03 GT Front End Vibration veering left

[logiserv]

My 03 GT Turbo has 62K.

My vibration has gradually gotten worse. It appears usually at 50-60 MPH and above. If I veer to the left it gets much worse. Driving straight gives vibration that comes and goes. Veering right makes the vibration go away completely. Seems like acceleration reduces it and coasting makes it worse.

My mechanic replaced some motor mounts but no joy. Tried dealer and they could not find anything. They recommended new tires. New tires did not help.

Thanks in advance for any help with this.

[quicksilverdon]

Welcome.
Start with balance and alignment of tires.

[logiserv]

Thanks for your help. Sorry I didn't mention it. When I got new tires they were balanced of course and the alignment was done at the same time. Had no effect.

One other thing I should have pointed out. I hear a clicking sound from the front end when I turn into a parking lot or driveway that has any kind of bump such as a curb and gutter connection between highway and concrete. Definitively feels like something is loose though no one seems to find it.

I can also wiggle the steering wheel left to right while stopped and hear an occasional click.

[mopar_man]

The clicking leads me to believe one or both of your CV shafts is junk. While they're easy to replace, a competent alignment tech should've picked up on that during the test drive. He did test drive it, right?

[CREWZIN]

Sounds like 2 different problems. The clicking sound is sometimes associated with the clock-spring located inside the steering wheel.

Here's a good thread on "pulling to the left".

Pulling to the left

[logiserv]

Thanks for the info. I hope it was test driven. You can bet I will be seeing them again about this problem. I will post my results.

[logiserv]

Thanks again for all the reply's guys. I am not very good at explaining myself I guess. The clicking noise sounds and feels like it is coming from under the car. Maybe it should not be described as a clicking noise. Perhaps it is more of a bumping noise.

Also, the one problem I have not had is pulling left or right while coasting. It does pull to the right when accelerating but my old 1984 Front wheel drive Jetta does the same thing.

[CREWZIN]

Sounds more and more like a tie rod end, bad bushings or a bad CV joint. it needs to be thoroughly checked out by a decent mechanic.

[logiserv]

Finally got it to the dealer and now I am having a heart attack. My 60k 03 Turbo requires Power Steering Rack and tie rod ends. Seems too soon for something like this doesn't it? In any case dealer wants over $1100 for the job. My regular mechanic says the job should be more like $800. Frustrating doing business with dealer. They also told me I needed an air filter even though they replaced the filter themselves less than a year ago.

[CREWZIN]

Why didn't you take it to your regular mechanic in the first place? You might even get away with less work to be done with him and you already know he's cheaper.

Hold the air filter up to the light. Is there a lot of light coming through or is most of it blocked by crud. If you don't see at least 50% of the light getting through, change it. Better yet, if there's any light blockage, throw a new one in, they're cheap and your engine will love you for it.