn over but it would not start. After finally getting it to start I pulled into a parking spot and called a tow truck. The mechanics have had it for several days and can not find anything wrong. It will not repeat this behavior and no codes come up on the computer. When this happened 3 years ago the same thing happened. The mechanics had it for several days and could never find anything wrong. I've been lucky so far in that this has only happened at low speeds and at places where there was not a high volume of traffic.
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1998 Buick Regal has strange readings on the gauges. 80-85 degree ambient air temp, low pressure is 60, high is 125. I have 100 lbs of static pressure in the system with the engine off. I am getting some cool air, but I would expect that the high side pressure is not high enough to cool well. Do I have a plugged orifice tube? Is my compressor not compressing enough? Or is my refrigerant low and causing the problems somehow?
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1998 buick regal gs. My problem is when i throw my turn signal on at a stop or coming to a stop the car completely shuts off. Also now I have the problem with when that occurs I try to start it and now it won't do anything! Then once started the brake light and the anti lock light with the trac light is on and wont let me move the gear shifter out of park!
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I now have an annoying "clatter" sound coming from my supercharger cone housing ONLY when the car is in gear and at idle (i.e.,: stop light,etc.).. Had a new serpentine belt replaced 6 months ago with new water pump.114K miles, great condition otherwise.
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I have a 98 Buick Regal. When my air conditioning works, it is beautiful. On a hot and sunny day when I pull out of the garage, I can run the air conditioning until the car is turned off. After reaching a destination and parking in the hot sun the compressor will not blow cold air. If the day is overcast or cool, the air conditioning works fine. What the problem might be?
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The backup lights don't work and a simple test shows the wires have no power. The bulbs test good. I also checked all the fuses and they are good. Where is the switch located? Also, I searched AutoZone online for the part and get no results.
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I have a 2001 ford f150 lariat 5.4 L Trition it shuts off while driving the steering wheel locks up when the truck shuts off I tried everything and it doesn't seem to help the problem. I changed the Iacv idle air control valve,I had a bad o2 sensor changed that, changed the crank sensor, cleaned the throttle body and changed the Tps sensor, got a new battery, changed the vacuum lines.i really don't know what else to do this truck is becoming a nightmare and is dangerous to drive I never know when it's going to shut off and when it does shut off sometimes it starts right up and other times it doesn't.
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The equipment:1995 Buick Regal Custom 3.8
I noticed a year ago that my car would randomly stall out coming into work after a 20-25 minute drive. It then started to idle really high, very rarely. So i cleaned the throtle body, new air filter, new fuel filter, sparks, and wires. This is about where my expertise ends.
Its seemed better, however, it would act up now and again (stall) but I was fine with it.
Recently I have noticed that the car idles really high 1.5 in drive (compared to 900) and 2k in park after I have drove for 20-25 mins. So I put the computer to the car and all I have is transmission error codes which I have had since I owned the car at 80,000 miles and I am now to 160,000 miles. This car has been pretty good to me because it starts, goes forward, and backwards! What else can you really ask for. A better idle maybe?
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Greetings from the desert of the SW. I have a 1995 Buick Regal I inherited from my Mom when she passed away several years ago. It had low mileage at the time so when things started going wrong, I replaced things like a rusted gas tank, head gasket, thermostat, and belts and the car got me from the Midwest to the Southwest. It now has 105K miles and I've started to smell antifreeze when I drive. The temperature gauge needle will move from the middle line towards hot but never all the way to hot when the car is idling.
As soon as I get moving again, the temperature indicator moves back down to the middle line of the gauge. The anti-freeze level in the 'jug' is fine and the level in the radiator is ok too. I'm wondering if there might be a problem with the thermostat? Unfortunately I live in an area where there aren't any "real" car mechanic garages to take it to for a check up. I'm planning a trip to Phoenix in a couple of weeks which is 5 hrs away. Since antifreeze isn't pouring out of somewhere, I'm going to drive it and hope I make it there and back again.
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I own a 2000 Buick Regal, and have recently come across a gasoline smell while driving. While taking a longer drive, I realized that it would heavily smell like gasoline when I would go from park or from a stop. It really makes me nervous to drive my car not knowing what could be causing this problem. What is going on?
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My 96 Buick Regal acts like it is out of gas after driving for about 10 min. Takes awhile to start, then runs rough if at all. After it sits, it runs fine again for about 10 min. I changed fuel filter, fuel pressure sensor and fuel pressure regulator.
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I have a 2005 dodge Dakota when I'm driving the steering wheel will shake randomly.This isn't happening constantly when driving and it will stop after I make a turn. In addition it will happen randomly regardless of what speed I'm driving. What's going on?
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Cars turns off while driving and may or may not start. The voltage fluctuates and dims the lights and such. Now it wont start.
The battery is good. The alternator is good. I put a new computer in it. I don't know what else to do.
On top of this awesomeness, I found this relay/sensor that seems to go nowhere (picture below). There is also a second something or another that you can see in the bottom right quarter (red wire grey attachment underneath cruise control module next to that bundle of wires) that seems to go nowhere. I didn't unplug these.
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2001 Buick Regal LS 3.8L. When I am driving over 20MPH my front passenger side of the car starts to shake. This shaking causes the steering wheel to shake as well. I am not sure what the cause is and if it something that a novice can fix. The front brakes are new with little to no wear on my rotors. I have rotated my tires to see if the shaking stopped or moved to the rear of the car. After the tire rotation the shaking persisted. If I turn the steering wheel sharply I hear a squealing noise. I do not know if that is related or not.
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My car is a 1995 Buick regal gran sport with only 64,000 miles. It has been cutting of for 2 years now. It usually cuts off when we slow down. The RPM's will suddenly drop to zero. We have taken it to 3 different mechanics over the past 2 years and have put in thousands of dollars to fix it (more that it is worth). We always just throw it in neutral and it start back up and keep driving. We were sick of paying to get it NOT fixed so we decided throwing it in neutral is ok. Well now some days it won't start. It turns over but won't fire. Some days it will start. We took it in and got it "fixed" again, but it is still doing the same thing (some days it starts, some not). It still also has the problem of cutting off while we are driving too.
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Car : 03 Buick Regal
Recent Repairs : Installed new brakes, rotors, and bearings a month ago
Problems/Symptoms:
1. When going forward grinding noise ONLY when turning wheel to the right, becomes a tad louder when applying brake.
2. When going reverse cannot turn at all without hearing an AWFUL grinding noise and the tire seizing up.
3. Front left rotor (where noise is coming from) is beginning to wear heavily on the upper-outside portion in a 2" band.
Possible Solution that I thought of:The metal brake pad clip is somehow bent/not installed right so it is grinding on the rotor.
Why Can't I Check Right Now : Do not have hydraulic jack currently to get my car up. Waiting until Friday.
Today, I took the car to the shop today and they actually found that my sway bar needs to be replaced, but unfortunately they did not open up the brakes to check out the grinding noise. So when I left, I got to thinking about the brake pad clip.
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