Hi all; I've been watching this site for a long time, I just never jumped in, but I have some problems and I want to get your opinions.

Steering is very sloppy off center, seems fine going down the road but when you turn the wheel to make a turn at a light or say moving the car around the driveway its got slop in it and you can here a knocking sound from the front. I've had the dealer look at it a few time when the car was in for oil changes and they say it's normal because it rack and pinion.

The burnt out bulb light keeps coming on but there is no burnt out bulbs, its intermittent.

My seat heater stop working on the bottom cushin of the drivers seat, is this covered under the extended warranty?


Thanks, I still love this car!

 

The dealer blamed the rack and pinion steering for the noise? Yeah that sounds about right.
FYI, it doesn't have rack and pinion.
Seat heaters are covered under warranty for 36k miles or 3 years. I don't know if the extended warranty would cover it or not. I would guess it wouldn't, but I'm not sure. The seats are very expensive to repair.

 

First off, your dealer, like many, is an idiot. The car doesn't have Rack & Pinion Steering. If it did, there wouldn't be any slop. I know what you are talking about. These car has an old style Reciprocating Ball Steering system. It is tight on center, but as more steering angle is dialed in, it starts losing its fit and gets sloppy. Now I don't think the "Knocking" is normal, unless it happens only at full steering lock.

The Seat Heater going out is probably the most common problem these cars have. It may be covered under your extended warranty depending on what type it is.

I don't know what to tell you about the Burned out light indicator, other than there may be a bulb with a loose connection...

 

Sorry the rack and pinion was my fault, I meant to say the dealer said it's not rack and pinion.

Does anyone else notice the slop off center?

 

Mine first came on after I installed HIDs that were supplied with a wiring harness that was supposed to prevent it from coming on. It only come on after I turn the HIDs off and stays on for about 10 seconds. That is to say your problem may be HID related if you have them on your car.

 

There shouldn't be any slop in your steering, the fact that it is Reciprocating Ball doesn't does not mean it okay to feel sloppy and it should not make a knocking sound. My 2004 is tight and quiet, in fact I can't tell a difference between it and my wife's 2007 Mustang which is power assisted rack and pinion in cornering, the rack and pinion is a little harsher on feedback from the road.

The seat heater is covered under the initial 3 yr/36,000 warranty and the Chrysler extended warranty if you purchased it or the dealer threw it in on with the sale of the car, but not covered on the power train warranty naturally.

The burnt out bulb light does sound like a loose connection. If you are still under warranty I suggest that you get it in to another dealer and get these problems documented.

 

Are you sure you're experiencing steering slop, and not what normally happens with a short wheelbase car and wide tires... wandering on uneven roads? (roads with a high crown or deeply worn tread areas typically push my car around a little bit).

 

Read this thread:
https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...loose+steering

This is a known problem here, there is a bolt that gets loose.

 

My heated seat was covered under my regular warranty when I still had it. My driver's side bottom heater went out. I warned my g/f not to use hers so often (she could be cold on a 95 degree day lol) or it would quit and sure enough it burnt out (she either hasn't told me thinking I would give her heck or she just doesn't realize it). I reached over to grab something off the seat and the back was warm, but not the bottom.


As for the light indicator coming on intermittently, check your license plate lights. I had the same problem and couldn't figure it out and someone on here had the same problem and they couldn't figure it out and it ended up being a license plate light bulb going bad and would work off and on. I changed mine and that did the trick.

 

No warning shot is right. Its the most aggravating thing seeing that check bulb light come on and off at random. However its probably one of the easiest things to fix because its your license plate light... those bulbs get jostled around a good bit by people who close the overly heavy hatch too hard! No XFire owner does this but passengers who don't know any better! The bulbs are about $5 a set at your local auto parts store.