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My 2001 Pontiac Bonneville has developed an issue over the last couple hundred miles. The car tracks straight as an arrow; however, when I hit a bump (or even a large crack) in the road, the car pulls to the right. It almost feels like I’m about to lose my back end in a fishtail. I have yet to really feel unsafe, but something definitely is not right. What would you recommend I look into?
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If you can be absolutely certain that the looseness feels like it’s coming from the back end, lift the rear of the car and check for play in the trailing arms and especially the lateral links. If you’ve had any recent fender benders or curb shots, check the area of the steering & suspension that took the impact or is closest to the impact. For what it’s worth, just get all your wheels off the ground with the suspension hanging free and shake all the wheels side to side and then top to bottom. You’re looking for any feeling of free play at the wheels.
‘I’m not 100% sure the issue is in the back end. There are times when I feel more of a pull than the fish tail sensation, which leads me to believe it could possibly be up front. I always struggle to test for play, but I have checked wheel play for tie rod end or bearing issues and I don’t think there are any issues there. “Trailing arms and lateral links”, do these go by other names? I will look into these tomorrow.
A possibly connected issue… North of 70 mph I get some shake in the steering. I live on a gravel road and built up dirt on the inside of the rims definitely magnifies this, but even after cleaning them thoroughly, the issue persists. Do you think the two might be correlated?
You can get a pretty good sway issue when a sway bar end link breaks like happened to me in the middle of a curvy on ramp. Whoa Nelly, where are we going?
I feel dumb posting this, but I am having a heck of time getting both rear wheels up off the ground. I can’t find a good jack point and a good place to set up my jack stands. I’ve lifted a number of vehicles before, but I can’t seem to figure out the handshake for the Bonneville.
[quote=”gap1533″ post=112791]I feel dumb posting this, but I am having a heck of time getting both rear wheels up off the ground. I can’t find a good jack point and a good place to set up my jack stands. I’ve lifted a number of vehicles before, but I can’t seem to figure out the handshake for the Bonneville.[/quote]
maybe this will help…maybe you can look under the car,and see which pic matches your undercarriage
what your going to do has serious consequences if safety is not first, you do this at your own risk
[IMG]http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/rr310/buckz6319/bottomcar-1_zps9265e389.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/rr310/buckz6319/images_zpsc6500714.jpeg[/IMG]With some diligence, I can get the wheels up. Thanks for the direction. I’m pretty convinced I need to replace the rear struts. I’ve owned this car since 200K miles, when it was given to me by my great uncle who took incredible care of the car. It now has 213K. That being said, I have every service record on the vehicle and I looked back through the past 100K miles worth of service (approx. 30 invoices) and found nothing about rear suspension.
Question is, should I replace shocks at the same time or can I just do struts? Also, if I do the back, should I also do the front?
[quote=”gap1533″ post=112805]That’s my undercarriage for sure. Those rear jack points just don’t seem very substantial to me.[/quote]
you have to make a plan for safety first,have a back up safety net in case your first safety net starts to Frey…think this through, then again, then again…until you come up with a solid plan. I have to do the same thing, because i work alone, always, except for when I have to ask my wife to start a vehicle, or help with moving somethng, or even a second opinion on where a noise is coming from:)More car lifting information
For people unsure where to place jacks and stands this is the perfect solution
I always try to puts some spare tires with rims, that have air, under both sides of the vehicle, so if she decides to drop I have some wiggle room, to wiggle out of…just a thought
barneyb Good videos, except that I scribe to briansmobile1 🙂 the other guy, Well, I like his car collections….
A good inspection of the suspension should yield some results for you. I hope the suggestions made have helped work out the lifting issue.
You can just replace the struts on one axle, you don’t need to do all for, but you do need to do both sides.
More info on inspecting suspension components here.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/diagnosing-noises-in-your-car
Also here.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/determining-the-causes-of-vehicle-vibrations
I can’t stress enough how tires come into play here. Be sure you have good tires that are properly inflated.
Keep us posted on your progress.
[quote=”lovetowrenchit” post=112825]barneyb Good videos, except that I scribe to briansmobile1 🙂 the other guy, Well, I like his car collections….[/quote]
I’ve never seen that product for sale. But the questions of where to jack and where to put stands comes up all the time. Since most cars are raised using the truck jack on the pinch weld, this product looks like it would be the perfect answer for the occasional mechanic.
After much deliberation, I decided to begin troubleshooting by replacing the rear shocks. As of the first test drive, this seems to have solved the problem. If any issues arise or persist, I will continue this thread. Otherwise, consider the problem solved!
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