Hi guys I am not new here but this is my first post. Long time poster and member of AZ350Z and long time lurker of this forum. My name is Justin and I drive a lightly modded 350Z roadster.
Anyway here is my problem...
About a week ago I started getting a weird noise from the front passenger side of the car when I would hit bumps or turn the wheel a certain way. I took the car down to 350ZMotorsports and put it on the rack to try to find the problem. After two days of checking for loose bolts and looking around under there I still couldn't find anything wrong and the sound was getting worse. In a final act of desperation I broke down and took it to the dealer thinking is was still just something loose that needed to be tightened up. They had the car for about 2 hours when I got a call from them saying my power steering rack was failing. They said because my car was lowered it had overstressed the power steering rack and caused it to go bad. They said they would not cover it under warranty because it was caused by the coilovers I put on there.
So this leaves me with a few questions.
1. Can coilovers really cause a power steering rack to fail? The car is only .25" lower than stock.
2. If the power steering rack is failing then why is no fluid leaking from it and why is the noise so hard to repeat? It requires special circumstances to produce the noise such as going over a speedbump at an angle. You don't really hear anything when you just roll down the road or turn the wheel.
3. What can I do now that they have said they won't cover it?
To give a little more information. My car is an 08 roadster with about 32k on the odo and the Ksport coilovers have been on there for about 12k of that. My car is lowered .25" in the front and .50" in the rear from stock height. This is my nice daily driver/cruiser so the only mods I have are wheels and coilovers and everything else is stock. I am really baffled here because I don't see how changing the ride height by .25" would cause the steering rack to fail and in addition to that nobody else with a lowered Z has had any problems with their steering rack so why me? This is the second Z I have owned and the first one was lowered way more than this one. I put 135,000 miles on that Z and never had an issue with the power steering, it was an 03. That car is still going in fact and is now a stripped out track only car and the original power steering is still going strong! I don't know what to do so any suggestions are welcome.
Power steering rack failure from coilovers?
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Retired Chief
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Re: Power steering rack failure from coilovers?
Sounds suspect to me. I agree with you as far as the coilovers causing it. Different wheels could cause the power steering to go bad, especially if they're significantly heavier than stock. How big are your wheels? Are you rolling on 20"s ? Also, what does the noise sound like? It could be a bad wheel bearing or a number of other things.
Re: Power steering rack failure from coilovers?
I roll Volk GTS which are actually lighter than the stock wheels. They are 19 but with a 30 sidewall so they are the same diameter as stock. It sounds like something metal hitting metal. I have been Modding 350s since 03 and I have never even heard of a power seeding rack failing on one of the cars. Neither has anyone else I have spoken to.
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Retired Chief
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Re: Power steering rack failure from coilovers?
Yep, metal on metal sounds like a wheel bearing to me. Also, as they start to go bad the sound comes and goes. The noise doesn't stay constant until they're really bad. I had a wheel bearing go bad on my 2008 350Z when it only had 6000 miles on it. I had it at the dealership 3 times before they were able to replicate the noise and I was telling them it's a bad wheel bearing the whole time.
Re: Power steering rack failure from coilovers?
Well today the sound was much worse so I took it by 350ZM again and we found the problem! The inside lower control arm bushing has failed on the passenger side. And contrary to what the dealership said my steering rack is perfectly fine. So armed with this information I went back to the dealer and asked them to replace the lower control arm bushing. So when I got to the dealer I explained to them that I had taken to another shop for a second opinion and the diagnosis was different. I asked them if they would look at it again and make the necessary repairs and they flat out refused to even look at the car and told me that because the car was lowered that my warranty was void so I should leave and not come back.
Of course at this point I am thinking what is this the twilight zone? They give me a completely bogus diagnosis and when I come back armed with information that they are wrong they go on the defensive and tell me my warranty is void altogether? I was pretty confused at this point because I didn't think coilovers would void a cars warranty. So I called Nissan consumer affairs and opened a case to have it reviewed. The lady that took the case said that coilovers generally do not void the warranty unless they are clearly responsible for the damage and she said it would be up to them to provide evidence that showed the coilovers caused it before they could legally take that stance. So far the only thing they have provided me is harsh language and unprofessional behavior. While I know the streets of Phoenix are hard on cars I cannot fathom how lowering the car .25 inches could cause complete failure of the lower control arm bushing. Especially when most other guys are dropped way lower than that and never have this problem. My last Z was dropped 1.5" and I put 135k miles on that car without issue. The car has never hit or scrapped anything and I drive it like a granny because i want to keep this car nice.
At this point all I can really do is wait for consumer affairs to make their move. The ball is in their court. A friend suggested I call 5 On Your Side and get them on it and honestly that doesn't sound like a bad idea. I mean first they give me a completely bogus diagnosis and now they say my warranty is void and I have to leave and can't come back? Any lawyers on here? I want to hear what someone with professional legal experience has to say about all of this.
Of course at this point I am thinking what is this the twilight zone? They give me a completely bogus diagnosis and when I come back armed with information that they are wrong they go on the defensive and tell me my warranty is void altogether? I was pretty confused at this point because I didn't think coilovers would void a cars warranty. So I called Nissan consumer affairs and opened a case to have it reviewed. The lady that took the case said that coilovers generally do not void the warranty unless they are clearly responsible for the damage and she said it would be up to them to provide evidence that showed the coilovers caused it before they could legally take that stance. So far the only thing they have provided me is harsh language and unprofessional behavior. While I know the streets of Phoenix are hard on cars I cannot fathom how lowering the car .25 inches could cause complete failure of the lower control arm bushing. Especially when most other guys are dropped way lower than that and never have this problem. My last Z was dropped 1.5" and I put 135k miles on that car without issue. The car has never hit or scrapped anything and I drive it like a granny because i want to keep this car nice.
At this point all I can really do is wait for consumer affairs to make their move. The ball is in their court. A friend suggested I call 5 On Your Side and get them on it and honestly that doesn't sound like a bad idea. I mean first they give me a completely bogus diagnosis and now they say my warranty is void and I have to leave and can't come back? Any lawyers on here? I want to hear what someone with professional legal experience has to say about all of this.
Last edited by nutz on Mon Aug 16, 2010 8:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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BusyBadger
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Re: Power steering rack failure from coilovers?
You should certainly get some documentation from the shop that found the real problem and some quality pics too. Keep all your conversations as civil as you can - looking like a dissatisfied customer is one thing (and completely acceptable in my book) being but looking like you're about to come unhinged is another. You may want do some checking and see if others in your area have also reported issues with the same dealership.
And the dealership shouldn't make a blanket statement about "your warranty being void", even if the coilover had caused an issue you could always take it in for an engine or transmission problem. I wonder what their deal is? Remember that there's a federally mandated 80K warranty on catalytic converters...it'd be awesome to roll in there with 75K on the clock and watch them have to switch out the cats after having said your warranty was void. And dealerships wonder why owners would rather go to an independent shop. I get mailers and emailers from mine constantly reminding me of service intervals and advertising specials for simple periodic maintenance. If the ones near you are anything like the ones near me the last thing they need to do is to alienate a potential customer. The thing is that in the end it's not just you they risk losing as a customer, it's everyone that you have a chance to talk to.
When you talk to Nissan consumer affairs don't fail to mention your other Z to them either. Not only does it indicate that lowering the car wasn't the issue but it also marks you as a repeat Nissan owner. The way the auto market is now, car makers can't really afford to lose customers, especially loyal ones.
And something that I've never seemed to learn though Holli has told it to me many times that may serve you well,"Always start off nice, you can get mean later on if you have to. But if you start off with mean you can't ever go back to nice. You always have to have room to escalate."
And the dealership shouldn't make a blanket statement about "your warranty being void", even if the coilover had caused an issue you could always take it in for an engine or transmission problem. I wonder what their deal is? Remember that there's a federally mandated 80K warranty on catalytic converters...it'd be awesome to roll in there with 75K on the clock and watch them have to switch out the cats after having said your warranty was void. And dealerships wonder why owners would rather go to an independent shop. I get mailers and emailers from mine constantly reminding me of service intervals and advertising specials for simple periodic maintenance. If the ones near you are anything like the ones near me the last thing they need to do is to alienate a potential customer. The thing is that in the end it's not just you they risk losing as a customer, it's everyone that you have a chance to talk to.
When you talk to Nissan consumer affairs don't fail to mention your other Z to them either. Not only does it indicate that lowering the car wasn't the issue but it also marks you as a repeat Nissan owner. The way the auto market is now, car makers can't really afford to lose customers, especially loyal ones.
And something that I've never seemed to learn though Holli has told it to me many times that may serve you well,"Always start off nice, you can get mean later on if you have to. But if you start off with mean you can't ever go back to nice. You always have to have room to escalate."
Re: Power steering rack failure from coilovers?
I sent an email to the News Channel 5 Investigative team! 5 On Your Side! I figured they would be interested in a dealership giving a bogus diagnosis and then voiding a warranty when called out on it. I hope they contact me because this would be a great story for the evening news and might just get them to play nice and admit they gave a bogus diagnosis. I am not going to let this one go because I am convinced this wasn't caused by the coilovers. I have taken up reading too and have some interesting literature on the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act. Stay tuned...
Re: Power steering rack failure from coilovers?
I wonder why Nissan sells a lowering kit if lowering the car voids it's warranty?
http://www.nissanusa.com/nismo/performa ... SZ30US.jsp
I had forgotten all about the Nismo sways and coils they sling. I was reminded in the response email I got from Ksport after I emailed them the other day. I wanted to let them know that dealers are telling customer that their products damage cars. I hear SEMA is also very interested in this type of thing since they survive on aftermarket parts. They are next on the email list. I got nothing but time and I type fast...
http://www.nissanusa.com/nismo/performa ... SZ30US.jsp
I had forgotten all about the Nismo sways and coils they sling. I was reminded in the response email I got from Ksport after I emailed them the other day. I wanted to let them know that dealers are telling customer that their products damage cars. I hear SEMA is also very interested in this type of thing since they survive on aftermarket parts. They are next on the email list. I got nothing but time and I type fast...
