Please help, front end shimmy survey

[Boomer]

I need help from all PT Cruiser owners. My wife and I just purchased 2005 Cruisers. Both are 2.4L FI, non-turbo. Her's is the 4-door and mine is the convertible. In both cases, and in her's more so, whenever you first take off you feel a shimmy in the front end. It is more so when taking off on an incline, or when turning a corner. The service people at the dealer as identified the shimmy. They have replaced the front drive axles, replaced the wheels, and replace the engine mounts and torque mounts. Nothing has eliminated the problem. Notice, the service people have identified this "feature". Now the Corporate Chrysler Rep. is saying they can't do anything about it, that it's that way on all Cruisers. The service people have said we are the first people to bring this problem to their attention. My wife had a Serbring that is a front wheel drive and we have a loaner car that is a Sebring. These cars do not have the front end shimmy.

Please let me know if this "feature" is standard on the PT Cruiser. I find it hard to believe no one has identified this shimmy and not inquired about it. My concern is that this is something new and is now being identified. If it is common to all then my concern goes away. We love our Cruisers but don't want to be stuck with a future problem. Any and all responses are welcomed. This forum rocks.

Boomer

[Cal Cruzer]

I guess I will have to get to a dealership and have that "feature" installed on my car...not.

What a load of crap. Are they trying to tell you that they desinged a shimmy into the car for some reason? It would seem logical that since nobody has mentioned it, yours is unigue. I would stand in the service drive some morning and very conspicuously ask every PT owner if theirs does that.

I wait to hear if anyone else has this problem. You may have a lemon law case here if they cannot remedy the problem. Keep complaining. Take it up the chain of command. At least they have ackowledged the problem, even though the call it a "feature".

[purple04]

It sounds like they have tried a bunch of stuff. I don't know what else they could do to fix it.
Have you test driven at another dealer? If you are able to prove it's your car, not others (or yourself) you will be on stronger ground. Other avenues are the local news 'troubleshooter' and state bureaus. Be firm, be polite, be sure to get everything possible in writing. This sounds like it's going to be a long process.

[Cal Cruzer]

quote:Originally posted by purple04

It sounds like they have tried a bunch of stuff. I don't know what else they could do to fix it.
Have you test driven at another dealer? If you are able to prove it's your car, not others (or yourself) you will be on stronger ground. Other avenues are the local news 'troubleshooter' and state bureaus. Be firm, be polite, be sure to get everything possible in writing. This sounds like it's going to be a long process.

He states that "the service people have identified this feature" and they have even brought the region in on it. Seems they have acknowledged the problem, they just don't want to call it a problem. There are a LOT of things in the suspension/driveline that could cause this from tie rods to wheel bearings and god knows what else. If they can't fix it, they need to replace it, but they are loath to do that. He needs to ride them persistently to get some satisfaction or they will just hope he goes away.

[slartyblarfast]

I have had 2 Cruisers...They both had a slight shimmy when accelerating.Especially under har dacceleration.It's just an inherent "feature" of these vehicles. Both mine have been manual trans vehicles.I've never really thought much about it. Unless it's a shimmy that shakes the wheel out of your hand I wouldn't be to concerned about it. I've heard other people mention the same kind of shimmy though....

[dgranros]

quote:Originally posted by Boomer

I need help from all PT Cruiser owners. My wife and I just purchased 2005 Cruisers. Both are 2.4L FI, non-turbo. Her's is the 4-door and mine is the convertible. In both cases, and in her's more so, whenever you first take off you feel a shimmy in the front end. It is more so when taking off on an incline, or when turning a corner. The service people at the dealer as identified the shimmy. They have replaced the front drive axles, replaced the wheels, and replace the engine mounts and torque mounts. Nothing has eliminated the problem. Notice, the service people have identified this "feature". Now the Corporate Chrysler Rep. is saying they can't do anything about it, that it's that way on all Cruisers. The service people have said we are the first people to bring this problem to their attention. My wife had a Serbring that is a front wheel drive and we have a loaner car that is a Sebring. These cars do not have the front end shimmy.

Please let me know if this "feature" is standard on the PT Cruiser. I find it hard to believe no one has identified this shimmy and not inquired about it. My concern is that this is something new and is now being identified. If it is common to all then my concern goes away. We love our Cruisers but don't want to be stuck with a future problem. Any and all responses are welcomed. This forum rocks.

Boomer

I just bought (in the last couple of weeks) a 2001 PT Limited with 26K miles. No shimmy at all and Minnesota winters are hard on cars and a lot of times the roads suck too. It does seem that both cars would have this 'feature'.

[Boomer]

Thanks for the comments so far. They did not call it a "feature", that's the term I used. I used to be in the computer industry and when we had a problem we had difficult resolving, the inside joke was to just tell the customer it was a "feature" and see if the would buy it. Of course we never did things that way. But some times it was good for a laugh among ourselves. Some are saying that it's the nature of front wheel drive and others are saying it shouldn't be. I need as many responses as I can get. I've even walk up to a stranger getting out of their Curiser in a parking lot and asking them about their experience. They didn't know what I was talking about.

Boomer

[bigslim]

Mine does the same thing. When the wheel falls off then I will worry.

[Jimbo]

We have 2 Cruisers and I've never had any shimmy problem.
The only shimmy problem I ever heard of was when someone
changes the OEM wheels. The OEM wheels are beveled in back
and you have to remove the washer from the lugs on each wheel.
Most mag wheels are not beveled. As I remember this was a shimmy at higher speeds and your OEM wheeels should be fine.

[Jeff V]

When I bought my car there was no steering wheel shimmy. After 5,000 miles it started and at 10,000 it was time to do something. I had the tires rebalanced and rotated and the shimmy disappeared 100%