Is my Tie rod done?
 

I was driving to work today and noticed my steering was very wobbly. I thought maybe it was a flat, so I ran outside to have a look. Nothing....

At first I got scared and thought it might a ball joint, but then things like that don't happen so suddenly. So now I'm left wondering, could one of my tie-rods be going?

What do I do? Can I drive to a mechanic safely (20 Km away) without running the risk of it breaking on me?
It started yesterday now that I think about it. I thought it might have been ice.

1997 Civic Si, 245 000 on suspension

anything else I should change while I'm down there?

Tell Me!!!

Correct me if I am wrong guys (love saying that) but it sounds like a ball joint or both of them could be gone?
Might want to check there first.

tell you what? your description of the problem is on par with a child describing the space shuttle. if you expect a decent reply, you need to start with a solid question and not:

steering wheel wobbly, not flat tire. what's wrong?

did you check if your lug nuts were tight?

did you check for ice inside your wheel?

did you check tire pressure?

did you turn the wheel lock to lock and see if there is a dead raccoon stuck in your suspension?


odds are, if the lug nuts are tight, and the wheel itself doesn't move around (grab the tire and shake the car by the tire), you should be ok driving it to the mechanic.

My steering has a bit of wobble, and its due to the bushing on the lower control arm at the chassis.

It can be many things, tie rod, bushing, steering shaft (linkage), ball joint.
Get someone who knows what theyre looking at to deal with it if you dont.

balljoint does not click repeatedly under heavy braking.

you check the balljoint (lower) by putting the car up in the air, wheels off, then using a pry bar to pry the steering knuckle away from the LCA, if you see play, then the ball joint is on it's way out.

the clicking and wobble can both be caused by the CV joint. some mk4 jettas have this problem under acceleration where the steering wheel wobbles while accelerating... I suspect the same could happen when braking or getting off the gas.

Alright cool thanks, I'll take a look again at it tommorrow... sucks its the dead of winter....

Today driving home it was shaky the entire time when I was on the gas. I get off the gas and the problem goes away. Pull the clutch and the problem goes away. I remember when my CV joint went on my golf it was doing a similar thing.

Is the car ok to drive to the mechanic if it is the joint? What's the worst that can happen? I was scared it was the Balljoint and didn't want my wheel to pop off

the cv breaking completely can cause catastophic results if it breaks on the inside joint. the outside one (close to the wheel), the axle will be contained within the fork that goes around it and will be ok besides being undriveable.

snow stopped me from doing jack today, so looks like i'll have to take care of this first thing in the morning tommorrow

replaced both shafts (CV joints)... all seems to be working alright now


man they are expensive from the stealership

thanx everyone for the help!!!

I bet!

yes i know they are thats why you go aftermarket...100$ a side

yah.. I ended up going down that route,

the shafts where such a pain to remove... next time im paying someone to do it....

how were they a pain...all you need is a prybar on the inside of the shaft between it and the trans and give it a quick pull of the bar and they fall right out. thats the hardest part...all the rest should have gone easily. I dont know how much ppl would charge to do them ...probably an hr a side...so thats too much...lol

wasn't falling out for me AT all... took quite a bit to get it out....

yah.. i assumed it would be over 100 in labour, so I was like, screw it....
now my right hand is cut

always gotta draw some blood working on a car...its like a law or something haha. sucks to hear that though...stupid cars...but its expensive to get someone else to work on them...i am one of those people...its nasty seeing the bills people have to pay after i work on their cars...i'm at a dealership...but the dealership level has many many advantages...i have worked at both private and dealerships now.