91octane

anyone ever replace their tie rod yet?... i think mine's loose when i scoped it in the shop... damn i still gotta balance and rotate the tires too... only 13,000 km...

Tripnbeats

replaced a ton of times

91octane

i've yet to do one(strange since i work in a tire shop) , but have you had to do many on your 3gen TL?

Tripnbeats

yea man like 9 times.....they do em at acura im not paying for something thats not my fault or problem let them deal with it u know? I had other probs too not just tie rods ends. but it all stemmed out from small probs

Legend2TL

No, tie-rod ends on Honda/Acura's are very robust so I extremely doubt it needs to be replaced at your mileage.

I've replaced the rubber dust boots on them on Honda/Acura's typically over 150K miles when they crack. Even the boots that I failed to spot that spent many months exposed to the elements looked great after I cleaned them out with brake cleaner and regreased them with Mobil-1 synthetic grease. I've never replaced a single tie-rod end on any Honda/Acura, and that goes for dozen Honda/Acura's with 5 that went over 250K miles.

I've replaced CV joints on Honda/Acura's but with the exception of the upper rear ball joints on my 89 Legend (A bad design for the boot and ball joint) have never replaced any ball joints or tie rod ends for wear.

Tripnbeats

legend I agree... strong parts. sometimes u cant even tell if they arent good until they come off the car.

Legend2TL

You grab them and they should twist in radial direction, but have no play in the lateral direction. They are very easy to inspect, lift the front end and remove the wheels. So you can inspect them on the car, there is no official spec in the shop manual on tolerance play but I've never felt any out of any tierod end on a Honda/Acura i've worked on (a few dozen in the past 3 decades).

The spelling is incorrect in my earlier email too, gotta proof read more....

91octane

ahh.. so im just snorting blow then...so i guess its just balance and wheel alignment for me then...my steering wheel is crooked... although there does seem to be a tad bit of play in the steering wheel... thats what led me to believe it had something to do with the linkage...lol...maybe im just picky man.

Legend2TL

Sounds like you need a wheel alignment which includes adjusting the tie-rod ends so that the steering wheel is centered and proper amount of toe-in/toe-out is within spec. That is the steering wheel alignment issue.

The steering play issue is either the tierods or the steering rack. When the tierods are bad you get steering play. Most of the cases of stering play are the steering rack or recirculating ball steering gearbox. A easy way to check this is to jack up the front-end remove the wheels. Have someone in the drivers seat move the steering wheel a small amount in each direction. Grab ahold of the steering knuckle and watch for any play in the steering linkage rod (that comes out the sides of the rack which connect to the tierod ends) or the tierod ends themselves. Pretty easy to do, I'd be more suspicious of a steering rack than the tierod ends.