2000 Intrepid Steering Problems: Please Read.

http://tinyurl.com/2nx7t

"Several folks on this newsgroup suggested that I change the power
steering fluid to see if that helped. The mechanic I took it to did a
flush and a change. So far, no issues. You might try that."


Care to make more of a jackass of yourself? Yeah, probably best to call
it a day.

KJ

 

I didn't "indicate" anything. In fact, I clearly stated I dismissed
this advice as a quick fix and not the way I intended to go. Here's a
suggestion: read first, post after, it'll go better for you, I promise.

"Much more" huh? Based on that convincing argument, sounds like I
should just hand the money over instead of asking for advice using a
huge source of knowledge. You know, like Usenet.

(sigh)

 

A fix, quick or otherwise would, by definition, have something to do
with resolving the symptoms that are being exhibited, otherwise it would
not be a fix. IOW, if you broke your arm, I would *not* refer to
putting a cast on your leg as being a quick fix. It would be plain
wrong and not helping the problem at all. The steering wheel suddenly
jumping and (over time) changing its clocking 360° would not be caused
by the tie rod bushings or bolts. My mistake was taking you at your
word that you were, in your words, "fairly mechically capable". You are
mistaken about your abilities if you thought that changing fluid or
replacing inner tie rod bushings would be any kind of fix for the
problem you are having. To put the "quick" qualifier in front of "fix"
does not make a non-fix a fix when it is clearly not a fix at all for
the problem. A "quick fix" would be a temporary solution to the problem
- neither of those non-solutions would provide any kind of solution.

Sorry - once again - I took your words at face value when you said "I'm
fairly mechically [sic] capable" in your original post of this thread.

Now, if you can get over your righteous indignation, I will just add
that for your steering wheel to be changing its clocking position like
that, and especially suddenly slipping incrementally like yours has
apparently been doing from your description, one of two things has to be
happening: (1) Something in the steering shaft has to be slipping (like
a spline coupling slipping on the spline teeth), or (2) The rack and
pinion gear has to be slipping one tooth at a time when there is
pressure on the steering system. I would put my money (or your money as
the case may be) on the latter - and sorry if that pisses you off for me
to say that. Get over it. Move on.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

So you've figured out how to do a Google search, but haven't learned basic
shopping skills like getting a second (or third) opinion from another
mechanic, eh? Or calling around to see if the price is reasonable?

The term 'suggested' is very telling here. You don't trust them, or their
judgement. You present what they're telling you as more opinion than fact.
And you speak of 'blindly' paying them for services rendered. I think it
says a lot about you, and the response you've gotten from this NG probably
isn't much of a surprise to anybody *but* you.

The only thing I can come up with here is that you've worked out a way to
jump out and stick the car up your ass at speed, and you want me to watch.

_what a pervert_

Of course, I go home 'covered in grime' everyday, so perhaps there are some
other possibilities of which my feeble, blue-collar mind cannot conceive.


--Geoff

 

And you continue to fail to see what it is about your original post that
got several folks' backs up.

I apologize if I took it the wrong way. I confess that I react VERY
badly to posts that go along the lines of, "something went 'bang' and
all sorts of warning lights came on. But the car kept driving so I
ignored it. But now the car won't run and they tell me the engine is
seized Is this a defect? Is there a class-action suit I can join?"

I realize that may not have been your intent, but that is SURE how it
came across. If that wasn't your intent, then I offer my apologies and
re-iterate that I've never seen any steering defects reported in a
legitimate forum.

 

You know what, Steve, you're right. He chose words that could be
interpreted in more than one way.

He might have asked, "Is there anything wrong with my car that could cause
these symptoms that *would not* indicate the replacement of the steering
rack and pinion?" I would've responded quite differently as well.

I apologize for suggesting he do the anatomically impossible with the car
and any references to evolutionary theory.

I stand by my suggestion that he do some comparison shopping, and my 'what
are you serious' line of questioning.

And I suggest further that if the OP is looking for somebody to say
something negative about a product, a Google search is an excellent way to
satisfy the desire.

Finally, I would add that we're subjected to relentless trolling in this
newsgroup, please excuse me for assuming the same in this case.

--Geoff

 

You said you had been driving the car like this for several weeks and
that it had happened enough times that the wheel had now made an
entire circle. Anytime the steering wheel doesn't do exactly what you
expected it to do you have a major problem. You could have very
easily hit a pot hole and had the rack ratchet all the way left or
right leaving you in a position where you could not regain control of
the vehicle. I am glad that you have decided to trust the dealer and
get your car repaired.

An attitude permeates your post. The original and all the follow ups
as well. The attitude is that I think my Chrysler product was
designed poorly and the dealership is out to rip me off. Maybe this
isn't what you are trying to convey but that is what i get from your
post. Now I can understand both thoughts and either or both might be
true but when you come shopping for free advice and imply that the
people who you are asking for the advice are crooks/associated with
crooks you aren't going to get the response you were looking for.

Steve B.

 

True, I don't. I posted a month ago on the subject and got no help.
Therefore, I posted again with a lot more information, including
multiple sources stating my problem might be common. I clearly
indicated I intended to have the car professionally dealt with, but just
wanted to have an idea of what is wrong before proceeding.

I was met with scorn, chilishness and wishes of death. You tell me.

Never happened. Not even alluded to.

No it isn't. I suggest going back and rereading.

An apology is meaningless without sincerity. I did nothing wrong, and
you still imply I did.

 

No, I didn't. I suggest you also reread.

Then why didn't you one month ago?

No you don't, because you're still claiming it's my fault. Your apology
is rejected.

Too late, safety was more important. I don't want to know how much
money I wasted at this point. You had an opportunity to help, you chose
not to.

Not interested in hearing how and why *you* took *my* post out of
context. I took the troll site for what is was from the beginning.

Assume anything you want. A smart person considers things before
jerk-knee reaction.

 

I can't be mistaken about this, since it was never me that claimed it.
In fact, I rejected the idea.

I find this much more subjective. Considering the source I quoted
mentioned Chrysler themselves implementing a strategy of adjusting the
tie rod bolt torque as a remedy, I would suggest you approach them with
your mechanical advice. But either way, I never claimed I had the
ability to even diagnose the problem, only that I was able to perform
diagnosis tasks based on advice by knowledgeable members of this group.

Advice I never got.

I am.

(snip)

Your advice was genuinely wanted yesterday. Now you can cram it right
up your ass.

 

Yeah, sure I did: I got Steve's, and Bill's and yours. Thanks for that
BTW.

What part of "my car's not safe" are you oblivious to? I was in a bind
after finding alarming information about my car. Several members here
chastised me for driving the car at all, even to the dealership, and
you're suggesting I merrily saunter around?

Hey, here's an idea, why don't I just do an Internet search, then check
my findings with the experts in this group? Oh wait, that experience
sucked.

The price matched exactly what another member in this group said it
would cost.

True enough, I've been jerked around by dealerships, mechanics, muffler
shops et al, enough to know not to outright trust them.

My post here was before visiting the dealership, so bullshit.

Well, if this newsgroup is comprised of predators looking for
unsuspecting consumers, then, uh, I guess, I agree (?)

You pulled the intelligence card. I would think a genius like you would
have "thought up" some thicker skin.

 

No argument, but this is a deflection of the issue. I was attacked in
this thread for a false assumption about my intentions, nothing else.

It does now.

Nope. Go back and read it with an open mind, and without reading
Steve's initial blood lust inducing response.

That's your oversensitive mind inventing what I said. Never said it.
Only asked for help. I didn't write the web site that happened to
provide background to my problem.

? Maybe this

Never implied anything of the kind. Anything derived from this is bullshit.

 

You're welcome. Thanks for the kind words.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

Compare what you're saying now to what you said in your original post,
to wit: "Over the last few weeks this has happened, to a much lesser
extent, quite a few times. Every time it happens, the steering wheel
misaligns a little more when driving straight. At this point, the wheel
has made a complete 360 and is back to the normal position."

Sure sounds like "sauntering around" to me ("...Over the last few weeks
this has happened...quite a few times...") - that's your terminology,
not ours, but it sure seems to fit what you said in your original post,
don't it. We didn't just *assume* that you continued to drive it around
after the problem started, you explicitly said that you did, but now
you're claiming that you didn't continue driving around and chastising
us for "assuming" that you did. You're not being honest.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

The part you're conventiently leaving out, is how I didn;t understand
the severity of the problem until the very morning of my post. If
you've bothered to read this thread, you'll find that 1. The problem was
limited to extremely slow speed conditions (tight corners) and drove
normally otherwise, and, 2. I was thrown off my the reponse to my
original post claiming that a fix as simple as changing the power
steering fluid could remedy the problem. I said a few months, it was
actually a month, BTW.

Sorry, you have misunderstood the situation.

 

ANY steering problem is severe. And Bill Putney is one of the most
knowledgable and patient people in this group. Read his original response
to your first 2 posts. He took you at your word that you are mechanical
and responded accordingly. Your nasty words are unwarranted.

 

Which is why I immediately came to the experts in this group.
Unfortunately, I got zero response until someone thought their was an
argument going on about lawsuits.

If people are nasty, they will be responded to in kind. At this point,
I've pretty much burned any bridge I could have used to this group, so
screw it. The way I was treated in this post was atrocious, and being a
respected group elder is no excuse.

 

So you're going away now, right?

--Geoff

 

Re-read his initial post and not the posts that reacted to your posts
attacking him. There was nothing nasty in it whatsoever.

He said:
"Your not being rational about this. Your steering wheel moving 360°
would not be related to tie rod bolts (I assume you're referring to tie
rod bushings wearing out here, which does happen, but does not lead to
problems like you're claiming), nor to p.s. fluid needing replacing
(which you indicated in another post might solve the problem). Rack is
much more likely."

I guess you might feel that someone saying you are not being rational about
this is an insult but suppose there were 2 mechanical types talking and one
says he knows what he's talking about and up is actually down. How would
you respond.

 

Not under your conditions, that's for sure.