My boots on steering rack are also leaking.. would this cause all the wobble and clunking that i am having in the front when turn to the left? (97accord 4cyl) everytime i hit a small bump i feel it.. when i turn left slightly at high speeds, i hear a whole mess of clunking and wobbling... anyone shed sum light on this? should i change the rack? and what else? anyone done a rack on a 5th accord? any info/tips will be apprect'd.
thanks,

jerrry

 

CAN ANYONE CLEAR MY HEAD ONTHIS?

 

regardless of what you hear, if the boot is leaking grease/oil, you'll need to get that fixed.

the noise can be coming from any one of several points...

wobbline? check the wheels, tires, and lugs first. while it's parked, grab the tires and shake it back and forth. if you're hearing the clunking noise your bearings might be loose...

for the tires, check to make sure there's no bubbles on the tread. wheels, make sure there's no dents. the lugs, make sure they're on tight.

rack and pinion is a pretty simple mechanism. it shouldn't really clunk. if you don't have any oil/grease, you could hear some noise, but not really clunking.

also check your tie rod ends..

 

tie rods dont seem to be bent or broken at all. can i get away with jus replacing the boots on the rack? how difficult is it to change the whole rack/boots?
j

 

According to our convo on AIM I am going to put money on the balljoints being bad.

Get them checked ASAP failure is not pretty.

 

not the metal part, check the ball joints on the ends to see if the rubber boots are ripped and leaking grease.

i changed the rack and pinion on my civic. if you're decent on working with cars, you should be able to do it. i would say it's an intermediate job.

you shouldn't just change the boot, most likely dirt will have gotten in so that you will most likely have to clean it..