Steering wheel not centered after engine replacement

[DL]

I notice the steering wheel of my 1997 Chevy Venture is no longer centered
after it has an engine replaced by a repair shop. The wheel is at one
o'clock when the vehicle is aimed straight down the road. It there any
reason to suspect that the repair shop has inadvertently misaligned the tie
rods while replacing the engine ? The shop denied it, but I think you do
have to remove the tie rods in order to remove the engine. But I'm not
sure.

[David J and Lynne J Shepherd]

They had to remove the axles and the subframe which requires disconnecting
the tie rods , but the tie rods are not changed length wise, most likely
when they took the subframe down this moved the steer ahead slightly.

Post by DL
I notice the steering wheel of my 1997 Chevy Venture is no longer centered
after it has an engine replaced by a repair shop. The wheel is at one
o'clock when the vehicle is aimed straight down the road. It there any
reason to suspect that the repair shop has inadvertently misaligned the tie
rods while replacing the engine ? The shop denied it, but I think you do
have to remove the tie rods in order to remove the engine. But I'm not
sure.

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[DL]

Ian,
I assume the lower A-arm is attached to the subframe. If the subframe is
moved slightly, does that mean the lower point joint position is also
changed ? That means the whole front end can be out of whack ? The vehicle
does seems to track straight, no pull to either right or left. May be they
did one of these sloppy front wheel alignment job, not bothering to center
the wheel. I will ask them after you reply to this post. Thanks.

Post by DL
I notice the steering wheel of my 1997 Chevy Venture is no longer centered
after it has an engine replaced by a repair shop. The wheel is at one
o'clock when the vehicle is aimed straight down the road. It there any
reason to suspect that the repair shop has inadvertently misaligned the

tie

Post by DL
rods while replacing the engine ? The shop denied it, but I think you do
have to remove the tie rods in order to remove the engine. But I'm not
sure.

You don't have to remove the tie rods, but you do have to remove the
subframe on these vehicles to replace the engine. This is really
basic stuff, you should always have an alignment after the subframe
is pulled out. The subframe can move around on the bolts that
hold it to the body quite a bit. The subframe is not doweled to
the body, and you can actually get a small amount of caster/camber
adjustment by just loosening the subframe bolts and shifting it
around. Any movement of the subframe will affect the steering
wheel position. It won't affect your overall toe, but it will change
the toe at the individual wheels which can throw your steering
wheel off.
Tell the shop that an alignment is "part of the job" when doing
an engine replacement on these vehicles, and if they were too
dumb to not include an alignment in the price of the engine
replacement....I guess they will be doing one for free.
Ian

[shiden_kai]

Post by DL
Ian,
I assume the lower A-arm is attached to the subframe. If the subframe is
moved slightly, does that mean the lower point joint position is also
changed ? That means the whole front end can be out of whack ? The vehicle
does seems to track straight, no pull to either right or left. May be they
did one of these sloppy front wheel alignment job, not bothering to center
the wheel. I will ask them after you reply to this post. Thanks.

The vehicle will track straight because front wheel drive vehicles with
McPherson strut front suspensions are almost oblivious to caster/camber
changes. This is due to the geometry of the McPherson strut design on
most front wheel drive Gm vehicles. And yes, the lower control arm
is attached to the subframe. When removing the subframe, you take the
lower control arms down with the subframe. If the subframe is not
installed "exactly" where it was, you end up changing the individual
toe at each front wheel (note: you don't change the "total" toe) which
translates into the steering wheel being off centre.

I just performed a repair on a Cadillac. It involved dropping the
subframe and trans and replacing case half seals on a Northstar
v-8 engine. I always attempt to line up the subframe as close as
I can when re-installing the subframe, so that the alignment guys
won't have as much work. But....we "always" perform an
alignment after we drop a subframe. No matter what. Even if
I go for a road test and the wheel is perfectly straight....we still
at least "check" the alignment. This is just proper procedure.

If they did an alignment and are trying to tell you that an off
center steering wheel is normal!!????.......shame on them.

Ian