Scary play in steering wheel after new rack and pinion installed

LJDILLON

MEMBER
2004 BUICK RENDEZVOUS
3.4L
V6
AUTOMATIC
94,494 MILES

Last week the rack and pinion was replace. I brought the car back due to scary empty weird play in steering wheel.
Can you give your opinion on what caused this? Also, will I be responsible for correcting this problem? Along with another alignment?

Thank you, you have given me great information in the past. Really appreciate the help.

ljd

4 Replies

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

Hi,

It is hard to say what caused this. The first thing that came to mind was the connection point between the column to the rack came loose. However, if this was the case, you would not have any steering. You would be able to turn the wheel very easily because there would be no tension on the steering wheel but there would not be any control. If this is what it sounds like happened then that would be the best guess.

After I am not sure what would cause this outside of improper installation. Anytime that is involved we would just be guessing.

As for you be responsible, any reputable shop would not charge you to figure this out. In the event it is something totally separate and they can show you that, then I would suspect they would correct this and realign if needed.

Please let us know what they say it is and I will be happy to tell you what I think about what they found.

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Wednesday, September 4th, 2019 AT 7:46 PM

LJDILLON

MEMBER
6 POSTS

Thank you for your reply. I am picking the car up tomorrow and will let you know.
LJD

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Wednesday, September 4th, 2019 AT 11:10 PM

LJDILLON

MEMBER
6 POSTS

To KASEKENNY1,
I picked up my Buick this morning. Mechanic said it was the splines in steering shaft. For some reason they were plastic and once shaft was pulled from the old rack and pinion they became too loose? Instead of replacing entire shaft ($280.00) and would take a week to receive. Buick or any where doesn't sell the spline part itself. So he tack welded? Steering is back to normal.
So, what do you think? Oh yea, no charge! I am going to call the alignment guy see if he will recheck. Seemed alright though.
Thanks again, I'm so happy I found this sight. This will be my go to first with any auto questions/concerns.

LJD

PS. Where I input the information on my vehicle, the is no AWD option.

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Thursday, September 5th, 2019 AT 11:19 AM

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

Yeah. This is what I was saying. The steering shaft that he is talking about is part of the steering column that connects to the steering rack/gear.

I know people that have welded it together and that is okay. The only issue is, if either component needs to be replaced, both sides will have to be replaced. They are made to separate so that you can replace one or the other. Now that they are welded, they can't be easily separated as designed. No big deal is there are no issues.

I figured they would not charge you but if he would have replaced the part, he probably would have charged you so he decided to do it this way.

I will pass that info on to have them check and make sure the AWD selection is there. Thanks for the kind words. We are here if you need anything in the future.

Thanks for using 2CarPros.

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