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What's the thunk?

idrivejunk said:
Wonder if there was ever a theft recovery and column repair afterward, in the car's history.
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No thefts in the history when I looked it up. The car has 175k miles and lived a lot of its life on the highway before I bought it from what I have gathered.

It had 123k when I bought it 4 years ago. Of the 52k I put on it 90% has probably been highway too. Another theory thrown around is all the highway usage may have caused a wear point in the steering system from not being turned enough. :shrug:
 


i thought so too. why i started to ask and check all my plowing friends trucks, and dont ya know, over 1/2 of em said, yeah it locks, and they in fact did not.
 
Scottydoggs said:
my 03 gmc the steering wheel didnt lock either, they stopped making em lock on some cars and trucks, why idk. seems odd, but thats gm for ya.
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I think the only reason it doesn't lock on the Grand Prix is because of the ignition switch being moved to the dash.
 
Yeah, shift lock works fine. Key has to be in the on position and brake pedal has to be depressed to get it out of park.
 


Yeah I bet there was a thunk involved in that one, huh?

Long as she works like the manual says. I always thought steering wheel lock was a primary security feature, go fig. Thats the reason they moved the key to the column in the first place! Wonder what the thinking was on that. Irrelevant, though.

I bet the clunk is annoying. Hate little nags like that. But the binding, that would alarm me. What you're describing almost fits the scenario when somebody jacks with the adjustment screw on a steering box. Anything unusual about the way the wheel re-centers after a turn? I don't guess it would klunk if there was a rack problem. But if it is binding against the power assist, it might REALLY be binding if the pump isn't running. You might want to jack up the front and cycle the steering with engine off and feel for a tight spot or anything odd, if you haven't.

Hope you find it, I'm out of suggestions for now anyway. Plenty more free hot air, though...
 
Wheel recenters fine. It doesn't bind all the time, and when it does, it is only a quick slight bind, then as it frees it makes the thunk, then it works as it should.

I really wish some of you guys were closer so you could experience this thing for yourself. I had tried to explain it to my uncle over the phone before I took it to his house and he couldn't grasp what I was getting at. Then when I took it over and he sawed the wheel he was even like WTF is that, and he has been working on cars since long before I was even born.
 


I had not, but I did find a video for R&R. The TSB I found and posted basically stated that replacement was the corrective action now instead of greasing.

For the cost of the part, I'm probably better off just replacing it anyway.

The link will help if I get into a jam though, thanks.
 
Stealthee,

Based on all the discussion I would start with the intermediate steering shaft. I had mine "serviced" under warranty because I was noticed during turns there was a bump/bind in the steering. I didn't let it go to long.
 


Appreciate the additional input. Maybe I can concentrate on the car this weekend. Currently trying to figure my mom's car out. Always something.
 
I have an 05 and noticed this problem soon after buying it(uesd). It was the intermediate steering shaft. What I did was shoot about half a can of white lithium grease inside the boot. There's a vid on youtube you can search for. That was over 2 years ago and have't had any problems with it since.
 
Well, I finally got the steering shaft replaced. The thunk is gone as well as is the binding issue. The is a new issue that the binding was hiding though. It seems like there is a little bit of play in the steering at the center so I probably will be replacing the rack as well. I need to do further diagnosis before I go that route.

One other weird thing happened too though. When I was all done I took the car for a ride and, other than the noticed play, all was well. I parked the car and we were going to get cleaned up to get ready to eat lunch. Before I did that though I went to start the car and it cranked 2 times, then I lost ALL power. Radio, dash, everything went out and car wouldn't crank or anything. My cousin and I both looked at each other like WTF?

I popped the hood to check out the battery, fuses etc, and as soon as the hood popped, everything came back to life. So what the hell would cause that?
 
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