jmoffett

I had my 05 in the shop last week to replace the HUD and the Nav head unit, and to repair a leaking rear axle seal. When I got it back, my steering wheel was crooked. I called the dealership and the tech said he didn't do anything with the steering wheel.

About a month ago, I had an unusual active handling situation (I posted it here.) Today, "Active Handling" appeared on the DIC (not Service Active Handling) and I felt the car pulling on me. I was going about 40mph and not under hard acceleration.

Since the repair last week, I've also noticed that the cars seems to drift in sweeping turns. I've noticed it on an on-ramp on Friday and it did it again today in a curve just a mile or so before the AH light came on and the car started pulling.

I've read that some of you have solved the AH issues by replacing the steering wheel position sensor. Could the crooked steering wheel also be caused by a bad sensor?

Triumph Jerry

For the steering wheel to go off center I would think it would have to be removed or the
front wheels re-aligned, or they ran into something. How's the front tires wearing?
Let's see if someone else has any ideas.

JTE

The steering wheel position sensor can not cause the wheel to be off center. Something else is physically wrong if the car is drifting.

About 2 weeks ago, my ZR1 drifted around on an on ramp to the interstate. The next morning very close to home the passenger upper control arm bolts on the rear bracket completely fell out. I was lucky that I was not on the highway or interstate when it happened.

Be safe and get your car checked out soon.

VET4LES

Sounds like you need a four wheel alignment. Make sure you have someone that knows what he's doing do it. Ask your friends or call a few shops.

bearphoto

Sounds like an alignment issue

George's_Vette

Bad alignment can cause both issues you are having. A good alignment tech should be able to solve your drifting issue and get the steering wheel centered again. Be interesting to know what transpired to cause these two issues. As for the AH activation I'd suspect there is something amiss with the cars suspension that is triggering the AH to try and correct the readings the sensor is receiving. Is the car pulling to the right or left when the AH activates?

George

jmoffett

I can't tell for sure if it's pulling, but the brakes are definitely being applied in short bursts. If it's pulling, it's not a hard pull at all, but either the power is substantially reduced or the brakes are limiting the power.

George's_Vette

Well, my theory for asking about which direction of pull was to try to be able to tell the dealer which may tell them depending on how AH works

1) problem is on something on the left side of car so it pulls to the right

or

2) problem is on something on the left side of car and it pulls left

I simply don't know how AH thinks and tries to correct what it is detecting but I'm sure a competent Vette mech knows or can contact Corvette Mission Control where they call for technical assistance with trouble shooting these cars and someone there will know for sure.

That's if a simple check of the cars trouble codes doesn't tell the dealer mechanic where to look.

My 2009 began throwing service active handling and service traction control codes last summer while I was traveling in southern TX. She got me home and they found w/help from the codes it had thrown and from Vette tech support by phone that the right front wheel speed sensor was bad. Next visit a new one was in from Reno, NV. Swapped it out, cleared the codes no more problems.

My car from the factory drifted when turning (like lane changes/passing, under moderate acceleration. An alignment once I told the tech what it was doing fixed that problem nicely and the steering wheel is still straight on my car. GM picked up the cost of the alignment under warranty.

Good luck sorting out the problems.

George

Havnfun

What about your air pressure in your tires? Maybe you have a flat tire.

laconiajack

Good grief! Did you hit someting as your car "drifted"? I find it difficult to believe bolts on the rear suspension brackets simply "fell out". Did you report this to the NHTSC?

07MontRedcp

Your profile says you haven a 2005 car. It's seems to me there was a problem with a connector on the steering column that causes problems with the steering, but I don't remember the details. Hopefully someone with a better memory can give you more info.

BJK

jmoffett

I've had the clip repair done.

BEZ06

Hmmmmm......the AH yaw sensor is in the area of the nav unit. I wonder if they banged it, moved it, unhooked a connector, or otherwise did something to the yaw sensor While workin on the nav!?!?

There's no need to remove the steering wheel to replace the HUD, but if they did remove it, maybe they put it back on crooked.

The AH will put on individual brakes to stop yaw that it perceives as excessive in relation to steering inputs. That's almost certainly the pulling you're feeling. If your yaw sensor is messed up, that could definitely mess with the AH and activate it when it shouldn't.

Time to go back to the dealer and have them fix your problems.

Bob

JTE

Front suspension not rear. Front upper A-arm bolts. The two bolts on the rear of the A-arm bracket. I did not hit anything. Yes, the bolts simply fell out. They were likely loose when I felt the shimmy on the on ramp.

The next day they fell out completely very close to home.

jmoffett

I talked to a friend of mine who owns an independent shop. He mounted my tires and did the last alignment in December, 2010. This was after the dealer farmed out a previous alignment after they dropped the rack to replace the crank pulley. Something was left loose (I could feel a "thump" under my feet whenever taking off) and it eventually ate up my right front tire. Anyway, when I told him the dealership replaced a rear axle seal, he began to wonder if the rear alignment is off and causing the car to track to the right, admitting that that might be a stretch. Could pulling a rear axle to replace a seal affect the rear alignment? It's becoming clear to me that the overall alignment is off, but I'm now trying to decide whether it's coincidental to the recent work at the dealership or if they caused the problem. If it's coincidental, I'll take it back to my friend for a $50 4-wheel alignment. If the dealership caused the problem, they'll take care of the problem.

jmoffett

Update: something in the front end is loose. Yesterday, at some point while driving, I noticed the steering wheel was straight again. Later, while making a u-turn in a parking lot, I felt something in the front end shift and when I pulled out onto the highway, the steering wheel was crooked again. No more driving it until I can get it to the alignment shop on Friday.

schmegeggie

Sounds like the steering gear/rack. Mine had not been completely tightened after the dealer had done my oil pan gasket warranty work. About 2000 miles later, I started to get the same issue.
Try this; with the car sitting still, but running , turn the steering wheel sharp left or right. If you hear a knock that sounds like it's near the LF wheel...don't drive it!
According to the GM tech. in Charlotttesville, VA.(where I stopped at the time, because I was on the road), it's a damn good thing I stopped. If it falls out, there would have been a lawsuit.
Don't take chances, get it looked at and fixed.
There is a lot that can go wrong. So much of these cars have to be dis-assembled just to do even minor work. A tech. can easily "forget" to tighten something.

jmoffett

You nailed it. The rack was loose and shifting side to side. I took it to the indy shop and the tech that last aligned it spotted the problem. I drove it over to the dealership and they tightened everything up and did an alignment for no charge.