Wild toad

[purplekeenah]

Hi guys, been a while since I've been on site. We almost gave up the RV life because of our elderly parents declining health through the last couple of years, we always thought they were our responsibility and we took care of them until the end.
Now we've started back out on the road and have a few issues towing our 2013 Equinox. I have a Blue-Ox XL towbar that has 48,000 tow miles on it, it shows some wear and looseness.
Problem.........when making a 90 degree turn from one street onto another, the front wheels on the Equinox will track properly for the first 2/3 of the turn, then the wheels will flop violently side to side until I get straight and come to a complete stop. Then I can pull out and everything goes back to normal.
This can happen on right or left hand turns.
When the car is driven by itself, it drives beautifully, no steering issues.
The first time this happened was about 40,000 miles ago, but didn't repeat for quite a while, we just returned from a 2800 mile trip and it happened 9 times. Now it's a safety issue, concerned about causing a rear end collision when I have to stop in the middle of then road.
Please help!

[lryrob9301]

jplante4 wrote:

esyers wrote:
I'm not holding my breath. The bungie cord is working just fine.

And I have about 1000 percent more confidence in FMCA than in GM even with the current hoopla. Only because I've been burned by GM before.

Just bought an Equinox. Could you post a pic of this solution? Thanks.

When I ran a tow truck, we took an old fan belt, looped it through the steering wheel and closed the door on it. I suppose this is the same thing, yes?

NO, it is not the same thing. What you did with the belt kept the steering wheel from turning. You want the steering wheel to turn when cornering, but not over correct when coming out of the corner.

You simply take a couple of bunge cords and loop them through the steering wheel and secure them to the seat bottom. This will allow the steering wheel to move while making a turn but keep enough centering force on the wheel to keep it from over correcting thus stopping the wobble.

[jplante4]

esyers wrote:
I'm not holding my breath. The bungie cord is working just fine.

And I have about 1000 percent more confidence in FMCA than in GM even with the current hoopla. Only because I've been burned by GM before.

Just bought an Equinox. Could you post a pic of this solution? Thanks.

When I ran a tow truck, we took an old fan belt, looped it through the steering wheel and closed the door on it. I suppose this is the same thing, yes?

[esyers]

I'm not holding my breath. The bungie cord is working just fine.

And I have about 1000 percent more confidence in FMCA than in GM even with the current hoopla. Only because I've been burned by GM before.

[lryrob9301]

j-d wrote:

esyers wrote:
FMCA is currently collecting data to present to GM in hopes of getting a response.

It took pressure and horror stories, but FCA came up with a fix for Jeeps.

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for FMCA to do anything. They are trying to dig out of the Verizon mess they got into, and the leadership is trying cover everything up to save their jobs.

[j-d]

esyers wrote:
FMCA is currently collecting data to present to GM in hopes of getting a response.

It took pressure and horror stories, but FCA came up with a fix for Jeeps.

[esyers]

It was suggested to me to run a small bungie cord from the bottom of the steering wheel and connect to anything under the driver's seat. This seem to put enough pressure on the wheel to stop the wobble but not interfere with normal towing.

FMCA is currently collecting data to present to GM in hopes of getting a response.

[j-d]

Great news! No big deal to run a charging line because more systems are energized.

[purplekeenah]

Hey folks, I took a test run with the fuse energized, it appears to have eliminated the wobble.
Thanks for all of the advice, I appreciate all of your input!!

[purplekeenah]

So be it........I'll be taking a test drive with the #32 fuse plugged in.
Thanks

[lryrob9301]

purplekeenah wrote:
If I leave the #32 fuse in place the miles will rack up (which I don't care about), any other thing to concern myself with, like battery drain?

Are you sure? If the key is in the ACC position I don't believe mileage is accumulated.

You can also loop a couple of large bunge cords through the bottom of the steering wheel and secure them to the bottom of the driver's seat frame to provide a centering force to help counteract the over correction of the steering.

[purplekeenah]

If I leave the #32 fuse in place the miles will rack up (which I don't care about), any other thing to concern myself with, like battery drain?

[lryrob9301]

DownTheAvenue wrote:
The electric power steering is the root of the problem. I think Jeep had the same issue, and finally issued a TSB for a fix. You may have to do some digging, but I bet GM has also issued a TSB with a solution.

NO GM has not issued any service bulletins concerning this situation. Their position is that this condition happens only when towing and therefore is not safety related to the intended operation (driving) of the vehicle. While they say the vehicle CAN be towed they do not warranty it's performance WHILE being towed as this is not it's designed purpose.

That said, if you leave the #32 fuse in place while towing it will keep the electric power steering active and help correct the problem.

[purplekeenah]

Thanks for the replies folks, I appreciate all of the input.

[DownTheAvenue]

The electric power steering is the root of the problem. I think Jeep had the same issue, and finally issued a TSB for a fix. You may have to do some digging, but I bet GM has also issued a TSB with a solution.