can someone PLEASE help me?!?!?!
i am having the what seems to be worst problems with my steering...i have no clue what is going on. today i am driving and suddenly my steering wheel starts going BONKERS!!! like seriously, there's this knocking noise, but only when i am in gear. as soon as i put it into nuetral though it immediately stops. i have to use force to hold the wheel so that it doesn't start drifting off to the right. like it'll just TAKE OFF to the right. i have no clue. please someone help. i'm supposed to be going on a long *** drive of 16 hours to texas in this car on saturday but am very afraid of driving now. if you need any info just ask i don't know what else to say. PLEEEEEEEAAASEEEE!!!

 

Time to check over your front suspension and tires. Are the tire pressures really uneven? If so, that can cause a pull to one side.

Check your lug nuts. Make sure they're torqued (I think the spec is 85 lb-ft?). Inspect your struts, the A-arms, all the bushings, the ball joints, and the tie rods. Look for visible damage or signs that things are moving more than they should.

At this point, it might be best to have a good shop take a look at it. Especially if you're not sure exactly what you should be looking for....

--DD

 

man this really sucks, i have a VERY limited bugdet, i'm supposed to leave sat, i have no other choise, and like you said i DON'T know what i am looking for..great info though, a good inspection to start off...i'm just not clear headed at all right now..

 

hey u should check your axels, i had a h22 in my civ coupe and it kinda did the same thing.

 

could it be possible that i may have broke a tie rod

 

...can someone explain to me what tie rods are/do/pics? i think this could very well be my problem.

 

youd know if you broke a tie rod, Should do the inspection then go from there

Your tie rod connects to your steering rack and controls the toe in and out of your car


| |---<--------->----| | Perfect toe in and out Zero degrees

\ \ <-----> / / Toe-in




/ / <-----> \ \Toe-out

 

not a very good pic but the bar that you can see near the rotor....well that is gay...i mean, the boot further toward the middle underneath is completely torn. i was able to just pull it out with NO trouble at all.

there seems to be grease everywhere.

is it possible that this could become a very unsafe and serious problem?

what is an estimate on how much it would take to fix something like this?

could i do it myself?

please
INPUT!!!

 

You need a new axle on that side. Problem solved.

*edit* elaboration:

Symptoms = pulling off to one side under acceleration --> one axle is good, the other is bad (could be other issues, but seeing as one side is torn to shat I'd personally just replace it). Start from there and work your way down.

Boot torn, grease thrown everywhere = torn CV boot or inner boot (dunno which you were referring to but both are bad) which can lead to seized joint/fubar'd axle if not taken care of. This is why one side of your car gets power, but not the other. Replace the axle and check all other suspension components while you're down there. Tie rod ends should be okay, but check if the cotter pins are still intact/if the ball joint has excessive play. Check lower ball joints/upper control arms for town dust boots/excessive play, but above all...

Replace the axle.

Dangerous? Yes. --> considering it's throwing off your steering so much, I wouldn't even take it on the interstate let alone the street.

Cost --> depends on quality of axle/who you get to do your labor (anywhere from 100-300+$)

Can you do it yourself? Sure, but that axle nut is amazingly difficult to get off without air tools. Also, the lower ball joint is definitely a pita without the right tools.

Difficulty? Easy, but if you need to drive 16 hours say like..next week then pay someone else to do it...that is unless you have all the tools sitting around/a shop manual/anything and everything else in the event that something else pops up.

In a nutshell, if you've never done this before, don't know anybody who has, don't have the tools for the job, and have to drive 16 hours by this Saturday... Start pinching pennies.


Modified by 1989CivicSi at 1:30 AM 7/19/2006

 

wow GREAT info, thanks, i've been up since 7:30 this morning workin on a solution

 

uhh... axle? You meen tie rod? like your inner tie-rod boot? or.. your Cv joint boot... you should take another picture and use paint to circle what the hell your talking about. The grease everywhere sounds like axle/half shaft w/e but what boot are you talking about?! just tryin to help mang.

 

There are several things near the wheel that have rubber boots on them. You'll have to figure out which thing is messed up... You can hopefully take a better picture so we can help you figure out what part is what, or we can try describing things to you.

I think I can see the tie rod in your picture. It has a rubber boot on the inboard end, and sticks out to connect to the steering knuckle aft of the centerline of the wheel. It looks sort of like I can see that in your picture. The outboard connection of the tie rod has a nut on the underside. The tie rod "ties" the motion of the steering system to the motion of the steering knuckles, which makes your wheels pivot so you can turn left or right.

The axle has rubber boots on the inboard and outboard ends. It connects to the "stub axle" in the middle of the hub--you can see it clearly in your picture, with the great big axle nut on the end. The parts that are covered by the rubber boots are Constant Velocity joints, or "CV joints".

Rubber boots are usually present to keep dirt out, and often enough to keep grease in. When a boot comes apart or falls off or is otherwise compromised, often the part it covered is in trouble.

So, has this helped at all? It was a lot of typing that could have been avoided by one clear picture.

--DD