Inner Tie Rod end shot or is it the Steering Rack?

[87iroc]

My wife's 04 Pontiac Vibe is eekin upward of 145k miles and there has been an annoying pop coming out of the front end for a while now. It has finally gotten bad enough that you can hear it constantly if you are just rocking the steering while back and forth while sitting still. It is a popping sound that eminates from the drivers feet area.I got down under the car last night and put my hand on the steering rack/tie rod and you can feel the pop in that when the wheel is being rocked back and forth.I tried to feel the tie rod end(inner) to see if it was that, but I really can't tell. It's not the outter end as it moves pretty well. You can feel the popping in the rack and the tie rod just the same.The steering wheel also vibrates badly at high speed, but her tires are in dire need of replacement, so I think that is probably what is going on there...but I want to get this steering issue fixed before taking a chance of wearing out new tires due to something being wrong.Any words of wisdom?Thanks,

[RIT]

Small edit to your post - i think you mean 3 and 9 O'clock.

[87iroc]

Thanks guys....How do I isolate it to the inner tie rod end or steering rack going bad?

[87iroc]

Quote, originally posted by 13Vibe03 »*EDIT*If you can, turn the wheel and see if you can feel the steering linkage while your wife turns the wheel (VERY SLIGHTLY) I wouldn't want to hear that she cranked the wheel and crushed your hand/arm!I did that last night and I felt the popping in the rack/tie rod end...all you have to do is rock the wheel from 12-2-10-2 and it will pop reliably now...I just couldn't tell which of the 2 parts it is....I do need to check the pass. side tie rod end too to see if it can be felt as distinctly over there or not.

[Digger]

With that kind of milage I would just replace both. If one ot the other breakes you are in for a much higher bill.

[pljenkins]

I had a 95 Cavalier with the same problem at around the 80K mark, and it turned out the ball joint socket had wallowed out. Not to say that's your problem here, but it's a good place to start.

[zionzr2]

all great possibilites also, you might check the strut mounts.