Every time I go to my job my power steering reservoir becomes empty after I put one or more quarts in the reservoir. Anytime I drive at highway speeds I sway back and forth no matter how much control I have over the vehicle. My steering gets so hard to the point where I almost crash every time I drive my car anywhere because I have no power steering or don't have a lot of control over the steering because it becomes so tight.
Chevrolet Cavalier power steering loss problems
54 of the 4,549 owner complaints about the Chevrolet Cavalier describe loss of power steering, most of them for the 1997 model year.
- owner complaints
- 54
- worst model year
- 1997
- typical mileage
- 70,000
Is there a fix? There are 2 recalls for this area of the car. See below
By model year
Often reported together
Loss of power 15Stalling 11Fuel pump 8Brake failure 7Engine failure 3Won't start 2Overheating 2
What owners say
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 chevrolet cavalier. While driving approximately 2 MPH and making a turn, the power steering failed without warning. The steering wheel became extremely difficult to mavnuever. The failure was permanent. The VIN was not included in the federal safety agency campaign number: 08e063000 (steering). The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unavailable.
I had the air conditioner replaced. The tech said the tensioner needed to be replaced. One week later I returned and had a new belt tensioner installed. About a month later the new air conditioner had premature failure. I had it repaired under warranty and also had a new drive belt installed during the repair. About one year later I began hearing a chatter when accelerating from stop position and had excessive vibration. I took to the shop and they said the belt tensioner was bad. This seems excessively short life span for a replacement part of good quality. Today the shop tried three different tensioners and still it was not correcting the issue. I even double checked the belt routing pattern to ensure it was correct. I dont understand what the problem is with the belt tensioners for this vehicle. All my prior ford vehicle never had this problem with their tensioners of same design. Please look into this problem as a belt that breaks or slides of a pulley due to a faulty tensioner can cause immediate loss of power steering resulting in hazardous and potentially fatal driving conditions and situations. Also the backlighting on the odometer does not work.the odometer registers milage driven but the backlight does not work at all.please look into and dont wait for someone to have to die before this issue become important.thanks.
My son was pulling into a parking lot and as he describes it, everything but the radio went dead all by itself (the engine died and there was no power steering or brakes). Obviously the same symptoms as the current recalls. I called the dealer and was told the car isn't on the list. I've complained to chevy and am getting the runaround by multiple members of their "consumer support team" (we've assigned you a service request number but I am to wait until it happens again and then bring it in "so we could start reviewing on your case"). I took it to my own mechanic and he ran a bunch of tests but couldn't find anything that would cause the car to die.
Car shut off no power steering gauges shut off everything turned off but lights stayed on and flashers worked.
On may 31, my 2003 chevrolet cavalier ls sport stalled on a highway. I was in heavy traffic and my power steering went out, but I was luckily able to make it to the side of the road. I immediately exited my vehicle and called roadside assistance for a tow. After receiving diagnostics at a chevy dealership, it was determined that my fuel pump had gone out and had to be replaced. The cost of this and replacing a fuel filter was close to $1,000. My car only has 60,000 miles on it, I had previously replaced the fuel filter 1 year before at another gm dealership, and I performed regular maintenance on the vehicle in accordance with the user manual. When I went home I researched the issue with the car, and lo and behold I came across hundreds of pages which described the exact same problem I had. On one forum alone, there were over 700 posts where owners of the 2003 model cavalier had fuel pumps go out at around the same mileage as my car, with repair costs ranging from $300-$900. I continued to research the issue, and found that the federal safety agency had researched a large number of consumer complaints regarding fuel pump failures with the 2003 model cavalier ' investigation #ea07015 and #pe07033. Gm documents in both of these cases indicated a large number of malfunctions in models up to 2003, then a sharp decrease in failures in the 2004 model.
2003 chevrolet cavalier, died while driving lost power steering and almost drove into ditch because I couldn't easily turn steering wheel! I think it is a problem with the fuel pump because the car would not start after incident. Starter will turn the engine over but will not start...
Fuel pump went out on 2003 chevrolet cavalier. Left my wife stranded in the middle of the road! She almost wrecked because there was no power steering after the motor quit.
Car died on road - no warning. Bad fuel pump...problem is widespread from what I've heard and dangerous...lost power steering and power brakes at 50+ MPH.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 chevrolet cavalier. While driving 65 MPH, the contact stated that the vehicle shut off and the brakes failed. She then noticed that the steering became stiff. She was able to safely maneuver the vehicle to the shoulder and had it towed to her destination. The contact did not notice any warnings prior to the failure. She is in the process of taking the vehicle to the dealer for inspection. The manufacturer advised her to take the vehicle to the dealer for inspection. She would not be compensated for the repairs because there was no recall available. The failure mileage was 79,000.
Related recalls
Steering: rack and pinion
- What is wrong
- Certain passenger vehicles and mini vans have lower pinion bearings in the power rack and pinion assembly in which the retainer tabs were not crimped properly. These and some other retainers used in vehicles assembled between january 1, 1996 and october 31, 1997, could fail and permit the ball bearings to escape.
- Risk
- If this occurs, the pinion shaft can be forced upward during left turns and back down as the steering wheel is moved back and to the right. If the pinion shaft moves further, the driver will need to exert more effort to turn the steering wheel, similar to a vehicle without power assisted steering. If the pinion shaft moves even further, the driver will require much higher effort to turn left and may not be able to turn the wheel as much as intended. With the maximum pinion shaft movement, which requires internal gear component damage, the driver can encounter high resistance to turning left, followed by unintended power assist to the right. In any of these conditions, a crash could occur.
- Remedy
- Dealers will install a new lower pinion bearing unless inspect of the existing bearing indicates that replacement of the gear assembly is necessary. Owner notification began january 24, 2003. Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact chevrolet at 1‑800‑222‑1020, pontiac at 1‑800‑762‑2737, or oldsmobile at 1‑800‑442‑6537.
Recall number 02V286000 · Recall details
Steering: linkages: knuckle: spindle: arm
- What is wrong
- These vehicles were built with overtorqued drive axle spindle nuts. This condition can cause excessive loads on the spindle nut and drive axle resulting in failure of the drive axle or the spindle nut. Failure of either of these components can result in separation of the steering knuckle tire-wheel assembly from the drive axle.
- Risk
- This can result in loss of vehicle control and a vehicle accident.
- Remedy
- Dealers will replace the left-hand and right-hand drive axles, bearing-hub assemblies, spindle nuts, and washers on all involved vehicles. Corrective action: dealers will replace left-hand and right-hand drive axles, bearing-hub assemblies, spindle nuts, and washers on all involved vehicles.
Recall number 94V115000 · Recall details
Questions about the Chevrolet Cavalier power steering loss
Which Chevrolet Cavalier years have loss of power steering problems?
The model years with the most reports are 1997 (13 complaints), 2003 (11 complaints) and 2000 (6 complaints).
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