Another March end 2015 delivery 85D w. 59000 miles with same issue.. I have a mobile tech coming on Thursday to check it out. Lets see what they find out. Car drives fine completely straight but steering is loose then tight then loose as you turn in either direction and won't come back / straighten out by itself .. have to "pull" the wheel back to center..
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BoldSharpe
Member
Here's a copy of what they fixed on mine. I do not think a Mobile Tech will be able to handle it but I'd argue that this is a known issue and, perhaps, should be covered even if your vehicle is no longer under warranty.
Checking in with the exact same problem, just started to appear a few minutes ago. Symptoms are pretty clear and identical to everything as described above. Already have an appointment this coming Friday for a ball joint issue, so perhaps will add to the list or simply a symptom of a faulty steering column? We'll see I guess...
BoldSharpe
Member
Thanks, sauce. Please keep us updated with what the Service Center ultimately fixed.
Anyone have this happen on an X? This has been happening on our 2016 (Dec) X90D. Spent all last week battling with our service center who wouldn’t take a look because they couldn’t get it to duplicate what we are experiencing. The steering has been tight all week, low speeds, wheel doesn’t return to center after a turn. Any advice? I’m thinking I will send a detailed email with some description listed here alone with what was performed. Funny coincidence I’ve noticed many are in the 30-40K mile range.
Frustrated having to diagnose our own car and nobody at the SC believes us.
Frustrated having to diagnose our own car and nobody at the SC believes us.
Yes, this has been repaired and it was a seized-up lower steering column joint. Service advisor immediately recognized the issue upon sitting in the car and turning the steering wheel.
Description du problème: Customer: volant dure a tourner a certain niveau
Corrections: Shaft - Steering Column - Intermediate Lower
Pièce Quantité Prix unitaire
STEERING I-SHAFT LINK LOWER (1060802
-99-A)
1 55.00 55.00
Total des pièces 55.00
Pièce remplacée ou ajoutée
Nombre total de pièces pour le travail: 55.00
Total des heures travaillées et Articles divers: 133.00
Mode de paiement: Customer Pay
I suspected ball joint first b/c a lot of X’s gave gad that issue. How did you know you had a ball joint issue?
The ball joint was giving the typical squeeking noise when it's about to seize. It's an early warning. Then it will loosen up and become vertically loose. Then when the looseness also becomes horizontal, you better get it replaced fast or else prepare to replace a bunch of other parts, including body parts, maybe even airbags, who knows? Trust me, I've been through that ordeal with an Accord back in the day...
I'm actually getting the two upper ball joints replaced tomorrow at a 3rd party shop. I've travelled 10k since hearing the noise originally. Tesla wanted to change a total of 4 control arms: 2 upper ball joints and two strut bushings were showing age. I wasn't buying it so I elected to find a 3rd party opinion and pass on the lower control arm strut bushings as they represent no safety hasard, just an eventual annoying knock risk.
And yeah, there are better roads in Beirut than in Montreal. Which is why all joints go loose here. I change end links every 6 months or so. Gonna go with Moog end links soon: at least they have an unlimited warranty.
But to get back to the lower steering column joint: the issue arose just 2-3 days before my appointment to have the ball joints inspected so they got that covered immediately as it was pretty annoying to drive with, always having to grip the steering wheel and bring it back from either side steer.
Update. Three SC visits later my X got a brand new steering column today. Thanks to this thread I was able to send a detailed description & specific times it was happening. They apologized they didn’t catch it the first time and all is good. Man that was a lot of work though.
Bridor
Member
My 2014 Tesla Model S 85 no longer has power steering - the manual steering works great and gives me a good workout for my arms. Tesla Service says I need a new pump (?) for $3,200 total parts and labor - this is too expensive for me - can I replace it myself? I've searched for videos and found nothing. Any help would be much appreciated.
Brent
Brent
Just had this happen to my 2016 70D, 88,000kms.
Steering feels very loose when turning at low speed, and will suddenly become tighter as I keep turning the wheel. Then have to manually pull the wheel back to centre whereas before it would straighten out by itself.
Hope this doesn't hurt the wallet much.
Steering feels very loose when turning at low speed, and will suddenly become tighter as I keep turning the wheel. Then have to manually pull the wheel back to centre whereas before it would straighten out by itself.
Hope this doesn't hurt the wallet much.
BigNick
Infamous Fat Sweaty Guy
Update:
So the fix was indeed the same as many of the posters in this thread. The part is listed below, and was $280 CAD for the part and 45 mins labour @ $175/hr.
I-SHAFT STEERING LINK - NON ISOLATOR - LOWER (1030622-00A)
They also suggested about $2k in brake work (replace front brakes, rear rotors), and $3k in suspension fixes in the front aft links and front & rear upper links.
So the fix was indeed the same as many of the posters in this thread. The part is listed below, and was $280 CAD for the part and 45 mins labour @ $175/hr.
I-SHAFT STEERING LINK - NON ISOLATOR - LOWER (1030622-00A)
They also suggested about $2k in brake work (replace front brakes, rear rotors), and $3k in suspension fixes in the front aft links and front & rear upper links.
Yep, the steering bolt recall was done in 2019 for my S, along with the airbag recall. They didn't replace the steering intermediate shaft at that time..
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