I recently had a 4-wheel alignment performed on my 2003 VW Passat. A couple days after the procedure I noticed my steering wheel was stiff and a whirring noise when I turned the wheel. Come to find out my power steering fluid is now leaking. Is this just a coincidence, or could the garage have broken something. It was not leaking or making any noises prior to the alignment.
View 2 RepliesI have a 2003 Volkswagen Passat, and I'm having some trouble with it. When I turn the steering wheel, there is a groaning sound both to the left and right. the other problem is when I'm accelerating slowly up an incline and turning the steering wheel, there a type of clicking sound I hear and feel on my accelerator. By the way, it's a V6 engine, Front wheel drive.
View 2 RepliesAfter installing drive gear springs i had a wheel alignment done. Since then the steering wheel is not level even thought the car goes straight it is slightly off. i brought it back 3 times and every time they did the alignment the steering wheel is off either the left of the right. i made an appointment to have it done at the dealer but cant figure out why they cant get it right.
View 13 RepliesI am a clueless 2003 Volkswagen Passat 1.8L Turbo owner. My power steering line has a visible leak that I can see underneath the front bumper. The leak is now more like a hole and was caused by the line dragging after the car was in the shop. I guess someone bumped it or it got knocked loose, but at this point, I need to just get the line fixed. The leak is on a U shaped part of the line, and I can take a picture of it.
I also understand that the power steering fluid is not the standard type...where do they sell the kind I need?
I have a 1998 Passat turbo wagon. A couple of months ago, the engine began intermittently shuddering/stuttering. The car/steering wheel vibrate when accelerated. Acceleration is very slow. It may start when started, or just driving down the road. This can last a few minutes/block or several minutes/blocks. It disappears just as quickly as it begins. My garage ran engine analysis and nothing shows. Can't do anything till they can duplicate, and I can't cause it to happen. During the occurrence, tach is at 9000 and steady. I use high octane gas. Today, while stuttering the engine just quit twice while stopped. Car has 115,000 miles and otherwise is in excellent shape mechanically (regular oil changes, etc.). What's happening?
View 13 RepliesEven though I had head gasket done/timing belt/water pump & other stuff, 3 months, ago, I'm having to check the coolant level weekly & adding about 1 cup of water to pink coolant every 8 - 9 days. The mechanic who did the work tells me that adding that "little" water in "that amount of time is nothing unusual". I know of no one else who keeps a coolant log. I'm obsessed with this problem. I've spent so much on differing repair to this car - it's as if I bought a lemon.Car has 104K mi. Have coolant problem with no coolant winding up on the ground?
VW Passat station wag. 2003 1.8 L Turbo 4 cylinder...
I have a 2006 Kia Rio base sedan. I've owned it from 55K miles to 70.5K miles. It does not have power steering.
When moving at rather slow speeds, maybe 0-15 or so mph, it seems that bumps or potholes or other irregularities will cause the steering wheel to turn significantly. I feel the steering wheel move back and forth by itself and the wheels feel like they "flop" to either direction to the whim of the road's irregularities if that makes sense. The wheel feels almost as if someone is grabbing it and moving it back and forth. The movement is forceful enough that if I'm not holding the wheel, the car can really wander around, possibly into another lane but I have not wanted to test that.
I tried looking up this issue on existing threads but couldn't find it. Also, I didn't really know what to call it. I had an apparently useless alignment at Firestone about a week ago (car still pulls to the right) which did not seem to affect the issue. I attached a scan of the alignment sheet thing.
Incidentally, it seems like they left a thing out of spec but maybe that's a whole other question. So, what could cause this and whether it can lead to damage or safety hazards?
I started noticing a problem with my steering on my 2000 Excursion, a couple of days ago. when I make left or right turn, the wheels seem to want to continue in the direction of the turn even as I am straightening up the steering wheel. I have to over compensate on the steering wheel to straighten the wheels it seems. It does it when I make a left or right turn, but seems to be worse when turning left. Also I noticed that if I'm driving on pavement that has ruts from heavy traffic, the front end seems to pull to one side then the other.
I've had the truck for 7 years and this is the first time this has happened to it. Is it an alignment problem or is there something else that I need to consider? I jacked it up today to check the tie rods and drag link, everything seemed ok
Wagon won't hold power steering fluid - could not see leak on hose along engine. what are other causes of leaks?or fixes?
View 2 RepliesI noticed over the last week that there was a pretty loud whine associated with turning the steering wheel. I checked the fluid level and it didn't seem low. I added a touch just to make sure. Took it into the dealership today and they called back and told me there's a bunch of fluid on the bottom splash pan. They haven't said what the culprit is yet. 46k miles on the car.
View 6 RepliesMy mkiv gti leans a lot to the right whenever I let off the steering wheel. I brought it to a shop and they put it up on a lift and told me that I needed a tie rod flip kit because it's lowered. Long story short, they charged me $70 to look at it for 10 minutes. Do you really need a flip kit for a car lowered on coilovers? I have several friends with lowered cars and none off them have had to do this. I'm thinking it's something else such as a bad shock but I'm no expert.
View 14 RepliesI have a 2013 Sonata gls, 5200 KM on it. I was recently experiencing an issue where at highway speeds my car would not go straight. I took to dealer, and they saw that 3/4 tires were not within the specs of alignment. Any way The dealer put the car in alignment however, now It seems like I have steering vibration in my steering wheel. It appears to go away when I put foot on brake but when I let go and at an speed I can feel a lot more vibration in my steering wheel now then before. It doesn't actually shake the steering wheel but its now annoying to feel when holding the wheel. I can also feel vibration in the seat as well.
View 10 Replies2012 Sonata ... I took it to dealer for alignment. Steering wheel off center.
mechanic said the left camber is off, cannot be corrected.
My question is, can the steering wheel still not be put to center so as it is not tilted to the left aprox. .5 "
I just had an alignment done and the steering wheel is turned counter clockwise a little. I know very little about alignment. I know the terminology and what it means and i heard the the rear camber and toe isn't adjustable on mk4s. I did lower my car,only about one inch though.
Here is the sheet that came with the alignment:
Took delivery of car and alignment is way off. Steering wheel is turned left when car is straight. The dealership is trying to charger me for a alignment. Car has 2500 miles on it and came from factory this way.
View 8 RepliesI bought 2015 Prius two 2 month ago and the mileage is almost reaching 2000 mile. I am satisfied with my Prius so far. However about 2 weeks ago I found that the steering wheel is little off centered to the right and the car is leaning to the left. I didn't drive on the potholes so I guess the issue has been there from the first day I bought the car. I was just too excited to see the issue at the time I think. Anyway I brought the car to the Toyota dealership where is close to my work. I explained the issue and the technician drove the car and said it seems ok. I said it's not my first car and I have driven several cars so I am certain that the steering wheel is off centered. I researched this forum so I knew the first wheel alignment is covered by the warranty. They seemed reluctant to provide the service but I insisted.
After about an hour they had done the wheel alignment and showed me the result and the result said everything is ok and all the numbers are in the range. It was strange so I asked what if the car is still pulled off to the left and he said there is nothing he can do further so if the issue is still there, the service manager should be involved. I hoped the issue would be resolved but when I drove the car back to home I could still see that the steering wheel was still off centered just like before the wheel alignment. I called them and made another appointment on this coming Monday. I read all the steering wheel alignment related threads and found that it's pretty common issue for the new cars. But I found few people that the issue was completely gone. I think it's a quite easy job to fix by adjust something to make the steering wheel rotated little to the left(3~5 degree). I showed to my wife today to see if I'm too sensitive and she also agreed that the car is pulled to the left.
I have a 2000 Corolla CE with 48k miles. When braking hard, the pedal vibrates and the brake performance was not that good. So I had the mechanic replace the front calipers (L&R), both brake pads on front, and rear drums.
After that, when braking, the pedal vibrates...but not that much. So I had the mechanic replace the front rotors (L&R). Now, when braking, the performance is good and it does not vibrate.
However, if I brake really hard...there is a little bit of pedal vibration AND shaking steering wheel. My car also needs an alignment since it pulls to the left (will get one on Friday).
Do you think the shaking steering wheel and the slight pedal vibration is due to the alignment or maybe the rear rotors need to be replaced? When traveling at 70mpg, sometimes the steering wheel slightly (very slightly) shakes....my guess this the tires need to be balance/alignment.
I have a 2014 RX350 with 20K miles.
Recently noticed the steering wheel pulling a bit to the right. I took the car to a local Conrad's Auto service place which I believe is very reputable.
They told me the vehicle is out of alignment and to contact my Lexus dealer because they would likely fix for no charge given the low miles.
I brought the car to Lexus dealer and they said nothing is wrong. Not sure if they did anything but I did not notice the pulling to the right at that time.
However, I am noticing the wheel pull to the right again. Not sure what to do here. I also had a 2011 RX and never noticed an issue.
What can I do here to determine if there's a problem or not?
My Lexus dealer is over 30 miles away so it's not a convenient drive. Also, I have no proof of anything just the wheel pulling a bit to the right.
After some off-roading and hit some pretty big bumps at speed, and now my steering wheel is about 15 degrees off, but the car is not pulling.
I am in another country where I don't speak the language well, so what should be done to fix this. I took it into the shop, and they pulled the car onto some electronic sensors and said the alignment was fine. They did a very visual inspection (glance?) under the car as well, and were ready to send me on my way.
I showed them that the steering wheel was off, and their solution was to just take off the wheel and put it back on straight. Is this what should be done to fix this problem? I do believe the alignment of the cars is okay because it's driving fine, but I'm still not sure if there is something else going on that caused the steering wheel to be knocked out of line. I've been doing some online searching and I'm not so sure that they are doing the right thing.
My car is a 2000 corolla with 51k miles that I bought a couple of months ago.
It had the following problems:
Creaking noise from front drivers side when going over bumps
Steering wheel vibration when braking
Steering wheel vibration (slightly) at certain speeds
Very out of alignment
In august, I replaced the rotors, did a tire balance and alignment. The shop used a Hunter RoadForce balancer. They said that the front tires were bad so they put them in the rear.
After that, the steering wheel still vibrated slightly at certain speeds. Also, the front end would vibrate when the steering wheel vibrated. Also, when braking hard...the steering wheel would vibrate even though the rotors and pads were replaced.
Yesterday, I replaced the front struts/spring/mount...yet the drivers front still creaked over bumps. The strut change also caused the alignment to pull slightly to the left (only very slightly).
Today, I replaced the rear struts/spring/mount, both front ball joints, both front sway bar links.
This fixed ALL of the problems. The steering wheel is now perfect (even when braking), the creaking noise is completely gone. And best of all, the alignment seems to be correct as it no longer pulls from yesterday's front strut change.
Do I really need to replace the tires or even get an alignment? The alignment might be slightly out of spec but it does not pull to any side.
Already did the wheel to left, right and center about five times. Still no power steering.
View 8 Replies