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Path: utzoo!utcs!mnetor!clewis
From: clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis)
Newsgroups: net.auto.tech
Subject: Re: Wandering Nova
Message-ID: <2911@mnetor.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 10-Jan-86 15:04:16 EST
Article-I.D.: mnetor.2911
Posted: Fri Jan 10 15:04:16 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 10-Jan-86 16:23:52 EST
References: <187@drutx.UUCP>
Reply-To: clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis)
Organization: Computer X (CANADA) Ltd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Lines: 37
Summary: 

In article <187@drutx.UUCP> kec@drutx.UUCP (CarlsonKE) writes:
>My 1978 Nova (52,000 miles) "wanders" when I drive it, requiring
>constant, jerky steering wheel movement.  It feels as if the car is
>almost out of my control.  I've had this problem for quite a while, but 
>now it's so bad I'm afraid to drive the car at all.
>
>In the past, when I've taken the car in for regular servicing, I've 
>also described this problem, hoping each new mechanic would be able to
>correctly diagnose and then fix the problem.  Each time an alignment is 
>performed.  It helps only slightly and within a couple of weeks the car 
>is out of alignment again and the problem is as bad as ever.  By this 
>time, I think perhaps the poor alignment is a result of the problem, not 
>the problem itself.

I had a similar problem in a '75 Valiant:
	1) Once it was fixed for a while by replacing a left lower ball 
	   joint (which a couple of garages failed to detect)
	   You might be able to check for this yourself, the book says:
	   jack up tire, ensuring wheel is out of rebound, and see if
	   you can find any slop in up-and-down wheel movement 
	   while levering the tire up and down with a crowbar.
	   Read a Chilton's for more details.
	2) Second time it was frozen "cam bolts" (camber adjusters?
	   I don't know - this was AFTER they had realigned and weren't
	   satisfied with the result) worked much better after this
	   repair than after (1).
	3) It's doing it again (only this time the steering is very
	   "loose" too), and I suspect that it is the other lower ball joint.
	   (I had the car checked for problems with brakes, they said that
	   the ball joint was going too, but we only replaced the brake
	   parts because we figured that they were confused by a loose
	   wheel bearing, but maybe we were wrong, or the steering box is 
	   going...)
-- 
Chris Lewis,
UUCP: {allegra, linus, ihnp4}!utzoo!mnetor!clewis
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