I've been getting a lot of noise out of my rack and pinion in my 03 Eclipse. What would cause this noise? It happens when I'm sitting still, driving straight, or turning. It has gotten worse as the weather has gotten warmer. All fluid levels are good.
View 6 RepliesEver since I had a tire blow out on the highway almost 4 months ago, I have noticed there is a creaking noise that comes from underneath the car at times. Kind of sounds like a ship creaking or something. Tried to get the mechanic to listen to it,he drove the car around the block but all heard was the convertible top hooks rattling. But my girlfriend heard it the other night and she said that wasnt normal and I need to bet it checked out.
Could it just need to be "lubed" I figure those placed like jiffy lube must offer that service for some reason. The mechanic said no. I had a car that the axle broke while I was driving it down the street... I was going really slow at the time. Anyway, what could be making that noise? its a 2003 mitsubishi spyder eclipse convertible with 80,000 miles on it. I am always worrying over this dang noise.
In the last two weeks a noise has developed in my 2003 Mitsu. Eclipse. Whenever I turn, there is a very noticeable creaking noise that sounds like it originates from the front right side. The only other time I experienced a sound like this was when there was a rock stuck in a suspension coil (not this time though). What it could be? It also happens occasionally while driving, more so on rougher roads. This leads me to believe that it has something to do with... suspension? I may be completely wrong though.
View 5 RepliesLast week I took my 2004 Honda Odyssey in to Firestone for a rear brake job and they ended up selling me an oil change, two new tires, alignment, an alternator drive belt, and two front engine mounts as well. When I picked up the vehicle late Friday afternoon, I noticed the power steering was making a whining noise and the steering seemed a little stiff. I took it back to Firestone Saturday morning, and they looked under the hood and said my power steering fluid was low, so they topped it off. That fixed the whining, but the steering still had a bit of a kink in it. They said it might be an air bubble in the line that would work itself out. Monday morning on my way to work, the whining was back and the steering very stiff and getting noticibly worse by the minute, so I took it directly back to Firestone.
It turns out the rack and pinion is leaking, and Firestone denies that it could have happened while they had the vehicle. The manager I spoke to said "all we did was replace a couple of belts -- didn't even get near the rack and pinion." Well, that's not all they did, but if anything they did could have caused the current issue. I know there were no suspension or power steering issues before I took it in, and after I picked it up suddenly it's leaking fluid like crazy. What can I do or say to press my case?
A few weeks ago my '03 Mitsubishi Eclipse missed for the first time since I've had it. It's a 4-banger, so it was definitely noticeable. Fast forward a couple weeks and after a trip to Texas (from Tennessee), it begins to run between 2,000 and 3,000 RPM on start-up. There is a lack of power (not attributed to the small engine size) that was not present until a short time ago. It stopped doing that, and today a service engine light came on. The code was P0134. Some things about the car- the oil is changed religiously every 3-4 thousand miles, and the only major repairs were several years ago- the clutch and head gasket. Spark plugs are 2 years old, and coil packs were checked out around then as well.
View 6 Replies2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GT 5 speed... Wife's car, has 142000 on it, started out 6 months ago as a hard jerky motion, has since calmed down to a single stutter sometime within first 20 miles. It was overdue for 120000 mile tune up, had that done along with timing belt replacement, still does it. Check engine was on before taking to dealer, off when I picked it up, back on next day. It's sometimes almost not noticeable, other times it gets your attention. Seems like it has to be electrical to happen so quickly, then it's gone in a fraction of a second, like it just doesn't fire for a tenth of a second. Was going to try distributor next, but don't want to continue sinking money in it and not be confident that I'm going down the right road, especially after the expensive tune up.
View 3 RepliesBought it yesterday. (also got hit by a deer yesterday!!!) anyway the car is very deep sounding Im not sure how to describe it, before shifting. Cruse's fine but in the low gears just dosent sound or feel like what im used to. I've never had a 5 speed, so hitting top geat at 70 mph is also new..IF you have an eclipse..how does it sound and feel?
View 1 RepliesI charged my AC a few weeks ago. After I added oil it began to make noise. Like metal on metal or a bad bearing. Could be the clutch pulley, bad bearing from what I've read. I don't want to replace it, nor do I want to spend the time and money putting in a bypass pully. I'd like to simply bypass the AC compressor by putting a shorter belt on. Problem is I can't seem to find any clear info on how and what size belt to use. I see a few saying it can be done and one saying it can't. Also, is the 2.4 the same as the 3.0 in regards to the belt diagram?I need to fix this asap, before it seizes up and I lose the belt or damage other stuff.
View 19 RepliesMy car has over 120,000 miles, runs great, oil changes every 3-5K. Love this car! Last month before I took it to the car wash to hand wash (can't go through auto with the soft top), always careful not to use high power around the windows, but this time I tried the "hot wax". The next time that we had a very hard rain, I noticed water dripping into the car from the top of the windows right around were the rubber seams meet.
I thought, ok, maybe it's because it was such a hard rain. However... when ever it rains more than a very light rain, water is getting in from the same place on both sides of the car. What can I do to stop the leak? I'm hoping that I don't have to replace the whole top, nothing else is wrong and I don't see a leak anywhere else.
I have a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT V6 FWD. about 138, xxx miles
My left rear tire/wheel has free - play (clicking movement) when grabbed at ONLY the 3 o'clock position and push/pulled back and forth (no free-play at 12-6 direction) in the air.
I had grinding noise from rear left side wheel when turning right couple weeks ago. After replacing wheel hub bearing assembly, the noise is gone. But still remains the movement ONLY at 3 o'clock. I replaced stabilizer bar links in both rear sides. This link doesn't look like the reason of free-play (clicking movement).
Also, I tested (push or pull) after switching the other side(right) wheel, it still had clicking movement at 3 pm. Therefore, it is not a wheel problem itself, I guess.
And I took off the wheel and fasten the lug nuts onto the rotor itself (so, without wheel in this case), then push/pull the rotor at 3 pm, but this time no movement in any directions. @@;; weird.. ONLY, I can feel the clicking movement at 3pm on the Wheel (or tire) even after rotating wheel, exactly in same spot (3 pm) movement~!!!! What's this case??
All 4 wheels aligned recently after got new tires.
I scrutinized inside wheel while pushing/pulling back and forth. But I cannot figure out which one is problem.
1. Knuckle.
2. Lower control arm ( or Rear rear control arm, not typo) which has a Ball joint and a cam bolt the other side.
3. Rear front control arm
4. trailing arm.
5. stabilizer bar link. (new)
6. Wheel hub bearing assembly (new, double-checked the nuts and torques)
7. Rotor and pads (new, if I push the rotor itself then no wobble or clicking at all directions as desribed above)
Where should I direct my attention and/or what component(s) should I look at given the indications above?
When I pull/push the wheel at 3 o'clock, it feels like wiggling the whole part of lower knuckle where is the connection part between the part of 4 bolt (backside) of hub assembly and lower side of knuckle.
I heard that 12 and 6 is usually an indication of ball joint, and play 9 and 3 is usually in indication of steering components ( tie rods , steering shaft or rack itself ), and all around play is an indication of wheel bearing (usually accompanied with a growling noise ).
I took my 2010 Camry LE for its 70K service to the mechanic to find out there is a leak in the rack and pinion. The tech said that this might happen due the wear and tear as the seal might get eroded or so. He showed me the leaking part and interestingly I never found any oil leak on the garage floor until the day. Anyways I just got the basic powertrain warranty on my camera so will have to take the repair costs on my own. They suggested replacing the rack and pinion with a quote of $1.4K (out the door which includes tax, labor and wheel alignment etc). Not sure if its a rip off being a novice in the auto field. Now my question is, is there a way to get this leak sealed or should i go for the replacement of rack and pinion? Also is it dangerous to drive around in the car which has this leak?
View 4 RepliesHow do I replace the rack and pinion in my 2005 Dodge Caravan? Looking for a step by step. Id much rather do it myself.
View 1 RepliesI just finished my first MK4 steering rack replacement (don't work on too many VWs), and when I placed the steering shaft from the column onto the shaft from the rack and bolted it down, there was still some clearance (see photo). I was able to get the bolt tightened down ok, but the clearance is bothering me.
View 2 RepliesWe had our Timing belt& water pump replaced 5 months ago, due to maintenance book suggestion for our 2006 Toyota Sienna LE, 119,000 miles on her. Now there is a leak in the R & P.
View 2 RepliesI just had my oil changed and was told that my rack and pinion was leaking also my valve cover leaked I had the gasket change about a year ago an the leak is so slight it wont even show up in my dip stick, is it possible the valve cover leak is getting on the rack boot. Also can I change just the boot car has 15000mi in great shape an well maintained.....
View 7 RepliesI just finished replacing the rack and pinion on a 98 Explorer 5.0 V8 AWD 4dr Eddie Bauer edition. My question is...Should the steering gear lower shaft set flush when it is connected to the Rack and pinion knuckle? I have some wiggle room but I think I have it as far down as I can get it. It is about 1/2" from setting flush on top of the knuckle. Once I tighten the bolt, it should hold, right?
It looks just like the picture on the right.....
My rack and pinion began to fail and my Liberty developed sensitive steering (lane to lane and while towing trailers). I had it replaced locally and aligned but when I got it back it was more sensitive than before and borders on "unsafe to drive". I can imagine what it would do if I put a trailer behind it. In my mind something is binding which is fighting the steering input.
When you turn the steering wheel stays where-ever you steer to (does not return to center). My next repair is a known bad ball joint, but I don't think that is causing this. My question is at 106K could my power steering pump be producing less than full power? Is there a dampener in this system that could have frozen up? I'm ruling out the alignment for now. This is the V-6, 4WD Limited.
I truly intend to repair it forever, but if I can't get past this it goes to the junkyard.
My son has a 2007 Ford Truck F150 1/2 ton P/U 4WD 5.4L , when he turns the steering wheel left and right you can hear a clunky sound on the rack and pinion right where the steering shaft connects.
View 2 RepliesI have a Lexus RX 350 and about a month and a half ago I got the rack and pinion replaced. Pretty shortly after, as I was driving highways speeds somewhere in the 60-70 range, it started to feel a little rough, as if I was driving over rough pavement, but it was brand new blacktop. I put the brakes on and the vehicle started to vibrate, not the steering wheel though. After I braked, the rough sound and vibration didn't come back until a week or two ago, it's been happening intermittently and very seldom, maybe has happened a total of 5 or 6 times, but I'm concerned because it never did this before the rack and pinion. I got it all done on a Saturday, alignment was involved too, so I wonder if maybe someone hurried themselves and didn't do something to protocol.
View 2 RepliesAnyway, I just bought an '03 Mitsubishi Spyder Automatic with around 160,000 miles. The car seems to be in decent shape and runs well but there is a pretty prominent creaking or groaning coming from the front of the car (close to where my feet would go, but more towards the front) in certain situations that is about a 7/10 on the noisy scale. It's worse when accelerating from a dead stop (faster the car gets going, the less likely the creaking) but also happens when braking (again, more likely at slower speeds) and when shifting from Park to Drive/Reverse. In short, it seems to happen when the car shifts momentum or weight suddenly. I haven't noticed it at much (if at all) when I get to higher speeds. I don't think it is a suspension issue because I haven't noticed it when going over bumps or when I go push on the front of the car. It also doesn't seem like a braking issue since it's a little worse when accelerating and there are no problems when braking at higher speeds.
A few more details on the car:
-The previous owner replaced the transmission and either replaced or serviced the axels about 2 months ago.
-Previous owner mentioned the car had been sitting a decent amount the past year and hadn't been used a ton.
-I noticed quite a bit of rust on the certain spots on the inside of the wheels (noise not coming from the wheels) but haven't noticed any significant rust issues anywhere else, although I haven't really been able to look thoroughly under the car.
-There may have been other repairs recently as well.
I can look over service records more closely later. I'm planning on taking it in for an oil change soon and will have a mechanic look into it.
This winter I plan to drive across country from California to Florida in my 2001 Mitsubishi eclipse, unfortunately it’s AC it out and the mechanics said it was the blower and possibly other things and it would coast at least 800 dollars. As I drive across the country in the winter I do not want my car the fog up and would like to keep my windows rolled down to keep air circulation going but if it’s going to be raining that option is out. I’ve searched many different sites online to find a side window deflector but it seems that there isn’t any for that year. If AC repair is out of the question, and a side window deflector doesn’t seem to exist for this model does.
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