I drive a 1995 Buick Roadmaster that I purchased from my
father-in-law seven years ago. From the first, driving it
from his home in Florida to my home in New York City, I
was a little uncomfortable with the steering at highway
speeds. It just seemed I had to make almost imperceptible
adjustments constantly to keep it tracking.
I took it to my shop and the mechanic said there was
nothing wrong. I drive the car about 6,000 miles a year on
out-of-town trips about twice a month almost exclusively.
it is perfect for the kind of loads I carry, taking my kids
and their things back and forth to colleges, hauling
provisions to housebound relatives. But I have never been
completely comfortable with the steering at highway
speeds.
About a year ago on one of those trips, on the New York/New Jersey Palisades Parkway, which has a number of relatively high speed, long curves, the steering wheel seemed to give a little tug
now and then in the middle of some of those curves. I
couldn’t even be sure the car’s steering direction changed,
but I sure could feel the tug as if someone had grabbed
the steering wheel and given it a little yank. I got a good
local mechanic to ride with me and he felt the same thing,
which started a process of changing steering parts that
continues to this day.
I have replaced the serpentine belt, changed out the
steering box, flushed and replaced the power steering,
replaced the tires, replaced the rear shocks. Every
mechanic who looks at it swears the ball joints are not the
problem. The most recent shop to take it on is a Buick
dealer here in Brooklyn who decided that the problem is
the steering dampener, which leaks or sticks or something.
He ordered a replacement but it came in as the wrong part
for my car. Two different steering dampeners were
installed on the 1995 Roadmaster, he said. One is longer
than the other. The part that came in was the long
version, part #88946549. My car needs the short version,
which Buick has discontinued. He couldn’t even give me
the part number. So I went to NAPA and Pep Boys and
auto parts shops on the web and have been told the part
does not exist on my car. My Haynes manual doesn’t show
it, although I can see it clearly and also see it on an
exploded diagram I got from the Buick dealership.
I hate to dump the beautiful and otherwise fine car
because I can’t replace the steering dampener, but I can’t
seem to find anyone who can even identify the part, much
less get a replacement and put it on. Any
suggestions?