"WOW" Steering Wheel Crooked 2010 Silverado Z71

[semper3318]

So, I had my truck into the dealer yesterday for a tire rotation and while I was there I had them look at an oil leak and a rough idle for warranty requests. My truck has 24,000 miles, and I had seen the TSB for common real main seal replacement for the oil leak due to engine block porosity. I was pleasantly happy with the dealer's willingness to fix the oil leak, and get it done the same day. They ended up rotating 4 tires, replacing rear main seal, and replacing oil pan gasket. I left it around 10:00 AM and they were done by 4 PM which I was impressed with. They also gave me a 2012 Suburban loaner which was nice, and considering I didn't buy my truck at the dealership I was surprised they even offered this. Well of course when you start to think what a great job and service you recieved from the dealer you can always be surprised. I picked my truck up yesterday and as I'm driving home I notice my damn steering wheel is about 20 degrees off centered to the right when going straight. It doesn't pull or anything but it just looks like crap driving with a crooked steering wheel. I'm going in first thing Monday morning to hopefully get it fixed. Anyone have any idea what they might have done, does the front suspension need to be removed at all to replace any of the gaskets? It makes me somewhat worried that they hit a damn curb or something, it doesn't pull or anything but the steering wheel is just off centered. All I gotta say is what freaking luck, I knew it was too good to be true with how happy I was with the dealer.

 

Thanks,

 

-Semper

[randas]

Did they do an alignment? That would do it

[RyanbabZ71]

Did they do an alignment? That would do it

 

 

+1

[semper3318]

Nope they didn't do an alignment, strictly just a tire rotation. I was looking over the procedures this morning, and it appears that for the oil pan gasket replacment they may have had to drop the front diff some. I'm guessing that the steering wheel wasn't centered or something when they hooked everything back up..atleast I'm "hoping"......

[txab]

Take it back

[Wolfmanjohn]

OK, I'm going to be a smartass this morning; did it fall off the lift while it was in the shop? That has been known to happen.

[semper3318]

OK, I'm going to be a smartass this morning; did it fall off the lift while it was in the shop? That has been known to happen.

 

 

Yeah trust me that was one possiblity I was concerned about, along with hitting curb..etc..etc...Of course the worst case things come to mind immediately...The more I have read about removing and replacing the oil pan gasket i'm "hoping" that it was just once they dropped the front end and put everything back together the steering wheel wasn't straight. The truck still drives straight and doesn't pull or anything. I met the tech and hung out for a bit in the shop as he was getting ready to pull the bell housing. He seemed like a pretty experienced senior tech, so I would hope the thing didn't drop off the lift or something....I'll be in to drop it off first thing tomorrow, and I imagine they will fix it right up. I will be sure to ask them what the hell caused it....nothing like driving my down the highway with the steering wheel off center.......

[Doug_Scott]

If the truck fell off the lift, I am fairly certain you would see the damage. Same for hitting curb. Take it back, just behave normally, and ask them to take a look at it. Mistakes happen. The work you had done should not have required a road test after the work was complete. If they had road tested it, they would have noticed the wheel being off.

 

One thing you may want to consider. Radial tires sometimes will create a pull to one side. I know you said the steering is not pulling, but, this started after rotating tires. If you have equipment, raise the front end, and swap front tires side to side. If it is still exactly the same, then the tech must have got something wrong on assembly. Perhaps something as simple as getting the steering column to rack connection off by one tooth. I don't know if current generation has an indexed connection at the rack or not. If it is indexed, it cannot be off by one tooth(easily anyways).

[BlackZ71Silverado]

Sounds like it wasn't straight when they put everything back together. Take it back and have them fix it, shouldn't be a problem.

[latreille89]

I just had an alignment and my wheel is to the left a bit. Just sucks having to go back now. They also complained the I had a 2" lift an they had to align it without the factory specs. I find people are just getting lazier.

[EWM1]

They had to drop the steering rack to change the oil pan gasket. There is a hard line connected to the rack that is directly under the oil pan.

[GMCustomerService]

Please keep me posted on yout progress with the dealer. Contact me if you need any additional assistance. Thank you.

 

Tricia, GM Customer Service.

[Wolfmanjohn]

Just out of curiousity; if you turn the steering wheel all the way to the left, then the right from the steering wheel in the centered/level position, are the number of turns the same? Could be a clue right there.

[semper3318]

Dropped it off at the dealer this morning, and they did a full front end alignment. This fixed the steering wheel issue. Apparantly when they took the front end apart to drop and remove the oil pan it didn't get put back exactly how it should of been. I must say I'm happy with the way the dealer handled it, and promptly fixed it. This also includes generously providing me a loaner while my truck was being worked on. Today I was provided a 2012 Tahoe LTZ with 400 miles on it until my truck was ready to be picked up. And saturday I was provided a 2012 Suburban while it was being worked on. Considering I didn't even purchase my truck at this dealership I was very happy with the service. I went in for a simple tire rotation saturday morning at 9 am, and ended up with the following being done.

 

New Rear Main Seal Gasket

New Oil Pan Gasket

Tire Rotation

Oil Change

Full Front End Alignment

Car Wash

Suburban Loaner for the day

Tahoe Loaner for the day

 

The kicker is all of this didn't cost me one penny. I must say I highly regard this dealership after this experience which I would hope all Chevy dealerships would strive to accomplish. Everyone always hears the horror stories about what a crappy experience it is dealing with the "typical" service department at a dealership. I can gladly say this was not one of those experiences, and they have earned my repeat business possibly for years to come. They were upfront, honest, and more than willing to address and fix any concerns or issues I had with my truck. Even with the temporary crooked steering wheel the service advisor was more pissed off than I was that I had to deal with that for 1 day. I understand sometimes shit happens and no one is perfect, and I knew when I went in this morning they would fix it right up, which they did.

 

-Semper

[BlackZ71Silverado]

Sounds like you got a good dealer that actually cares. They are hard to come by anymore.