Yesterday I was taking off my front 2 tires to switch them. As I was getting ready to tighten the lug nuts, the tire turned with me. Now if I'm not mistaken, the tire should be in a lock position, meaning it can't turn, right? I am not talking about left or right but turning as in when the wheel is in motion. The engine was off and the key was out of the ignition. Does it happen to you guys too or is there something wrong with mine? I know that my dad's 90 camry and my mom's 90 accord front wheels lock up.

FYI, I have a 99 TL.

 

Don't worry, that is normal.

 

if it turns a little, it's all right. If your front wheels are turning all da way around, then big problem.

 

Ok, I have 2 responses. One says it is fine and the other say that if it turns all the way around then something is wrong. So who is right?

BTW, my wheel turns 360 degrees back and forth.

 

You probably didn't set your car in PARK. Was your car in neutral? If it turns 360 degrees and it's in PARK, you might have some problems there.

 

If you read my post, I had the engine off and the key out of the ignition and the car in park.

But the funny thing is that the CL guys are telling me it is normal. Something about the differential.

 

Binh, if he turns only a few inches, it is normal! If it turns all the way, then you definitely have a problem. Try to put it park and antilock on too and see if you have that problem.

 

I did read your post. You didn't say anything about putting the car in PARK. Anyways, you should have it checked out if your able to turn it 360 degrees.

 

Binh they're right...if it's in park and it's turning 360 degrees you have a problem. Jack it up again and see if the tire spins...if it does take it to the dealership.

 

actually .. u said u jacked it up for the FRONT TWO tires.. I assume this means the entire front end was jacked up. now, I don't know about the TL, but in my older pontiac, while the car was on a lift, I realized this. Park merely swaps the rotation of the front two wheels. This means when the left tire turns forward, the right tire turns backwards. You can do this whichever way for 360 degrees for however many revolutions you care to do. In effect, this allows the car to lock up the front two wheels (because they're fighting each other) if its on the ground since you're hardly ever likely to have BOTH sides lifted off the ground. I never tried this on the TL but back then my mechanic told me it was a normal thing for automatic cars.

unless you applied the handbrake/footbrake in the past, maybe the accord and the camry used to do it too.

 

You guys are killing me here. Some of you say it is fine and the rest said there might be a problem. The same is going on over at acl.

Can one of you guys just lift up the front 2 tires and try to turn your tires for me (have it in park, turn off engine, take key out, emergency brake on and/or off)? Please, pretty please??????

 

I can't my car is in the shop with a busted tranny

 

Setting the car is PARK means locking both front wheels on front wheel drive cars. How about you jack up one side of your car and see if it turns all the way around instead of having me do it cause I'm lazy

 

I didn't mean you cause I read your thread about your busted tranny. Sorry to hear about that. Hope you get it back asap!

 

Mine does this all the time when I rotate the tires. The first time it happened it caught me off guard because my '97 Maxima acts like miwa's older Pontiac--one tire will turn forward freely and one will turn backward freely but will lock against the tranny pawl in the other direction.

I can't speak for the older TLs, but for at least the '02s (and I will postulate for all the 5-speed autos), this is completely normal behavior while the front tires are off the ground and the tranny is in park.

 

Since both of the wheels are turning then I am assuming that with one wheel on the ground, the other shouldn't turn.

 

So you are saying that it is normal then, right?

If the 02 does it then I am also assuming that the 99-01 should also too since they are all FWD.

 

Yes, normal. And the tranny is still locked when the car is on the ground (I can't push it from behind--tires are locked in place). But when the car is jacked from the front, each tire will spin independantly of each other in either direction.

However, I don't think FWD is the thing you should be comparing. I believe it is the behavior of the 5-speed auto tranny that does this. The 4-speed auto *may* exhibit the same behavior, but I don't have the 4-speed so I can 't say for certain.

 

hehe.. its okay .. I didn't wanna just break it on you and say what silver03tl said

 

IT IS NORMAL!!! When you set it on Park, jack front tires up and spin one, the other will spin other way - i.e., spin left tire forward, right tire will spin backward. This is how it supposed to work.