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Steering Issue? Among other things...

Graphic

By Graphic
in Troubleshooting & Recalls

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Graphic Enthusiast

Graphic

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Posted

Okay, so I have spent the last few weeks going over the forum and trying find anything on the issues my truck has been having so I didn't clutter up the forum. Mainly I am sharing my experience. I dropped it off yesterday and picked up a loaner. Gave them the following list. I have seen answers to most of the issues on the forum, but basically I am waiting on the dealer to diagnose. I tried to give them as much information as I can.

 

I will follow up here once I get word from the dealer. The loaner is a 2015 crew cab standard bed 4x4. It let me compare my steering issue below to something else. I have determined I am not crazy. My truck is a 2014 5.3 Double Cab Z71 4x4 LTZ w/7000 Miles.

 

This is my main issue. Truck pulls a little to the left. I have had it in before for this issue. Second trip, service advisor did notice a little pull and the steering wheel not centered. Had alignment and steering wheel was centered. It was better but now I feel like I am working to keep it on the road. I was also starting to wonder if it was worse when it was cold. I decided to wait until the really cold weather got here to. MUCH more pronounced if really cold. Best way for me to explain is to say it is like 2 front tires with low air pressure or both wheels are point toe out (PSI on front tires even in the really cold weather is 31-32, tried increasing and decreasing with no effect) Normal everyday small ruts in the road pull me around too much. I do a lot of steering when I believe it should really just go straight with minimal effort from the driver. If the angle of the road dips to the left, the truck pulls a lot more than if you travel the opposite direction down the same road with the road dipping to the right. In the super cold weather we had, I actually had to steer slightly to the right to go straight until I could finally hit about 20 MPH, then I feel something release in the steering and it stops pulling so bad, but still having the pull left. Almost like something is in a bind or the power steering is leading it to the left. As the truck gets driven more, it pull less, but never goes away. Also seems more pronounced after I pull out of a parking space turning left…?

 

I have gotten a couple steering warnings of some sort in the past for a split second. Not there long enough to notice it and read it. It changed to a Stabilitrack warning following that. May be related to #1. Don’t know if it will be in the ECM since it was updated with the fix for unintended shifting last time I had it in.

 

Truck heating up so slow. Or is it normal? Seems like it. Double remote starts and drive to work (15 mins), still not up to normal temp when outside temps are really low, like in the teens.

 

MPG dropping quick. Not sure if it’s the cold and slow heat up or what. Same driving habits that were getting me 17-18MPG before. Been dropping since I last had it in for transfer case recall. Before winter blend gas and getting worse. I have tried changing Octane to mid-grade, but no effect. Might just be because using remote start more due to poor warm up? Now around 13MPG.

 

Clunk in the rear once in a while, not hitch (removed). Like a bad shock or leaf spring bushing or something. Can’t consistently get it to do it. Seems the forum has a couple things this could be like leaf springs or exhaust.

 

Transmission flaky… Sometimes it doesn’t know when to shift or gets hung up in a shift. Try getting on it slightly then let off the gas a little near a shift point. I have actually had it act like it shifted into neutral once.

 

Minor stuff:

Controls on back of steering wheel left side. Top button sticks and the whole assembly is loose in the wheel from having to force it out of stuck position. More pronounced when cold.

 

Noise from under dash like a piece of metal. A “twang” sort of, like a loose piece of thin metal under the dash left side of steering column area. Bumps do it, but you can hear it when you close door too if the temp is right.

 

Headlight switch is loose. I bought this used with 500 miles and it looks like the panel has been pulled off before… Switch works fine, but it needs tightened up if possible or replaced. Would like the marred up cover replaced too, if warranty.

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Tqjunkie Enthusiast

Tqjunkie

Posted
Posted

yes I have this same steering problem and it is much more pronounced when it is cold my dealer isn't much help they did an alignment when new and said every thing was good and that was it ,It seems to be better with some miles on it but it is still there at times especially when it is cold,I have kind of gotten use to it and it doesn't bother me to much anymore because I have changed my driving style to accommodate the problem like driving on the extreme right of the road as it seems to track pretty straight there,it is not a real big problem and I am thinking it might even be the nature of the beast with the new electric power steering so unless they do actually put out some sort of sure fix I will leave as is because the last thing I want is the dealer dissecting my truck and messing it up because everything else about the truck I like.

Graphic Enthusiast

Graphic

Posted
  • Author
Posted

yes I have this same steering problem and it is much more pronounced when it is cold my dealer isn't much help they did an alignment when new and said every thing was good and that was it ,It seems to be better with some miles on it but it is still there at times especially when it is cold,I have kind of gotten use to it and it doesn't bother me to much anymore because I have changed my driving style to accommodate the problem like driving on the extreme right of the road as it seems to track pretty straight there,it is not a real big problem and I am thinking it might even be the nature of the beast with the new electric power steering so unless they do actually put out some sort of sure fix I will leave as is because the last thing I want is the dealer dissecting my truck and messing it up because everything else about the truck I like.

Thanks for the response.

 

Personally, I can't tolerate it. I have been dealing with it for 3 months or so and in the extreme cold, I don't feel safe. Just waiting to see what the dealer says. I gave it some time to figure out if it was just me needing to get used to it. It's not. Especially after driving the loaner I am even more convinced. Too bad it warmed up here into the 40's for my dealer. Gonna be hard to replicate the severity.

Newell33 Enthusiast

Newell33

Posted
Posted

The transmission control on these trucks is horrible. There are several other threads on this. Some say theirs gets better with time, but mine didn't. You'll likely just have to put up with the poor driving experience as GM isn't likely to make a change with the tuning.

 

My truck has the same issue with heating up. There are threads on this as well. If it's in the teens then I can go through 2 remote start cycles, and in town driving and the truck doesn't heat up. It's considerably worse than my 2011. A few have chimed in that theirs is fine, but I'm guessing their commute may involve higher speeds to their destination.

 

It sounds like you may have an issue with your electronic steering. Either that or maybe the truck has bent suspension components causing a bit of bump steer. I hope your dealer can at least narrow down this problem. The other issues, unfortunately, are characteristics of the new trucks that are likely not going to be fixed without trading for another brand.

SouthernSilveradoGuy85 Senior Enthusiast

SouthernSilveradoGuy85

Posted
Posted

Heating up is normal, but any vehicle won't heat up good until yous tart driving it.

 

The MPG is also normal. I'm getting around 14-14.5 with most town/city driving when I was getting around 17 or 18 in the summer.

 

The transmission is probably still in learn mode. Mine sometimes shifted hard but after 1-2,000 miles it went away and it has shifted fine ever since. (has over 9,000 on it now)

 

It doesn't surprise me that you're having these problems since you bought it used with only 500 miles. It was probably a trade in because it was a problem truck and they either got something else or was traded even for another truck that didn't have problems.

f8l vnm Senior Enthusiast

f8l vnm

Posted
Posted

3400 k miles on my tranny and still getting worse. The confusion drives me nuts when driving slowly around town.

I've given up as gm says I'm crazy and it's normal. Lol right

Tqjunkie Enthusiast

Tqjunkie

Posted
Posted

Graphic ,does your truck have the telescoping steering wheel option?I was wondering because I have searched pretty extensively on this site too see if anybody else has had this problem and I really haven't seen any posts on the left pull steering problem that I have had since day one and then you post this and your explanation of the problem pretty much mirrors what my truck does ,my truck has the telescoping steering column and I don't think this option is all that common so i was kind of looking for a common denominator between the two trucks and this telescoping steering column does make me wonder if it may be binding especially when cold ,just a thought but if it is binding hopefully it will keep loosening up because like I said mine has gotten better with miles.

fondupot Senior Enthusiast

fondupot

Posted
Posted

My truck drifts left too. I've had it diagnosed, and aligned by the dealer a couple times. But It only started after the last time I had my tires rotated. I think its a tire pull issue with the cheap Goodyear wrangler SRA tires. One of them is bad and causing the issue. Some days it is worse than other, I think on colder days as others have mentioned.

 

Some of it is a characteristic of EPAS. It is much more sensitive to road crown and road groves/bumps/humps etc.

 

OP, what tires are on your truck? Goodyear wrangler SRA?

 

My MPG dropped with the cold temps as well. Went from 16-17 to 13-14. Happened last year too. Its the winter blend gas. Doesn't do as well with the Direct Injection.

 

And yea, my transmission is flaky too. Some days its good. Some days its annoying. Idk...damn computer controlled shit.

calgator73 Senior Enthusiast

calgator73

Posted
Posted

There's a note that says steering wheel angle sensor needs to be aligned prior to wheel alignment. I guess the epas will try to correct to much if it's off.

20L8TSierra24 Senior Enthusiast

20L8TSierra24

Posted
Posted

My dealer had to realign my steering after my level and it took them taking it to the toad twice to get the wheel centered. Been about 400 miles now and still good.

2016 Sierra Owner Senior Enthusiast

2016 Sierra Owner

Posted
Posted

The MPGs will drop like a rock off the Empire State building when using remote start to warm the truck up. Mine will drop by 2-3 mpg by the DIC information when using remote start.

Skeeter McSkeet Senior Enthusiast

Skeeter McSkeet

Posted
Posted
The MPGs will drop like a rock off the Empire State building when using remote start to warm the truck up. Mine will drop by 2-3 mpg by the DIC information when using remote start.[/quote

 

+1, I've actually watched the mpg count down like a stopwatch on the DIC when Ive hopped in and put the key in after 2 remote start cycles. Guess it's updating itself, oh well truck was still warm and windows defrosted!

 

 

-Skeet

Graphic Enthusiast

Graphic

Posted
  • Author
Posted

 

Graphic ,does your truck have the telescoping steering wheel option?I was wondering because I have searched pretty extensively on this site too see if anybody else has had this problem and I really haven't seen any posts on the left pull steering problem that I have had since day one and then you post this and your explanation of the problem pretty much mirrors what my truck does ,my truck has the telescoping steering column and I don't think this option is all that common so i was kind of looking for a common denominator between the two trucks and this telescoping steering column does make me wonder if it may be binding especially when cold ,just a thought but if it is binding hopefully it will keep loosening up because like I said mine has gotten better with miles.

Yes it does. MIne hasn't changed since I bought it. I will let you know what turns up!

Graphic Enthusiast

Graphic

Posted
  • Author
Posted

There's a note that says steering wheel angle sensor needs to be aligned prior to wheel alignment. I guess the epas will try to correct to much if it's off.

I pointed this out to the dealer last time it was in for the issue. He said they aligned it as well. It seemed better, until it got cold.

Graphic Enthusiast

Graphic

Posted
  • Author
Posted

The MPGs will drop like a rock off the Empire State building when using remote start to warm the truck up. Mine will drop by 2-3 mpg by the DIC information when using remote start.

I saw this on the forum as well. Like I said, I found most of my issues answered here already, so I was really just wanting to share my story. I wanted to post my numbers as I hadn't seen mush in the way of my 12-13MPG mark. I was wondering if the truck was pulling so bad, maybe it would hurt the mileage as well?

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