[Bombolio]

Hi, I'm new to the forums.

I have a 2014 SRX, with 70,000 miles on it (as of 11/11/2020). I have had problems in the past where the car experiences a complete loss of power steering during rainstorms or while the road is wet. This prevents me from turning the car even slightly and I have to stop for a few moments before I can continue moving normally. I feel lucky that these events have only occurred while driving slowly (such as through parking lots, on neighborhood roads, etc), but I know this is a big problem.

In the past, I mentioned this problem to the Cadillac dealer where I purchased my vehicle, and, from the little research I did, think it MIGHT have something to do with the serpentine belt, but when I mentioned it to the Service Advisor, he asked if I wanted to replace the belt for some outrageous amount of money (like $500 or so because it was "really hard to get to") and I decided not to do it. However, before telling him no, I asked if he thought it would correct the problem, and he said they don't know, because they're not investigating the problem, they're just replacing the belt at my request...which I thought was a bit odd.

I would like to know if anyone else has/had a similar issue with their SRX, what steps they took to correct it, and whether it worked. Thanks!

 

[Tripwire]

i think you are on the right track with the belt perhaps, but the car should still steer - but difficult to do so with out the assist.... , i think the tensioner is froze and that's why the belts slipping, i would take it somewhere besides stealer and have the belt changed, the tensioner can be broken loose and lubed up so it operates normally, you are only looking at like 300 beans - or you can do this DIY its a PITA but not that bad if you have tools and a lift. my mustang had the same issue and i did it myself

 

[WILLY92]

Hi, I'm new to the forums.

I have a 2014 SRX, with 70,000 miles on it (as of 11/11/2020). I have had problems in the past where the car experiences a complete loss of power steering during rainstorms or while the road is wet. This prevents me from turning the car even slightly and I have to stop for a few moments before I can continue moving normally. I feel lucky that these events have only occurred while driving slowly (such as through parking lots, on neighborhood roads, etc), but I know this is a big problem.

In the past, I mentioned this problem to the Cadillac dealer where I purchased my vehicle, and, from the little research I did, think it MIGHT have something to do with the serpentine belt, but when I mentioned it to the Service Advisor, he asked if I wanted to replace the belt for some outrageous amount of money (like $500 or so because it was "really hard to get to") and I decided not to do it. However, before telling him no, I asked if he thought it would correct the problem, and he said they don't know, because they're not investigating the problem, they're just replacing the belt at my request...which I thought was a bit odd.

I would like to know if anyone else has/had a similar issue with their SRX, what steps they took to correct it, and whether it worked. Thanks!

Did you change it?
Is your car 4wd?

 

[Tripwire]

oh good catch willy, i forgot about the front diff thing................

 

[Bones2010]

Can you try to spray water on just the belt with a small spray bottle to see if you can duplicate the problem?

 

[GEORGEC]

I would think that more water would be splashed on the belt in high speed driving vs low speed driving.

 

[valjf12]

Following. I have the same issue with my 2011 SRX AWD

 

[BEARBAIT1973]

Instead of lubing the tensioner I would replace it. Be sure and use quality parts. Shouldn't cost much more to do this.

 

[WILLY92]

If these cars are AWD, you may be having a problem with the center differential not unlocking, since the front and rear wheels travel in much different arcs.

 

[Bombolio]

@WILLY92 The car is FWD, not AWD. I did not change the belt because they could not diagnose the problem and were only going to change it "because I mentioned it."

@GEORGEC Oddly enough, I have never experienced an issue while driving fast. It is odd.

 

[Bombolio]

Just to close the loop on this...I took it to a non-Cadillac GM dealer, explained what was happening because I knew it had to be more than just replacing the belt. They found it was not only the belt, but the belt tensioner that was bad. This also affected the alternator. All were replaced, and I just went through a big rainstorm again and had no issue after the replacements.

 

[Bgw70]

i think you are on the right track with the belt perhaps, but the car should still steer - but difficult to do so with out the assist.... , i think the tensioner is froze and that's why the belts slipping, i would take it somewhere besides stealer and have the belt changed, the tensioner can be broken loose and lubed up so it operates normally, you are only looking at like 300 beans - or you can do this DIY its a PITA but not that bad if you have tools and a lift. my mustang had the same issue and i did it myself

You called it!
Well done...belt and a belt tensioner.

 

[Tripwire]

SWEET!

 

[Ss8916]

This happens to me all the time. Only when I'm driving slow. You honestly can't turn the wheel it completely freezes up for about 1 2 seconds. Thanks for the input gonna have mines replaced.

 

[Cd2talk]

Hi, I'm new to the forums.

I have a 2014 SRX, with 70,000 miles on it (as of 11/11/2020). I have had problems in the past where the car experiences a complete loss of power steering during rainstorms or while the road is wet. This prevents me from turning the car even slightly and I have to stop for a few moments before I can continue moving normally. I feel lucky that these events have only occurred while driving slowly (such as through parking lots, on neighborhood roads, etc), but I know this is a big problem.

In the past, I mentioned this problem to the Cadillac dealer where I purchased my vehicle, and, from the little research I did, think it MIGHT have something to do with the serpentine belt, but when I mentioned it to the Service Advisor, he asked if I wanted to replace the belt for some outrageous amount of money (like $500 or so because it was "really hard to get to") and I decided not to do it. However, before telling him no, I asked if he thought it would correct the problem, and he said they don't know, because they're not investigating the problem, they're just replacing the belt at my request...which I thought was a bit odd.

I would like to know if anyone else has/had a similar issue with their SRX, what steps they took to correct it, and whether it worked. Thanks!

Hi, I'm new to the forums.

I have a 2014 SRX, with 70,000 miles on it (as of 11/11/2020). I have had problems in the past where the car experiences a complete loss of power steering during rainstorms or while the road is wet. This prevents me from turning the car even slightly and I have to stop for a few moments before I can continue moving normally. I feel lucky that these events have only occurred while driving slowly (such as through parking lots, on neighborhood roads, etc), but I know this is a big problem.

In the past, I mentioned this problem to the Cadillac dealer where I purchased my vehicle, and, from the little research I did, think it MIGHT have something to do with the serpentine belt, but when I mentioned it to the Service Advisor, he asked if I wanted to replace the belt for some outrageous amount of money (like $500 or so because it was "really hard to get to") and I decided not to do it. However, before telling him no, I asked if he thought it would correct the problem, and he said they don't know, because they're not investigating the problem, they're just replacing the belt at my request...which I thought was a bit odd.

I would like to know if anyone else has/had a similar issue with their SRX, what steps they took to correct it, and whether it worked. Thanks!

 

[Cd2talk]

its a bad design in the splash guard around the belts. I added to mind and it stopped the problem

 

[WILLY92]

Yup, the belt gets wet and slips.

 

[HoosierCaddy]

Only time I've experienced this is after my annual spring undercarriage bath to remove the road salt. I tell you what, an SRX is a BEAR to steer when the power assist is not doing it's job. Be scary if going down the highway. I could be way off base here, but sounds like maybe some people are hitting the puddles waaaay too fast. Slow down maybe on rainy days?

 

[jcar302]

This happened to my wife today. So i took the car out and reproduced it. Most likely the puddle she hit was avoidable, but that's an argument for another day.
I want to do whatever it takes to fix this, my kids ride in this car too.
Are we 100% sure it's the tensioner and belt?
Has anyone repaired it themselves? Looks like a real pain to work in there.

Edit: 2010-2016 Cadillac SRX Serpentine Belt Replacement Guide! - Bing video

I went to rockauto, they had a kit, all ACdelco. tensioner, belt and idler.
Amazon had it all for about the same expect i didn't have to pay shipping and it will all be here tomorrow. So we will see this weekend...

 

[HoosierCaddy]

From what I've read it's like a 5/10 for difficulty. If you like to wrench and have some tools you can probably handle this job. Most people though would be better off checking some prices and going with a local shop. It's straight forward enough that you don't really need to take it to the dealer.