I notice the steering wheel of my 1997 Chevy Venture is no longer centered after it has an engine replaced by a repair shop. The wheel is at one o'clock when the vehicle is aimed straight down the road. It there any reason to suspect that the repair shop has inadvertently misaligned the tie rods while replacing the engine ? The shop denied it, but I think you do have to remove the tie rods in order to remove the engine. But I'm not sure.
Ian, I assume the lower A-arm is attached to the subframe. If the subframe is moved slightly, does that mean the lower point joint position is also changed ? That means the whole front end can be out of whack ? The vehicle does seems to track straight, no pull to either right or left. May be they did one of these sloppy front wheel alignment job, not bothering to center the wheel. I will ask them after you reply to this post. Thanks.
"DL" wrote
The vehicle will track straight because front wheel drive vehicles with McPherson strut front suspensions are almost oblivious to caster/camber changes. This is due to the geometry of the McPherson strut design on most front wheel drive Gm vehicles. And yes, the lower control arm is attached to the subframe. When removing the subframe, you take the lower control arms down with the subframe. If the subframe is not installed "exactly" where it was, you end up changing the individual toe at each front wheel (note: you don't change the "total" toe) which translates into the steering wheel being off centre.
I just performed a repair on a Cadillac. It involved dropping the subframe and trans and replacing case half seals on a Northstar v-8 engine. I always attempt to line up the subframe as close as I can when re-installing the subframe, so that the alignment guys won't have as much work. But....we "always" perform an alignment after we drop a subframe. No matter what. Even if I go for a road test and the wheel is perfectly straight....we still at least "check" the alignment. This is just proper procedure.
If they did an alignment and are trying to tell you that an off center steering wheel is normal!!????.......shame on them.
Ian
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