Steering Problem

My brother's 94 Escort wagon had one of the steering rack clamps either come loose or break and his steering wheel was really shaky. If your CV joint went bad, you wouldn't go anywhere. If it was going bad, you'd just hear a clicking noise when the steering was turned all the way to the left or right.

Sounds like the steering rack might have given out on you. That's where I'd look first. Might want to check your power steering fluid to see if you have any in there.

-Bruce

Sounds major... like a control arm has broken off, or the rack fell off, or a ball joint broke. Do both front wheels point in the same direction? Is one front wheel under the car?

Yes, both front wheels point the same direction.

The driver side wheel is turned so for to the right that it's firmly toughing the inside of the wheel well.

Now that I've taken a look at it in the light of day, I can see the offending part. Though I can't identify it. I have digital pictures of it. Is there a place were I can post binaries?

Thanks, Charles

I can't help with posting the pics. There is alt.binaries but the traffic is so high that your pics won't last long before expiring. If the wheels are upright, perhaps a tie rod end broke off?

You're right, it is the tie rod end. It appears that part of the tie rod end is still stuck in the wheel knuckle.

Does this sound like an expesive fix? With some help, would I be able to do it myself? (aside from the alignment)

Thanks, Charles

If you take care to remember how many turns it takes to take the tie rod end off, you can get the alignment close enough to not need an alignment if you're trying to save money. In the long run, it's probably better to just get an alignment anyhow. The part still stuck in the wheel knuckle would probably come out fairly easy with a BFH and some penetrating oil.

I know with my mom's 92 Taurus, the tie rod ends were something like $17. Should be pretty similar for your escort.

-Bruce

If you are fairly clever with tools and can work with your hands, yes you can probably do it.

The store where you buy your tie rod ends may have some special tools they will lend or rent to you,and can show you how to use them.

You may want to consider replacing both sides, rather than just the one that broke. That could depend upon your finances, and whether or not the end broke from wear or from mechanical fatigue.

try tinypic.com and post the link here

you save the jpg on your local drive and then upload it (free) to tinypic make sure you compress the image to their size specs (practise first with some other image)