07 HSE Broken Rack & Pinion!!

[rlramos]

Hello to everyone. This is my first post. Congratulations on a very interesting forum. I will like to know if anyone has faced a broken rack and pinion on a vehicle that has yet to be off-road. My wife took a 5mph curve within my kids schoolyard and all of a sudden tires started scratching the road and the engine went dead. She took a look up front and both wheels were directed inwards (left to the right and right wheel to the left). When the lift truck raised the front of the car the wheels were moving free with gravity to any side. If this would had happened on the freeway, I could have lost my family (wife + 3 kids). The dealer just informed that the rack and pinion is broken and that we must have hit something very hard. Also that it is not a warranty repair because the part is broken (??). We have not hit anything and the LR3 has not been used off-road (I have a 90 Discovery for that). I will take pictures tomorrow and try to post them. Again, I appreciate any comments.

 

[roverman]

That's a pretty bad failure, lucky as hell she was where she was when it happened. I'd call LRNA and tell them they should be lucky that you're not asking them for compensation for the loss of your family. Of course that will only make you more mad when they say with no concern at all "Sir, I'm sorry for your 'inconvenience' but whether or not work to your vehicle is done under warranty is strictly up to the discretion of the Dealership." Still, it might give you a chance to practice throwing together some expletives....

 

[rlramos]

Thanks Roverman. Tomorrow I will have a close-up look at the failure in the dealership. I will also have a chance for a face to face talk with the dealer. It does not make any sense to me that this happened. Although I have not taken mine off-road yet, I do participate with my Discovery on a lot of off-road adventures where many LR3s also participate and none have had this type of failure. Mine has been problem free until now. I'll post again tomorrow with new info.

 

[angasreid]

My steering on my 05 was all messed up. Pulled so hard to the sides that it was unsafe to drive on roads. I took it in, dealer said it was the rack and pinion. They replaced it gave it back to me, and it still had the same issue. After a week of sitting there, they finally figured out that it was the u-joints that connect to the steering column. Keep us posted.

 

[jjvd21]

Please post pictures this is the first failure of this kind that I've heard of. Scary!