Heavy steering

[Kari]

The report is as follows: No whining noises or anything, just hard to turn. My personal suspicion is that the pump wasn't really the problem, but that it going bad was an effect of the original problem, which still hasn't been fixed, whatever it may be.

[ColonelPanic]

Believe me, I'd love to! You're absolutely right, it isn't worth my time. I love this car, but this is getting pathetic. Right now, I'm at the point where I have far too many issues with this clunker that I just don't know where to go from here...The crappy part, however - I had to finance the extended warranty through GM for 15 months because I didn't have $2,000 to throw down on the warranty at the time. So if I trade now, I'll end up having to pay for a warranty on a car I no longer own for the next several months.I'm a bit upside down as well, I owe around $15K on this thing and from what it looks like, it's worth $9500 on trade-in. So I'm stuck with it, I'm afraid...

[Vibe_dude]

i may have the same thing with mine......was just wondering if by any chance it may just be out of alinement??...i know mine needs one really bad,and it never did it before after the last one i had done....the car does not center itself very well after a turn and u let go of the wheel...it should staighten itself out but it is still off on mine......not sure hwta to do now.....well i will start with a 4 wheel alinement and if that dont work then it is going to stay like that...NO WARRENTY............84,000kms on her now....and that is not a power train issue......still got that till 100,000 kms.

[ColonelPanic]

No obvious alignment issues here... I haven't had one done thus far - last year I had the dealer check it when I bought a new set of tires, but everything was within spec. Drives ok once you get rolling, tracks reasonably straight... It's just the low speed stuff that is killing it (and me. lol!)Hope whatever you have going on with yours isn't this problem, for this isn't much fun. Silver, yes, I'm still walking kinda funny myself. The Vibe has debt rolled into it that dates back to '96 when I was a senior in high school. lol.. I'll check around, maybe I can find something. Whatever I end up with though, it really needs to be no more than $19K or so.

[Vibe_dude]

Quote, originally posted by silverawd26 » I am trying to think what car's are in that Range that will be reliable... Cobalt? oh sweet.ya baby the new cobalts are some sweet rides........love the insides, so much more refinement.and well the ss sc..205 hp....i dont need to say anymore.lol

[ColonelPanic]

Yeah, it's a Toyota. lol! The tC is quite a nice ride, but man I can't deal with the Toyota dealer here. And actually, the Cobalt (in sedan form, LS model) is in fact on my list. My buddy just traded his Vibe in (same equipment, same mileage, almost owing the same as I) on a coupe, he didn't do too bad on that trade. They paid off the Vibe, that's about it. Not sure how well they'll hold up in the long term, but they do have a better warranty than other Chevrolets (bumper-bumper still 36K, with an additional 60K powertrain.) One thing that scares me though, electric power steering. *gasp* With the problems I've had with the tried and true hydraulic setup, I kinda cringe when I think of all the complexity that setup adds. I dunno. I s'pose I'll try to get the Vibe back in the shop again and let them have another whack at it.

[tnpartsguy]

Cobalt does have a few problems out of the gate. We have seen several with AC problems, and I'm with you on the Electro PS, esp since every Malibu we sold ended up getting a new steering column to fix an intermittent PS problem.....

[Kari]

I absolutely love the tC...kind of like a mini G6...but yeah, Toyota, and if that dealership sucks, then owning one wouldn't be the best idea. It seems everything this year is also in its first model year, of which my parents' swear they'll never buy another vehicle after all the issues they had with their '02 Trailblazer that they don't have with the two '04s we have now.I guess my Vibe just got lucky...other than this cat converter TSB, nothing major has been replaced or really had much of an issue.Just hope someone can get to the root of the problem with his...if the truth be told, all of this is probably caused by one issue that has yet to be found.

[ColonelPanic]

I kinda just ignored this problem. It didn't get any worse, nor did it get any better. I figured this would be a good way to get in some exercise that I wouldn't normally get if the P/S would have given me a normal amount of assist. heh!So anyway, the car just had a new A/C compressor installed. With the way my luck runs, seeing how so many issues I've had have ocurred immediately after having something else fixed on the car, I tend to be very in tune with the car after it's been in the shop. Extremely sensitive to every little detail, to the point where it probably can be considered obsessive. Once I left the dealer, it didn't take long to notice something wasn't right. I'll be damned if the amount of power steering assist significantly differed from the way it was then versus a couple hours later when I brought it into the shop. The wheel was easy to turn at slow speeds - just about like it once was. The heavy feel was gone, and even the response was quicker.Taking it out on the interstate was somewhat scary at first. One would think that at higher speeds, I'd have less boost - but for whatever reason, that didn't seem to be the case. It took a while to get used to, but I eventually got the hang of it. Now that I've driven a good couple hundred miles, I think I'm noticing the P/S behave properly, about like it was when it was new. Now, to figure out why... Was the A/C compressor possibly the root of the P/S issues? The strange thing was that I previously noticed no difference with the way the steering felt regardless of whether the A/C was running or not. I could see the A/C compressor putting a strain on everything else when it's running, but one would think when it's off and the clutch isn't engaged, the heavy steering would go away... Unless the clutch on the compressor was jacked and was putting a load on the system even when it was disengaged.The original pump was bad considering all of the noise it was making. But when the second one started out fine but then got worse as time went by, perhaps this time around it isn't the pump at all.I'll keep a close watch on it and hope that this issue has been resolved. I kinda like it when one part replaced fixes a multitude of other problems (i.e. the cat/pcm ordeal.) Let's hope it stays this way...

[joatmon]

I don't see how, but I could be wrong. I mean, the belt is driven by the engine. If the belt is not slipping, then the engine speed directly determines the belt speed, regardless of the load, and that should mean that the AC load won't affect the other belt driven pieces. Are the AC compressor and PS pump next to each other on the belt?But don't argue with good luck. Keep at it and maybe your car will be "normal"