I recently replaced my inner and outer tie rods on the driver side of my 97 accord LX, after I installed them I went for an hour ride and there was no play at all, that was about 3 weeks ago, yesterday I checked it again and there's play in it, almost like it went bad again already, does anybody know if there should be a small amount of play once it gets "broken in"? I was under the impression there wasn't supposed to be, is it possible that the brand new parts are bad already? Or should I look into my steering rack

 

Is it safe to assume you put the cotter pin in the castle nut ?

 

Yes i put the cotter pin in the castle nut, but my problems not with the outer tie rod, it's the inner tie rod that has the play, I'm thinking its probably the rack, I removed the boot that covers where the inner tie rod goes into the steering rack and it was filled with what I believe was power steering fluid (couldn't tell by the color because it was filthy but there's nothing else it could be) but it still seems as thought the tie rod wore out already, does anyone know if the racks are rebuildable? I'm not sure if I want to shell out $200+ for a new/reman rack unless I have to

 

Had the same problem. I replaced the rack end and had an alignment. After that everything was ok. After a few weeks, i noticed a slight rattle, so jacked-up the car and found a slight movement on the rack end. Also noticed that the rack and pinion has a leak. had it rebuilt and replaced the rack end with a new one. Solved the problem. HTH

 

Well if the inner tie-rod has play then you just replace the inner tie-rod.

However, it's easy to test it. You just lift the tie-rod assembly as high as you can go and let it go and if it falls the inner tie-rod is worn out. It should stay put in the air.

However, I'm not so sure what kind of play you have, and where exactly the play is located.

 

The inner tie rod does have play, but it's practically brand new, I replaced it less than 3 weeks ago

 

I'm pretty sure it my rack going bad, it's leaking power steering fluid into the boot, I just wanted to know if that's what caused a brand inner tie rod to wear out in less than 3 weeks

 

Really cant say that that was the cause of the rack end going bad but in my experience, when I had the rack and pinion rebuilt and replace the rack end, it solved the problem. HTH