I've been back and forth between a local dealership 5 times now, and every time I get the car back something else is wrong with it. They did the steering motor recall and now the wheel is tilted about 2 degrees left. They made up some BS excuse why this wasn't their fault and I don't want them touching my car anymore.

If I take the wheel off, can I realign the splines to correct this, or do I have to remove the entire column and realign them under the power steering motor?

Any info would be great. Thanks.

 

the alignment isn't done from the wheel, you can correct the steering wheel alignment by adjusting your tie rod positioning.

 

Its not a wheel alignment problem, its a they didn't line up the power steering motor right problem.

 

as far as i was aware replacement of the steering motor doesn't require the removal or movement of the steering wheel i could be wrong though

 

I appreciate the input. I'm hoping that an alignment CAN fix the issue, but I don't want to end up paying for something that I don't need. I'll see if I can get another dealership to fix their screw up.

 

if you take it somewhere else they will charge you.

but what you can do is take it to another place that will fix it and then take that bill back to the original place that says it wasn't their fault with the bill and description of what was wrong and have them reimburse you

 

Good luck with that one!Get ready to argue!

 

correct. u need a 21 mm and a 13 mm wrench to undo lock nuts and rotate the tie rods prolly half turn each side, to correct;depending on which way the steering wheel is off.

 

thats only if the other place says its due to improper install from the previous place, its a hard thing to prove but best chance the guy has of getting it done and being reimbursed.

and most service managers are pretty relaxed about things if you go in and talk to them respectfully and are pretty accomodating to most things.

ya i learned this trick years ago from an old school alignment tech buddy of mine

 

^^can you go a lil more in depth with this..??
My steering wheel has been the same as OP's(bout 2ş off center, cocked to the left) for a long time now. Haven't gotten an alignment yet(I'm actually plannin on setting one up for sometime this week or weekend) but if its an easy fix, id rather fix it myself

 

I had the same issue with mine after having the steering column replaced. The first time it was about 2 degrees to the left. I complaind to GM on a survey about i got for the work and got a call from customer service and the dealer. Took it back after the service manager called me.
It was about 2 degrees off to the right then.
After bitching to the manager yet again. They fixed it the right way finally.

A friend has his replaced about 2 weeks before mine and had the same issue at the same dealer. He just went to another to have it fixed.

 

i wanna take it to the dealer, but i don't wanna be out of a car for a day an a half or however long jus for them to do this

 

on the tie rod ends you'll notice that part of it is thread, this is how you adjust for toe, this also happens to be the way you correct for your steering wheel off center, follow what powell race parts said and you can correct it yourself

 

So this can be fixed without tearing apart my steering column? I think I'll try the tie rod thing to move the wheels like a threads width to the left. Thanks for the input!

 

Isn't adjust the tie rods just how they do an alignment?

 

no there's more to it, adjusting the tie rod ends corrects for out of spec toe. you still have camber and caster to adjust as well as part of the alignment.

 

camber and caster is not generally adjusted on a cobalt. caster is fixed, and can be slightly changed by upgrading to FE5 alloy arms if you do not have them. Camber can be adjusted by ovalizing the top knuckle bolt hole, or installing eccentric bushings.

so toe in at the front is generally the only adjustment. Off center steering wheel is an easy correction; it generally happens if the rack is disturbed or the tech is lazy and adjusts a toe correction on one side only

 

So lets say my wheel is off about 10 deg. To the left whats my adjustment? Clockwise or counter clockwise?

 

to keep the car straight, the wheel is turned to the left. so ifyou turn the steering wheel to the right to straighten it, the left wheel will turn right as will the right side wheel.
your job is to move the left wheel back to the left ;

you do this by shortening the left side tie rod ( the steering rack tie rods "trail" the steering axis)

and you turn the right side wheel to the left by lengthening the tie rod on the right side.

mark the tie rod with a bright paint marker, and turn each rod one half turn at a time to be sure you keep the same toe in overall.

u be good.
hope this helps

 

I look forward to trying this.