steering wheel shakes - Diesel Forum

Arundo · 08-28-2005, 10:39 PM

My steering wheel shakes at parkway speed. The dealer balanced the tires and it still happens. 2005 E-350 PSD w/ 11.5 K on it. Any suggestions?

yaric008 · 08-29-2005, 12:48 AM

Try rotating tires maybe. See if the problem is still there.

Maybe try jacking up the front of the van and seeing if eiter front wheel has any play. Grab the tire like you mean it and give it some pushes and pulls. Maybe a defective wheel bearing or ball joints [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img]

Do the wheels get hot after driving at all? More than just hot from brakes i mean.

ddog · 08-29-2005, 10:22 AM

Arundo,

See thread I just bumped to top called "steering wheel nibble". Start at beginning. There is apparently a TSB on this for similar problem. Probably will get you a free steering stabilizer anyway. Be sure to follow up with dealer before you hit 12,000 miles, since most adjustments, alignment corrections, etc are only done in first 12 months, 12,000 miles at no charge. Have you been rotating the tires regularly? Did they rotate and rebalance or just rebalance? Do they have a road force balancing machine? Thread above has good info.

ddog

Kennard04 · 08-29-2005, 03:26 PM

my E-350 only shimmy's when the rotors need turned. It's done it 4 times now in 115K, and it's always the same thing. 11K is not many miles but it doesn't take long to build up pad material on the rotors if the pads aren't bedded properly or if you use them hard and hot.

Arundo · 08-31-2005, 04:26 PM

Thanks for the replies. I will make another appt. with the dealer and let them figure it out. In the meantime I will be researching the lemon law. I think they have three tries one is up.

Anyone knows where I can find out about the lemon law?

Arundo · 09-07-2005, 11:58 PM

The update

Spent all day at the dealer. 8am to 5:15pm Sept 06-05 they thought I was nuts until I got the Tec in the van and Drove. Then I had the service manager for a ride and showed him also. Previous to me driving they said some BS that they wanted to charge me for diagnostic time because of the distance to legally do 55 mph. Then the nonsense that alignment and balancing was not covered by any warrantee. I had to inform them of there wrong information of yes it is up to the 12000. Miles and this is my second time for the same problem and the lemon law is four strikes and this is the second. They didn't get it right until they had the master Tec (30+ years) balance all the tires and rotate as I suggested based to the forums advice. Now I have to call them and let them know how it worked. I still have to get the original front tires dealt with because when it's time for rotation I need to be a shored and proven to, that the same problem will not reappear.

From the time I pulled in I new I was screwed when the person that takes you info used my van as a clipboard.
The acc. Power cover on the dash was damaged from day one. Well I figured let them change it. What a F------ mistake The ace Tec must of used a screwdriver and pried agenst the black dash panel causing marks also slight crashes in the surrounding area. Now the acc. receptacle is loose. There response was that they will wipe it down and that I can bring it in again and they will tighten up the acc. receptacle. I never had these problems with my Nissan or Audi the other dealers you can eat off the floor in both the show rooms and the shops. As much as I hate to admit it. I see why there are so many foreran cars and trucks on the road. I love my van but the service sucks and the dealer is always looking for an out and can not take responsibility when they mess up.

I shore am glad that I did not let them change the door panel pockets that have white stress marks where the dividers meet the front. Imagine the rattles and loose panels for ever.

yaric008 · 09-08-2005, 12:23 AM

Man, what a load of crap from that dealership. I gather you got your shake fixed though, that's good.

That's also why i don't let anyone touch my van anymore. Unfortunatley my dad and brother let other people always work on it and many many things have been royally botched up over the years. I'm just now getting it almost working right.

astr · 09-08-2005, 01:40 PM

I agree totally with YARIC008 - letting the dealer work on your vehicle is asking for trouble. I've decided that, warranty or no warranty, if I want it done correctly, I have to do it myself!

I wish I could take my van to dealer to get proper service as many times I don't have the time to do it myself. My experience has been, unless it is a very simple problem, in the long run I will waste more time repeatedly taking the van in than just doing it myself.