I replaced my inner and outer tie rods and now the power steering is not working. Any thoughts?

Thanks Tom

 

first thing I would do is disconnect the tie rods and see if you get your PS back.

 

well don't leave us hanging dude.

 

Sorry. I have not had the opportunity to to try your suggested fix.

Tally

 

Update. I put in new tie rods and added new tires. The power steering works again. I will never buy cheap tie rods again.

 

We appreciate your follow up talashek but can you elaborate to help others in the future? What exactly happened? Did your mechanic do something wrong on the install? Why were the tie rods at fault (what makes them cheap)? What brand were they, etc?

It always helps others when it's time for us to change out ours, what sort of issues can we expect to encounter?

 

I don't understand, please help me out here; Why cheap tie rod cause PS not work? Did you DIY or have the garage do it for you? If it cheap by quality it might break premature, but the PS should still work, if it build not same size you can not install it to your car, if it either too short or too long you might can not have right alignment but it still would not make PS not work.

 

I don't think the tie rods had anything to do with the PS not working...

 

Hi All:

I have a possible explanation for how changing outer tie rods and new tires fixed the issue with the power steering. The tie rods I installed were from O'reillys auto parts. I installed them myself and no alignment issues. When I removed them one was shot after less than 3,000 miles. I can only surmise that it was binding and hindering the ability of the power steering. My tires had no outwardly visible unusual wear but I think that wear, causing an unusual cant may have been a contributing factor.

 

OK I think what he is saying is the PS was working fine BUT the cheap tie rod ends were causing the steering to bind up so it felt like the PS was not working?
.
.
.

 

Yep, close enough for government work as they say.