First off Hi ! Been trolling here for a bit but not registered till now , and and kinda need help if anyone can give it
At weekend i was away with my wife on business . We have a Grand Cherokee (WJ) 1999 4.0ltr ltd. Apart from an exhaust and a garage forgetting to put in transmission fluid causing total trans replacement, its been great. Anyway on saturday i notice a very very slight knock feeling when i turn the steering wheeel. Now some cars do this, so i wasnt worried and as it drove ok and the noise was within my *usual Jeep noise limit* i ignored it.
So sunday night driving back along winding country roads in yorkshire and i go to take tight left hand bend when the Jeep decides nope , and we go straight on!! There was a slight feeling like running over a stone then the wheel just spun lose in my hands. Luckily i slotted inbetween motorbikes coming the opposite way and stopped before the water filled ditch and the dry stone wall.
Scarey stuff tho and since then we keep saying "what if.." We'd been on motorway the day before and were due to travel back up to Scotland the following day too .
AA guy eventually finds us in middle of nowhere, and says "your universal joints come apart/undone."Then shows me this piece of plastic and says that the column from wheel to joint had this plastic part around it and he couldnt bolt the joint back together with the plastic in place. And he didnt know what it was for anyway.So he removes plastic part.
Then he bolts it together and follows us to hotel ,letting us know where nearest Jeep garage is. Luckily (especially in UK!) it was just 2 miles up road. Take it in, in the morning and the mechs all go mad saying no no dont drive it! We hire a car and they keep the Jeep for 24 hours and do work up on it , full diagnostics etc and i get written report back following day.
Steerings all tight, pinch bolts , U joint etc is fine, they of course tell me what my tyres are at, brakes etc etc so i at least now have a very small list to work through , BUT, they dont know what the plastic part is! None of them know and it is a proper Jeep dealership . Ive asked around yet no one knows.
OOps heres a pic>
for size purposes ^
Its not the clock spring since thats unable to fall down the column afaik, and its also got no electrical plugs etc on it. I cant find broken part in Jeep and neither could the garage. But this part was definetly on the car with the steering column going through it.
Sorry for long post etc but id really like to know what it is and if i should worry. I dont like to think that Jeep would send me out in unsafe vehicle but at the same time it was there for a reason before so surely it still should be?
