Has anyone had any steering problems on their Lancer? I have a 2k2 OZ Rally w/ ~4k miles on it. Had it since May. Tonight omw home I lost steering control. Thankfully I wasn't going too fast BUT the car veered to the right and smacked a curb with the front passenger side wheel. I was able to limp to my apt complex but here it sits until I can have it towed to the dealer tommorow. I'm not sure what happened but it felt like a steering linkage broke. Even after it hit the curb it was still somewhat responsive, but very sluggish and made a horrid metal grinding on metal sound.... Just want to see if anyone has any idea's or speculations about what could have caused it. The car has never been autoX'd and has not been driven extremely hard. Just the occasional spirited drive to work or the store. Will post more details tommorow or soon after the dealer has had a chance to take a look at it.

On a side note, I know there was a similiar problem with the 96 galant. The steering could go out completely with no prior symptoms. Mitsu did a recall on those; I just hope that gremlin is not making a comeback on the Lancer

Mods if this is in the wrong forum, feel free to move. This just seemed the most logical place to me.

Spc

 

did you hear the metal on metal sound before this incident . . . and also . . . now that you think back on it, were there any other sounds that were being made before this. just want to know, this way i know what to look for just in case.

 

Nope nothing prior. Just cruising down the road and wham, car starts to drift to the right. Make a slight adjustment to the left and no response. Crank the wheel to the left then whack, right over the curb. The grinding sound didnt start until after hitting the curb. It started before I could get it stopped and continued after I got out, checked the wheels, and started limping. The front passenger wheel is toast Chrome looks nasty when anything happens to it.

Spc

 

i could only imagine . . . i hope its nothing too major that lancer's will need to be recalled . . . post any information that you recieve from the dealership . . .

 

Well nothing from the dealer yet because their service department is closed on Sat and Sun.
However my friend brought over his floor jack and we got the front end up in the air enough to get our heads under it and from what we could see the only thing that was damaged was the control arm and the ball joint on the front passenger side. The control arm is buckled under and the ball joint is torqued (sp?)
The control arm is about to fall off of the ball
I am gonna have it towed in first thing tommorow morning. Details to follow after the dealership has had a chance to take a peek.

Spc

 

hah if lancer was recall, i hope they make lancer with bigger HP

 

they take our lancers and give us evo 7's

 

Well just got off the phone with the dealership and despite the fact they had a lancer in last week with loss of steering they are refusing to do the repairs under warranty. I called my insurance company and they are sending an adjustor out to take a look at the car.

Hopefully this will not become a common problem. It looks as if Mitsu is denying the fact that a problem exists, and I hope they are right. So far, the only 2 incidents I know of are myself and one other person and neither of us were injured. If this begins cropping up as it did w/ the 96 galant and 93 RX7 Mitsu could end up in hot water once someone gets hurt/killed and there are documented cases of a steering malfunction that Mitsu refused to acknowledge

Anyway's I digress.

The good news out of all this is that the dealership estimated ~$1900 to repair. The only parts needed are the lower control arm, hub, brake rotor, ball joint, and 2 new wheels and tires. When I got the car the dealership had had the factory wheels chromed so to get 2 new wheels and rechrome would be kinda expensive. Guess its time for some 17" aftermarkets. At least something good may come out of this.

Spc

 

that sucks a nut

 

ive had an 02 sensor go out a fuel sensor, a tire that was not road damamge pop and now i just had my front end damaged by a tow truck ........the lancer should be a recall with all the probs i have had my car is prob worth 10k now not like 15k (and no im not comp stock before u say worth 15 ya right)

 

You've had some pretty crappy luck ryancb. Out of curiosity how many miles on your car to have had so many probs.

 

i have had 5023 as of today with my car sitting at the dealership IM PISSED

 

my steering wheel is just slightly off center...and the dweebs say that it is fine....grrr...dorks....cousin works at other mitsu dealership so i guess i should give him a ring

 

does anyones rpms go up 100-200 rpms when they are turning the steering wheel when the car is not in motion

 

YES LB...im glad i wasn't the only person to notice that. wtf is up wit that???