Buick Lucerne steering problem
 

My dad owns a Buick Lucerne a few years old. (It's a 2010 with 45k miles) Visited him last fall and noticed it was pulling hard to the right. So hard that if you weren't paying close attention, you'd be on the shoulder quickly. He has dementia and is not up to maintaining it so I took it to an alignment shop. I picked it up right before I flew out and the shop told me it was on spec with alignment but weren't confident they had solved the problem. Visited him again last week and it's till pulling just as hard to the right. Left it in the hands of my BIL to solve but he's not mechanically inclined and I suspect there must be something funky going on. He had new brakes and rotors installed and problem still exists so I doubt it's a sticking caliper. Post on a couple of Buick forums lead me to believe the problem is not uncommon. Anybody have any suggestions as to what the problem might be? I told my BIL to swap the front wheels to see if it makes a difference.

Being a FWD car, it could just as easily be a transaxle problem as much as a suspension issue.

The very first thing I would do is put the front tires on the rear and vice-versa. I've driven more than one car that had a broken belt in the tire and it drove EXACTLY like you are describing. Crazy but it's true.

I did suggest to my BIL that it could be a broken belt.

This. My 300e did it, don't think the belt was necessarily broken but there was some defect where it would always drift to the right of you weren't holding the wheel. At least the suspension and tie rods needed to be done anyways otherwise it would have been wasted work


Sent from an abacus

If a sticky caliper is causing the problem, then one front wheel should be markedly warmer than the other after driving it for awhile.

Best plan of attack is have someone drop it off at the alignment shop and pay them to diagnose the issue. Could very easily be tires. I dont believe this model uses an electric steering assist system, but if so, a hard curb impact could cause this sensor to loose calibration. Easy to recalibrate with a GM tech-2system, but thats a dealer technician tool.

Tires definitely most likely candidate though.
Best of luck, and thank you for helping someone with dementia. It's a challenge, and I applaud your efforts.

~Nate

Have seen steering alignment change with the engine running. Car on rack, start it and watch the front wheels move.

Some of the older gm cars had a centering action on the steering box so if the tie rods were not adjusted correctly the box would fight to maintain what it thought to be straight ahead. (Stupid system). Dunno if this car might do that too.

Does the car have steer by wire? My mom has a buick with the steer by wire, and she once had a problem where turning the wheel didn't turn the car. I could see some corrosion or other telling the steering gear box that the car is going to the left, so it needs to point the wheels to the right,,, just a thought

Thanks for the poster informing me there were steer by wire cars out there. I will never buy one.

To me about the potentially most dangerous situation upon failure could occur. Is there no overriding mechanical system at all left in them?

My feeling is the government or engineers would not allow them. Mechanical systems usually give notice of failure modes to some degree first. Electrical systems not as often.

This is a little OT
 

After you get the car fixed, please get your father to sign the title and sell the car for him. Someone with dementia has no business having a motor vehicle available.

Just sayin'

Take a Look Inside the First Steer-by-Wire Car | WIRED

In this article, a steer-by-wire system on an Infiniti is discussed. Note that a conventional steering shaft remains as a backup in case the drive-by-wire system goes kerflooey.

Still not a lover of steer by wire. If for some reason the mechanical clutch did not activate on an electrical failure.

There may be three elecrical systems. The system responding with the agreeing two. Say a power feed wire burnt to them they would all be deactivated. This incidentally is only one backup system if right. Besides the electrical clutch.

Total loss of steering was not that uncommon in the twenties cars. It is or can be far worse than the loss of brakes. Could also be failure prone with age.

I think rather than an alignment shop. Perhaps rotate tires front to back and see if symptom remains.

Sounds like a system that can go out of normal. A simple off value sensor for example. Two computors would agree with the issue and perhaps pull in one direction. Actually all three perhaps would agree although that is not required.

Quality road feeling and tracking have existed in the past. My 1950 mercury had it in spades. Even as the crown of the road changed no steering correction was required. Also for the time that car had really effective non power larger drum brakes.

That car just seemed to have well though out design in those areas. Another car that I personally liked the steering feel was an early mercedes 220 fintail. Although with the wrong tire choice it would seriously understeer when pressed so you had to keep that in mind. I finally found a brand of tires that seemed to reduce the issue.

I would periodically check that the electrical clutch was remaining functional as well in any steer by wire car. You might also just phone a buick dealer to find out if it is an issue they see often and the probable cause.

Back at the car again. My BIL had taken it in for another alignment. Still pulls right. We went back to the alignment shop today, he put it on the machine and said it was in spec but did some other measuring. He asked if the car had ever been in an accident since the right front wheel is almost one inch closer to the back of the fender than the left front wheel and claimed this is causing the pulling. I checked the measurements and he's right. Right front wheel sits much further back in the wheel well. No obvious damage that I could see. My father has had no known accidents. He bought the car used from a Buick dealer and carfax showed no accidents. HOWEVER, in looking thru the glove compartment and handbook I ran across a 'self-insurance card' in the name of Enterprise Car Rental. Their ownership did not show up in the Carfax or ownership history. If it was an Enterprise rental car, in an accident which they repaired themselves without using insurance, would it show up on Carfax?
Do people think the fact that the two front wheels are not in the exact same position in reference to the fenders cause a pulling problem and be indicative of an accident. I've never actually measured the position of the wheels relative to the fender on a car before and I'm wondering if some asymmetry is normal.