joelmikel

I did a search and found that there weren't really any common problems with steering in the '05 xB line.
I did find an IDENTICAL problem to what I'm experiencing in the TC forums.
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...=steering+gear

The description of the problem he's experiencing is exactly what mine is going through right now.
The TSB doesn't seem like it addresses the issues(even though the "diagnosis" process tends to identify problem areas correctly) noted in the thread.


I'm dropping the car off in the morning to what I'm thinking is an incompetent Scion dealer/service center. I have had it in 3 times and each time THEY scratch something or break something and I have to keep birnging it back in to get those parts fixed.

I have had a few steering gears go bad over the years in various cars and some of the signs mine is exhibiting right now are indicitive of a steering gear going bad. However, I'm having a hard time pinpointing exactly when and how to duplicate the problems... slow speed, full turn looseness, shuddering back and forth of the steering wheel during acceleration(not torque steer), during colder weather and slow speed turning the notorious steering whine occurs....those are things I have noticed but I can't seem to MAKE it happen and I'm not expecting it to happen when it does so I'm not thinking about what was going on before it happened to remember and duplicate it.

Anyway..... if you can take a second to read the link above and let me know if you have heard of or experienced thoes problems with the xB or know of any TSB related to the xB that I could use as a reference when I speak to the service advisor tomorrow that would be great!

Thanks,

Joel

bB2NER

Sounds like a new steering rack is in your future. Hopefully they will do a proper fix and not cause lazy damage to your toaster. Why is it so hard to treat peoples vehicles with a little care and respect?

joelmikel

Ok.
After a week of the most ridiculous service I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing, I have my Scion back and in proper working order.

I dropped it off to Dunning Scion(Ann Arbor) on Friday morning. They told me they would call me later that morning to let me know what they found. The morning came and went and I didn't hear back from them. I figured they determined the problem and had to order parts(typical of them from my previous 3 experiences.... they never have anything in stock) and would be Monday before they had them in. No big deal.
Called them Monday to get a status.

"I'm sorry, what is the last name? I'm sorry, we don't have a record of you dropping your car off with us... let me check around and see if anyone else has heard of you ...".... all the while I have the drop-off paperwork right in my hand and I have the service advisor's name so I tell the guy her name.
"oh, ok, let me ask her".... 10 mins later he comes back and tells me that they have found my paperwork but are unable to find my car and don't have a status.
WTF!!!! How can you lose my car, you only have 50 cars in your lot!!!
"we'll look into it and call you back shortly".

About 30 mins later the original service advisor called me back to tell me that they have "found" my car and that it was in a "service bay" but they don't know who put it there or why. Whatever!
She proceeds to tell me that they called my cell on Friday and left me a voice mail telling me that they have felt the problem, several people have felt the problem but they can't tell where it's coming from(total BS since I had my cell on me ALL day on Friday... so I probed her more to find out when she called... only to find out that it wasn't her who called, she had to leave early so she left it up to one of the other advisors to call me and he told her that he called... HE DID NOT CALL). They are going to have the lead service tech drive it and see if he can tell anything else.

An hour later they call back to tell me that the lead service tech drove it and didn't feel anything unusual so they don't know where to go from here since several other people drove the car and were able to feel the problem I complain about. She just wanted to give me a status so she'll call me back shortly to give me another update.

About 2 hours later she calls me back again to tell me that they have "checked EVERYTHING on the car and nothing is out of spec, nothing is leaking, nothing is broken" and now no one can feel the problem. So they are going to have a salesman who currently drives a xB demo test the car and see if HE can feel anything unusual.

An hour later they call me back to tell me that the salesman(yes, they had a friggin salesman drive the car... )drove the car for quite awhile and he couldn't feel anything wrong with the car so I could come pick it up since there was nothing for them to fix.(well that makes sense, a salesman can't feel anything wrong so his word trumps the previous 3 people who tested it and DID feel the problem )

With complete disgust I hopped a ride on the local MTA to get to the dealer to get my car.

I drove it right to another Scion dealer about 35 miles(Victory Scion) away where they immediately took it for a test. Upon return the tech tells me that he can feel the problem and has a pretty good idea what the problem is. About 40 mins later he comes out to tell me that he wants me to take the car for a drive with him. We go for a ride.... ahhhhhhh!!! Serenity! The car is back to normal!
What did you do, I asked him. Well, both of the front wheels were improperly mounted. The lugs weren't torqued down correctly and were very loose. Also, one of the nuts on the front sway was loose and worst of all, all of the tires were dangerously under-inflated(28psi each)....

That's funny ____ right there. The week before I had the tires rotated at Dunning and I watched the tech smash my wheels with a giant sledge hammer to get the wheels off... stands to reason he wouldn't take any pride in doing such a simple job correctly.

Never again will I take my ride back to Dunning.

sciontc_mich

wow joel.. yeah definitely write a "nice" review.. lol (insert sarcasm here).. about dunning, the first dealer you went to, people have to know what kind of crazy people you had to deal with. What a joke!
Glad that you found a dealer that ACTUALLY knows how to FIX a car! yeah like that should be some miracle or something!

And I'm also glad that you were lucky and that a wheel didn't come flying off and end up getting hurt! glad it's all fixed now!

joshsbox

Seriously, a thread should be started for bogus dealerships like this. Something titled "Don't Take Your Scion to ________." I've seen too many threads in regards to this type of topic!

Tomas

Maybe not that obvious, but there actually is a place for posting dealer experiences, both good and bad: https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=14

You should repeat this over there, with particular focus on the problems not being found by Dunning Scion (Ann Arbor), AND the fact that the problems also ORIGINATED there.

Glad the other dealer took care of you and your box!

Tomas

sciontc_mich

tomas.. yes that's what i was trying to say, but didn't write it down! definitely write this in the dealer review area! people have to know how bad this dealer is. Some might claim it was an isolated incident. But I have had seen this dealer first hand, it's a place to stay away from. Tried charging for an oil change, extra oil they didn't use. ouch!

At least the 2nd dealer he went to fixed the problem. Looks like there are some good dealers out there!

joelmikel

I posted a review over there. Unfortunately the review section only allows for 1000 characters so I just pointed to this thread.
I'm still shaking my head at that mockery of a service dept they have.

bB2NER

You can usually tell which dealers just want to sell cars and the ones that care about their customers after the sale.