Dear Tom and Ray:

My husband taught me how to take care of whatever automobile I drive. I fill it with gas, check the oil, transmission fluid, windshield fluid, filters, radiator, and tires. I drive my husband's 1986 Cavalier station wagon quite often, and for some time had been complaining about how hard it was to steer when I backed it out of the garage first thing in the morning. When I read your column about the steering rack being defective on many GM cars, I knew we fit the bill. You said that GM was fixing them on cars less than five years old and with fewer than 50,000 miles. Even though the car was more than five years old, it had only 40,000 miles on the odometer. My husband clipped the article out of the paper and took it over to our Chevrolet dealer. The dealer immediately checked with the factory and they agreed to replace it for free anyway. Thanks to your column, we discovered the problem and the solution! Martha

Tom: Yippee!

It's amazing how many bad driving habits and wacko theories have been passed down from generation to generation! Tom and Ray set the record straight in their booklet "Ten Ways You May Be Ruining Your Car Without Even Knowing It!" To order, send (check or money order) to Ruin, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. You can also order online.

© 1993 by Tom and Ray Magliozzi and Doug Berman Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

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