1997 Jimmy Steering/Alignment??

[Rider]

I have a 1997 Jimmy SLE with the following problem(s), first, while driving I have to keep the steering wheel turned to the right approximately 15-25 degrees off of center for the vehicle to go straight, it does seem to have a slight pull to the left, and is much more of a problem when it is cold out. I have had 2 alignments in the past month in an attempt to resolve this problem with no luck.
Second is the fuel gauge, it shows the correct reading when the tank is half to full, however as soon as the fuel level goes below half a tank the guage registers as full, the needle can be rather eratic, moving from half to 3/4 tank and so on. If anyone could get back to me as to what they feel the problems could be it would be great.

Thanks for any advice

Rider

[George Foote]

Hi Rider.

I have a 2000 Jimmy with the same steering pulling you sighted.
You mentioned that it was cold outside ... not that this is the answer but, I notice that when the heater is on or in the summer with the ac on ... it does pull to the one side while driving. Its like a pull or drag from a compressor going on.

My Jimmy has approx 45K on it now and around 33K I took it to my dealer with this same steering problem. Solution (still under warranty at that time) ... a new steering idler arm.

Hope this helps,
George

[missyjord]

For the fuel gauge problem, I've had the same problem, the fix (not so quick or cheap) was a new sending unit. My Jimmy is a 91 with well over 200 thousand miles on it. If it can go wrong on one, mine seems to have been through it!

[George Foote]

Rider, I have another possible cause for the steering pulling problem .. one that I can give to you from a first hand account ... mine.

I mentioned that my 2000 Jimmy was once again pulling .. after having the idler arm replaced about 12K ago. Well, it went into the dealer yesterday for a look-see .. and it turned out to be the front passager side wheel hub/bearing assemble.

The tech. had me grab the wheel and move it back and forth. You could feel alot of play in the wheel. He had just replaced one earlier in the week on another Jimmy.

FYI ...
This hub/bearing assembly is what the tire/rim mounts on .. its the rotating plate with the mounting bolts. Apparently, GM has a REAL GREAT design that seals the wheel bearing inside now. You can't replace just it or grease it .. you just wait for it to go bad.... you'll feel the pull begin and later it will start making a Grrrrrr sound.

It wasn't cheap (what is now days) .. it was $465 for the hub/bearing assy plus labor for a grand total of $542 and of course you now need a front end aligment. The timing on the aligemnt worked out for me that day becasue, I also purchased tires.

Yeah, it was costly but, I remembered reading a thread on this web site about someone's wife driving home and the wheel bearing locked and caused the vehicle (no one was hit/hurt) to uncontrollable turn off the road. My wife is the primarary driver of our Jimmy .. well enough said ... its fixed.

I hope this can help .. maybe something else to look at. I'd jack up one of the wheels and give it a wiggle . see what you feel in wheel play.

C-ya