Steering and Shifting Questions

[jimgs03]

Newbie here with a few questions. First, I have a 2003 Grand Prix SE I bought earlier this year. Only 2 things stand out that I need to address:

First, when I steer full left I get a scraping/raspy sound from the passenger side firewall. Full right does not do this at all. I'm familiar with hearing sound on other cars when turning to the limits, but this is louder than I'm used to and only when turning left. Any Ideas on what this could be? Or is it common?

Second is the tranny. She occasionally will slam into first. The car moves slightly, then engages hard. This doesn't always happen, but there's definately an issue here. I did some searching and found that the 4T65E has a common pressure control solenoid issue, but I'd like to get opinions before I go replacing that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

JG

[jimgs03]

Nobody?

[Liquifire]

could it be your power steering pump? Have you checked your levels on this lately? Not sure on the tranny at all

[jimgs03]

The steering and tranny fluids are both topped off properly and the fluids look good. I'm leaning more towards the rack over the pump (Steering) as I'm only getting the sound on a hard left turn. But I hate 'shotgun' troubleshooting. I've got FSM's for my other rides, guess I may have to cough up the $ for GP FSM.

I appreciate the reply

JG

[Liquifire]

The rack would be a good bet to have gone out. They do go out fairly often on our cars(not nearly as often as MAF and Crank position sensors though) and your logic on the tranny seems like it very well could be. Try posting the tranny question in the tranny section. Usually the trannyman will help out in trying to answer these types of questions, or you could PM him as well if he does not respond to the thread. He is a sponsor on here and builds tranny's that kick but for our cars and last forever. He represents Triple Edge Performance transmission's...good luck. When was the last time that you did a tranny pan drop and replaced the filter?

[jimgs03]

Thanks for the reply Liquifire.

The tranny fluid and filter were serviced ~March '09, so it's as fresh as a non-flush can be. I'll try posting in the tranny section, I've seen some of Trannyman's responses..sounds like he knows his trade.

I'll keep my eyes open for a good deal on a steering rack, but no rush. For right now it's a nuisance, but no performance issues evident.

I do wonder though; I see racks available with ad without 'Variable Effort Steering'. How do I identify whether mine is equipped?

Thanks - Jim G

[Matt]

Look for "NV7" RPO code on the inside of your rear trunk lid. That's the code GM uses for Magnasteer. If it's there, your car has Magnasteer installed.

[BillBoost37]

Uh Matt...it's a little old no?

[jimgs03]

Look for "NV7" RPO code on the inside of your rear trunk lid. That's the code GM uses for Magnasteer. If it's there, your car has Magnasteer installed.

Thanks Matt - Old post or not, still good info. Too bad about your team; great season though