2000$ To Replace My Rack And Pinion...what!@#$%

[Kidlex01]

So I Noticed A Little While Ago My Steering Wheel Wasnt Centered And It Wasnt When I First Bought The 2001 Ga Se 2.4l Then This Year At The End Of Winter I Noticed It Was Even Worse And I Was Noticing That There Was A Loss Of Control And My Car Didnt Handle As Well As It Use To... So I Explained To Gm Thismorning What Was Going On And They Dsicovered That The Rack And Pinion Powere Steering Etc... Has Some Play In It So They Figure Everything Can Be Replaced For An Est. 2000$ So Ive Decided Unless Someone Can Talk Me Out Of Getting Rid Of It And Getting Somthing Else, Im Limited To Vehicles Here In Northern Canada But Maybe A G6 Would Be Nice Im Thinking But Id Rather Stay The Hell Away From Gm And Stick It To Them By Trading My Car In For A Mazda Or Somthing But Then Where The Hell Do I Get It Fixed Cause There Are No Mazda Dealers Here So Im Thinking Im Best Off Sticking To Whats Around The Town I Live In. Yellowknfie Is What Its Called It Sucks Ass For Service Cause Im 2000km From Edmonton Alb. So If Anyone Has A Solution To My Problem Lemme Know.

Personally I Think Gm Likes To Dick People Around. I Know Steering Needs To Be Fixed And If Ive Driven For A Year And A Half Like That Itll Be Fine For A Lil Longer Till I Figure Out What To Do. But Until Then I Guess I Wont Be Posting Anything Else In The Grand Am Section And I Really Did Like That Car But To Many Problems.

Peace

Alex

[xeroinfinity]

I posted in your other thread on this.....

Get another opinion!!!!! Drive it two someother town if you hav too. That stealershit may hav been wrong, it can happen anywhere, or just trying to sell you shit you dont need.

But I wouldnt be to carefree with driving it to much, if it were to be fucked up you could loose steering control and thats NO Good!
Your alignment has nothing realy to do with rack, but it can be bad none the less.

Oweing $8k, really sucks, because if you trade it in you'll just be adding the balance of your GA to the new ride.

Btw--Ga's do kick ass man!

[grfnkl]

I agree with XI, definetly get another opinion, Whenever something seems outrageous like that i would never trust the first opinion especially since the problem was not found before all of this.

If you do decide with a new car, just make sure you do your homework on them. I have tested a G6 and they are much more refined then the G/A ever was. And i haven't seen any problems with them so far. If you do go with mazda becareful i heard the 6 series ( the 4 door car) has a quite a bit of problems. Plus the parts tend to be more expensive for the mazda as well. Either way good luck, let us know how it turns out.

[gmack221]

I agree with both of them, definitly get more opinions! The steering wheel being turned is usually an alignment problem, the loose steering could be tie rod ends, power steering pump going out, or a rack & pinion, but I wouldn't just jump on thinking its the most expensive part (rack & pinion). I've seen alot of post on here about people having power steering pumps go out on them, so thats a common problem & alot cheaper parts & labor. Plus $2000 to replace the rack & pinion seems real steep, if thats your problem im sure you can find someone to do it cheaper then that, and trading off a car with a problem cost you more in the long run! Get other opinions & better prices.

[snowtroll669]

i think i would at least take it to a shop and have it looked at gm is good for doubleing the price of parts and labor ones the car goes out of warenty i had a blinker problem so i needed to replace the multi functinal switch are (thanks agine gmack) the dealershit wanted 129.00 for the part that they had plenty of in hmmmmmmm....... any ways i got hold of a parts store and they had it for 69.00 goes to show how much the dealershit doesnt give a shit about us after the warenty is gone....

[GTP Dad]

The guys are right someone wants to make their monthly budget from your checkbook. A reman unit from Advance is $184 with a $150 core charge. Labor to install less than $500. $800 tops for this repair. You can probably get someone to do it for less but $2K is totally outrageous!!

[Kidlex01]

well its funny cause, when my car was still under warranty a month ago for the steering and i brought it in for an oil change they noticed nothing and they even told me yesterday that oh well its not somthing they look for, when i asked why they never noticed this a month prior to yesterday. Then today i notived when i started driving my car that it was squeaking from the front end alot so i was headed to another mechanice whos a buddy of mine to get an estimate and asked him about the squeak so he lifted the car real quick and checked it out and found some bolts that were loose and not under torqued LOOSE, so he tightned them back up real quick and sent me on my way, and magically the squeak was gone. now dont you think GM would have tightened them after looking at them. makes you think what those GM bastards will do for business.

[xeroinfinity]

Well you cant just say Gm, It happens at Dodge, Ford, some shops are outragous like that. Its no wonder people are buying into Imports.

I deffinatly would not hav them work on it!
Like GTP Dad said 600-800$, thats about what it should take.

My wife bought our GA SE from a dealer(after I told her not to) and when the Radiator burst they had to Order one, 2days, then they said the water pump 'looked' bad but never changed it. Next week the WP went out and it was another 2days before they got the parts. This continued for 2 years before we had enough.
It was ridiculous , accually took them to court and got all the warnty money back, and a little extra for our wasted time and effort.
I had all sorts of evidence though, vids of what I KNEW was wrong, then they f*** with something else(loosen bolts), cut the CV joint boot clamp so it leaked grease everywhere.

GLad you got it fixed man!

[grfnkl]

Imports are getting just as bad at the dealershits now too. I had toyota tell me that they couldn't give me a price for a heater core and that we had to bring the car in(which had to be towed), and have them check it for a small fee of $300.00's when we already knew what it was. So final verdict if we brought the car there would have been $1500 easy, after towing, diagonistic, parts and labor. instead we brought it to local garage and fixed it for 500-600$'s.