well i've replaced the passenger side lower control arm and tie rod end/inner tie rod.

so far so good feels much better overall. alignment was off due to slight different size on the new inner tie rod even though I did measure. However did tune it myself and got the alignment pretty close. Ill just drive for the week like this till next weekend since it took me all weekend to do the one side. lots of bolts were very difficult to get out by hand, they've never been removed since it was built so they were stubborn... also the passenger side has quite a few things to take apart and get out of your way to get to the bolts you need to access.

the steering feels a bit stiffer today however than yesterday. i imagine some steering fluid maybe leaked from that inner tie rod boot? either way i'll check out its fluid level later today. or maybe its just supposed to be a bit stiffer from new parts. However the ride overall is quite solid now. The drivers side rarely makes any noise but i'll still replace the inner/end tie rod and the control arm since i purchased a set, might as well just do it. I'm not sure what else may be ready to go on this car..208k km's on the car. I've had the rad replaced, spark plugs, water pump, timing belt, rear breaks, inner/end tie rod, lower control arm.

anything else I should look into or get ready to replace or just replace to prevent some bad damage? I shouldn't really spend much more on this car..people at work were already laughing at me for replacing the rad and then even more when i said i was going to replace the control arms/tie rods because they think this car's a joke. But I think the jokes on them overall since I see the car as just my means of getting to work mostly. I would say I do around 85%+ of my driving(400k) a week for work then maybe 20-100k max a week for personal use. The car overall I think is pretty good, has a decent amount of horse power, (130~) and the built in sound system is pretty good (just upgraded the deck and that's it for ipod use) and has AC with decently comfy seats and good enough trunk space. I also upgraded the lights to HIDs and angel eye headlights and the paint job is still in pretty good condition. I believe since I've owned the car (2500$ initial price at 140k km) it's cost me around $6000~(including purchase price) since I've owned it now for 3 years.

Everyone at work seems to think I should buy a new car now that these issues have started coming up lately. The rad pipe burst recently and leaked into the tranny however I had a shop replace the rad and just flush the tranny which I read wasn't recommended because people say trannys die instantly basically when any water soluble fluid gets in them. However after flushing it out a few times and replacing the rad the car's been running very smooth shiftwise for almost 2 months which makes me think the tranny should last a while longer,not sure if anyone's had experience with trannys that have had rad fluid leak into them. If so did they run fine after for a while then suddenly give out? What I read online was that you should see the effects pretty much right away but I'm not feeling any affects at all, if anything the shifting is better than before.

I just overall want to keep this car running smooth and not spend a lot of money on it in general. I would love a new car but if I'm to get anything next it should be like a BMW or something that I've always wanted.. and I'm just not ready to spend that type of cash on a nicer performance car just to get to work but I also don't want to buy another cheaper older car and put money into something I'm not really enjoying like I would enjoy a bmw aside from its costs.. I think it's ridiculous to spend 15, 25, 50k on a car when its majority use is to get to work and back and have most of your salary for a year or longer go towards a machine that gets you from A to B to make the money which you use to get from A to B in the first place. sounds like a messy loop of working for someone and spending your hard earned money towards getting to and from their workplace!

 

agreed id rather spend a couple hundred bucks fixing the car i already own and enjoy driving than spending anywhere from 15-40k on something that does the same thing might have a few more factory installed gadgets but with a little money and effort you can get fairly close to those gadgets with after market products for about half the price

 

yeah quite a few people at work are spending 20-50k on cars, half of them are married (again whats the point to be flashy especially when you're married?? :P) don't own their own homes, spending $1500-2400 on rent and bugging me to buy a fancy car. They don't seem to realize I do not love waking up in the morning to drive to work and back 80km a day and I'd rather spend 20-50k on a house or retirement plans instead of working an extra few years at a job I'm not truly loving enough to make me enjoy getting up every day.

the neon truly is a commuter car that gets the job done gracefully. It's comfy enough, the only real lacking it has for me is power windows and maybe heated seats. Other than that it's always been a pretty great ride for the bucks I've spent on it including purchase price. Hopefully it lasts a few more years now, not sure when the tranny will need to be rebuilt since the shop said I could hope at best it will last a year..however I find it hard to believe that if the seals are shot on it from the rad fluid getting into it, that it would be working so smoothly right now. Wouldn't you notice a difference if the seals were degrading/degraded? It feels like it shifts like new after the tranny flushes were done and the new rad installed.

 

funny how some folks have it all back wards

I used to work with alot of people who'd pay $1300 a month for a new or leased mercedes or bmw and have a dunky apt with used furniture, or almost no furniture and the complex that had basic skinny car ports with no garages lol I for one could never understand why, but this is Dallas all $30,000 millionaires hehehe

 

if your neon doesnt have power win dows you could always install them i'm thinking of upgrading my rear manual windows with aftermarket power windows but i have to figure out whats wrong with the motor first

 

RyanGrant, how did you get the tie-rod off the rack and pinion. I sprayed mine with pb blaster to see if it helps but it wont budge! I got the tie-rod end off and the boot. I need to get this done today, I have to work tomorrow!

 

its easy, turn the steering all the way to the side you are working on, use a crescent wrench on the rack gear to hold it/brace while you loosen the inner tie rod. I used vise grips on my old one because it was completely round. you tube has some videos too My vise grips were the really big ones you can get both hands on the grips, crescent wrench is a 12 inch. I didn't need the inner tie rod tool since this was only a once in a lifetime repair.

just don't crank hard on the rack an pinion shaft use a crescent wrench to hold it in place it will come off easy & the new one goes backon the same way.

 

I bought a inner tie rod tool. universal one. the inner tie rod surprisingly isn't on very tight, you could probably get away with a good gripping tool to help tighten it however the tie rod tool is advised to get a good torque on it. torquing specs i couldn't find so I just tightened it as tight as i could which didn't necessarily feel SUPER tight but as good as I could with that tool.

my inner tie rods were not difficult to get off once the boot was off they undid quite easily with the tie rod tool.

 

yeah thats why I used big vise grips, didn't wanna drive 30 miles to get one from autozone, glad you got it off, just use heavy zip ties to put the boots back on, mines held up well with them. But when I get the rack rebuilt they will put metal ones on. You will like how nice an tight it feels when driving

 

Thanks guys! I was able to get both sides switched out, and man were they bad! I broke down and got the universal tool, the crows foot/u-bolt shaped one. The ride at interstate speeds is 100 times better!