what is that? its not broken, but the rubber thing surrounding it is cut, there is a rubber ring separated from it as you can see on the far left, would this cause my power steering to leak slightly? because it has been for the past 2 months

and is it something i need to fix asap?

 

it is a ripped steering rack boot.

if you have play at 9 and 3 oclock with the wheels up, replace the inner tie rod end and the boot.

if you have no play, fix the boot before you do.

 

A ripped boot is defintley NOT a good thing lol! The boot helps keep grease in it to keep that joint lubricated. Ripped boot = Loss of grease on that joint. This ripped boot, however, would not be causing a power steering fluid leak. If the power steering fluid was being kept in that boot, youd have more than a "slight" leak lol! Youd have puddles! This ripped boot is not something drastic that needs to be changed ASAP. I would personaly reccomend getting to it within the next couple of months though, and slap on some grease while you are at it. As for your powersteering leak, Id check your hoses, pump, and resivor, and see if there is anything suspicious.

 

The leak is usually caused by either age and wear or using the wrong PS fluid. The boots will sometime fail after the fluid leaks into them and it breaks down the rubber. Older dry boots develop small cracks and holes and the PS fluid gets into them really speeds up the deterioration.

brian g

 

so how would i go about fixing it? and is it easy to fix? and is there a specific type of grease i have to use?

 

any high temp grease will be fine. If you have *** lube you can use that as well (assembly lube) not ky jelly.

 

thanks, but how can i go about fixing it?

 

?

 

Did you even read this response? I'm not sure what you're still asking!

 

LOL what I meant is how do I actually fix it with my hands.. And is it easy to do?

 

new tie rods, new boots.... hollat your local mech

 

well i like would like to do it if it's an easy fix..., if not ill bring it to my mechanic, i guess i'll look for a how-to, since nobody seems to understand my question

 

Just look it up on the Haynes manual its kinda a bitch to get the new boot over the back part before you tighten it down...

Its not really that hard though, its only I think 1 castle nut behind the wheel that holds the rod on there...