Just wanted to take a minute to introduce myself to the group. My name is Tim, I'm from Jenison and last week I bought a '92 Stealth R/T TT with 26K miles on it. The previous owner told me that it needed nothing so I went for it. Later I learned it had an unusual symptom, in that on some occasions the steering wheel would oscillate back and forth rapidly about 1/2" in each direction. What's weird is that the car continues to track straight when this happens. That was accompanied by a vibration felt throughout the car. This happened at no specific engine RPM or road speed so its thrown me for a loop.
I took it to have new shoes put on it since 2 of the tires were original and had weatherchecked and cupped somewhat. Kind of figured on a car with that few miles and obviously stored quite a bit might need tires so I wasn't alarmed about it. It was my hope that would eliminate my vibration. Sadly it didn't so I took the car to Midas to have the suspension/steering looked at. My jaw hit the floor when they told me that it would need $2800 worth of work for a mid-shaft carrier bearing (WTH?), tie rods and new ball joints which were one piece with the control arms. (I've since found the thread saying to use a Sonata ball joint and have it pressed in like a normal car.)
I went to pick up the car which had been sitting at the shop overnight and the door wasn't locked. The service manager printed me 3 different estimates, the third one just having the carrier bearing on it.
Since Midas had given me somewhat of a run-around about even getting the information I decided to take the car to the Dodge dealer and have them look at it. The service advisor called me yesterday and said the tech found no problems with the suspension, just a missing stud/lugnut which the tire guy had mentioned. Hopefully after the tech drives it that will be the end of the investment and I can start enjoying the car.
Has anyone seen that symptom before or know what might cause it? Its definitely odd in that it comes very quickly and leaves with the same haste. The driveshaft bearing seemed to make some sense in that I could see it vibrating the car like a bad driveshaft would, but I simply have lost faith in that Midas dealership. Too bad as I used to have all my cars worked on there when I was growing up in Jackson.
Anyway sorry for the long rambling post.
Hope to meet you guys/girls at a cruise/drive-in soon once my baby comes home.
Regards,
Tim