2001 Grand Prix bad tie rod??

Question

Took the Gran Prix for its state inspection yesterday, it's a 2001 with

23,000 miles and it failed because the tire rod end was shot. You could easily push it up and down, and side to side. The shop asked me if I still had any warranty. Being a 2001 I'm thinking GM will probably say well it's past it's 3 years deal with it, but I've got other ideas. In the first 20,000 miles this car has all four rotors and pads replaced twice due to warped rotors and now this. I have never seen a tie rod go bad in
23,000 miles so I think this is a defective part. Granted if the car had hit a curb or some deep potholes I might think differently but this car had been babied and driven 80% on the highway. What are your opinions?

Harry Face · Accepted Answer

What are my opinions? Well my front & rear tie rods are original, plus they have grease fitting on them. Greased every 3000 miles.

If you say you haven't hit curbs & big pot holes then your pregreased from the factory tie rods probably dried up & wore out

I forget what manufacturer it was in the 60's that eliminated grese fittings from a particular vehicle. The cab companies sqwaked like hell becasue of constant ball joint & tie rod replacements. The cab companies threatened to buy a different manufacturers vehicle and then the cars began being built with greaseable front end parts again.

Good Luck

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE, 3800 V6 _~_~_~_~276,100 miles_~_~_ ~_~_

GT Grand Prix 00 · Answer

its common on the grand prix. i had one changed on my 2000 at 15,000 or so

=?x-user-defined?Q?=AB?= Paul =?x-user-defined?Q?=BB?= · Answer

GP's seem to wear tie rod ends prematurely.It's fairly common.

res1axch · Answer

my GP I had to replace the wheel bearings at 45000.

Ray Hardy · Answer

I also experienced a failed outer tie rod on the driver's side of my 2000 Gran Prix at 27000 miles. Unfortunately the warranty had expired.

You're absolutely right, a tie rod should last a100,000 miles or more if it's not subjected to damage due to a pot hole or a very rough road.

This failure seems to have been experienced by a number of 2000 & up Pontiac Gran Prix owners and it certainly appears to be either a defective part or a inadequately designed part.

Ray

null · Answer

The dealership covered the cost and replacement of the tie rod under a  "good faith" warranty. Theydid not cover the cost of the alignment. The dealer said the part was  defective when put on the car andprobably didn't have enough grease in it. This tie rod is packed and  sealed with grease and there areNOT grease fittings on it and it cannot be retrofitted with grease  fittings so as an owner there wasabsolutely nothing I could do to prevent the failure of the part.I called 1800-gmcares and opened a complaint about the car and asked that  GM cover the cost of the alignment.I also told them that the dealership has been more then accomadating and  has done an excellent job andit's time for GM to step up and cover the cost due to the failure of the  defective part. The service rep said they don't normally cover the  alignment. I told her I could fully agree IF the part was NOT defective  but since itwas defective and failed they should reimburse me my out of pocket cost.  GM said they'd...

2001 Grand Prix bad tie rod??

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