Y2K Jetta - Pull To The Left... Help Please

Agasaw, I had the same thing giong on with my Y2K. It was a month old and I took it in to get looked at. The stering wheel was off center.(turned slightly to the left) It is had to tell because the car will turn to the left and right depending on the cup of the road. My problem was fixed and I am happy now.

Agasaw:

There's going to be a certain amount of torque steer to the left when power is applied to the transaxle from our powerful TDI engine. When underneath the engine (with the cover off), you'll notice that the left CV Axle Shaft is much shorter than the right - causing this torque steer.

If your pull to the left is beyond the above symptoms, you might also have a sticking left caliper, which the dealer didn't check out.

What they might not have done during the "full negative" alignment is spread the difference between left and right camber to the maximimum of side-to-side variation allowance, with the right side being the least negative (which causes a right pulling force to, hopefully, counteract whatever force is causing the left pull).

I'm not that familiar with the A4 front end, but I assume that caster is not adjustable. If it were, it could be split in the same way.

I also assume that the pull occurs equally whether coasting or under steady throttle.

Hi all, recently discovered this forum and look forward to some great input. I have a two month old 2000 Jetta TDI having traded in a 1996 Jetta Turbo Diesel for it. It is a wonderful new car except that it has a nasty habit of going left suddenly whenever I let go of the wheel. The car has Goodyear tires on alloy wheels.

The dealer has done the following to try to solve the problem and has been in touch with the VW technical folks who recommended some of the actions:

1. Alignments on three separate occassions, the last resulting in them making the car "full negative" to specifications.

2. Rotated the tires/wheels front to back and criss crossed.

3. Replaced all 4 tires and rims (still Goodyear tires on alloy wheels).

4. Checked the brakes for drag

5. Removed and installed a new drive shaft

6. Re & Re a drive axle from another new car

Needless to say, the above actions have not solved the problem. The full negative alignment has made it a little better but has not solved the problem to my satisfaction. If I let go of the wheel, a split second later I am headed for the rhubarb, guardrail, opposing traffic or whatever else is on the left side of the road.

The dealer's service manager is now telling me that all of the new cars drive this way, the new suspension in the 2000 Jetta is extremely sensitive, it is the crown in the road and that they cannot do anything more for me. He suggested that I wait until Sept. 19 for the area rep to show up at the dealership to discuss the handling characteristics of my car.

Needless to say, I was so unimpressed with that answer and the Sept 19 timeline that I called VW's customer support 800 line. Talked to a Supervisor of Customer Support who ultimately could offer me nothing better than waiting for the Sept 19 meeting but who did manage to give me Gerd Klauss's name (President & CEO, Volkswagen North America) and address. I will be sending Mr Klauss a letter expressing my dissatisfaction with both the car and the customer service responsiveness.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone can offer some help or advice with the technical problem or how best to deal with VW. Best regards.

If I remember correctly, wasn't there a TSB on this ? Had to do with Goodyear tires or something..... Try putting the front tires on the rears to correct the problem.

You'll only get torque steer on acceleration, not at any other time. It is this that causes that frantic self-centering motion of the steering wheel as you pull quickly out of a turning.

Agasaw,

I feel some sympathy for your dealer here. Gentle steering pulls are notoriously difficult to solve but they seem to be making a good start. It's not *your* problem on a new car (apart from the inconvienience).

If they can't find the problem they will get technical help from VW.

I believe Some VWs do have caster angle adjustment, some older VWs had a rather crude form of camber angle adjustment also.

Camber is the top and bottom of the wheel leaning in or out (as in negetive camber on race cars etc). Caster angle is the forward/backward position of each wheel. Just to confuse matters further - Basic alignment (sometimes called Tracking here) is the adjustment of the wheels away from the parallel, most FWD vehicles "toe out" in effect the wheels splay out slightly, usually only by a couple of millimetres.

Clear as mud eh?

So if I'm at a complete stop and let out the clutch and my NB pulls to the left, this is normal and is known as torque steer?

Thanks,
-Greg

Gharrah73,

I can only tell you about my experience.

We must have 80% front wheel drive cars here and some of them are pretty quick! A noticable pull to left or right on hard acceleration is rare these days unless you lose traction on the front wheels, then you get that twitchy feel on the steering wheel as the tyres (British spelling!) fight for grip.

However a slight pull to left or right when cruising is more common and can be caused by a host of minor tyre and steering setup problems. I wouldn't expect to see any of these on a nearly new car, and I would take it straight back to the dealer.

To answer your question No- unless you are spinning the wheels as you let out the clutch.

The symptoms of "Torque steer" as I understand them are (in the most severe cases) that the steering wheel is almost wrestled from your hands when under extreme acceleration on a sharp turn from rest by its quest to go straight on - A FWD really wants only to travel in a straght line. Having said this all of the manufacturers have made big advances in steering geometory so that this problem really limited to the most powerfull cars.

On a fairly new model I have noticed over the years that these odd steering problems seem to plague all manufacturers at some time or other, my advice is take it back and be firm!

Hope this helps

[This message has been edited by Brodie (edited September 07, 2000).]

I can see pulling to the right a little on a crowned road where you drive on the right side of the road. But pulling to the left, sure doesn't seem right to me. How about driving some of the other cars there? If it's "normal" they should all do it, right?

Over to you NB owners!

My Golf starting pulling to the left at about the same time I did 2 things:

(a) chipped it; and
(b) had the tires rotated (part of 10K service). The tires are Michelins, and they had 5K on them when rotated (I had previously used winter tires for the car's first 5K).

I've always assumed the tires had worn slightly unevenly, and that's why it pulls to the left. I don't think the chip has anything to do with it.

------------------
Rob
2000 Golf GLS TDI (Wetted ECU; VNT turbo tweak; K&N; removed MAF screens, lower airbox screen, and intercooler vent grille; spare Relay 109; euro badge (red "DI"))
2000 Passat GLS Variant 1.8T (K&N)

[This message has been edited by rgoetz (edited September 08, 2000).]

I'm going to start a new thread and ask just the NB owners. I also just want to know about pulling left from a dead stop NOT cruising.

-Greg