I could have died

[Daniel]

Hi everyone, I am a stray from www.240-sx.com which is now down for some reason.  If any of you remember me like robbie or the others say so.

The other day I was parking in front of my girl's house, and i heard a pop sort of noise and my car wouldnt continue backing in.  So I look at the front tires and one is turning one way and the other is turned the other way.  Turns out the rod in the front driver side tire was broken, i mean it had just broken in the middle completely.

Soooo I have it towed to a mechanic.  It is the inner tire rod.  The outer tire rod is wearing down so 170 bucks to replace them both.  

Now the mechanic said to me, what i should be worrid about is if that happens while im on the freeway, then the car would lose control and I would crash into someone, and im lucky it happend while i was parking.  Jesus the fucking rod snapping while i drive?  I asked does this happen to anyone else he said no it is very rare i have only seen it a few times.

Inevitably we ended up discussing possible events that could have led up to the inner rod breaking.  I need your opinion on WHY it had broke, so I can prevent it from happening again.  He said it was rusted and was possibly just so old and i hit a curb or a rock or something.  I thought maybe its because i always floor it up the hill before i turn to my street and drift around the corner, but i didnt tell him that (in addition to the rod being old).

Has this happend to anyone else?  and do you guys know why it happend?  I appreciate your input.

[adey]

It cold have been because you were dry-steering... is that what it's called?  
Steering with the car moving very slow or at a stop. This is bad for your tires (wears them down faster than otherwise), and probably puts more stress on tie rods because of the extra load they have to fight against.

[Dark]

Good to here you're okay

I have a two questions for you number one do you know your cars history? If the car spent most of it's time in the north then that would explain the rust.

number two did you have your car inspected by a mechanic before\after you bought the car? A 137 point inspection would have told you a lot.

Hope this helps TSB's (http://www.alldata.com/TSB/41/91411337.html)

[Daniel]

Thanks adey and dark.  First adey:

my friend told me a few months exactly what you said, that i was doing that.  BUt help me out, so what do i do when i park on the hill in front of my house and i need to turn my tires in to the curb or out from the curb?  I gota turn my tires and if i let the car roll into my space and turn them as it rolls my car is gona hit the curb and go up on it.  I will however try to stop doing that in other situations, thanks.  

And dark no i never got a 137 point inspection  however i got the car back in may so its been about a half a year, when i got it i changed all the major stuff  spark plugs wires distributor cap and rotor i think and around july i flushed the radiator and everything.  The car has run fine since i got it the tread was very worn on one tire so i replaced that when i bought it and once the fuel pump came dislodged when i hit a bump on the freeway at about 80 (1991 till june 2002 i would expect the fuel pump was about ready to be dislodged, i just had to shove it back in).  Besides that and this recent rod snapping the car has run great.  Should i get an inspection now, and if i do should it be on the car body and parts and not anything in the engine or engine bay?  How much will it cost?

thanks again

[Natty]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (adey @ Nov. 10 2002,6:29)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">It cold have been because you were dry-steering... is that what it's called?
Steering with the car moving very slow or at a stop. This is bad for your tires (wears them down faster than otherwise), and probably puts more stress on tie rods because of the extra load they have to fight against.</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
How big of a problem is that dry steering?
I had my car off when it was halued 10 feet up a tow truck. I had to steer the wheels straight without power steering.
/me hopes my suspension doesn't fall apart this weekend &nbsp;<img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/butbut.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':but:'>
Jeff

[Dark]

As far as the inspection cost it depends on where you are check the yellow pages and call a few places or call your local Nissan dealership. The important thing is to take your car to a reputable place. Ask the people in the board on which Nissan dealership they prefer.

Please remember that your suspension is one of the hardest working parts in your car if you don't look after it won't look after you.

<img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/thumbs-up.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':thumbsup:'>

[adey]

Dry steering or dry turning (something along those lines) shouldn't be too bad for your car, as there are many situations where you simply can't do otherwise. Of course, you don't want to do it all the time because it'll tend to wear your tires faster, but I try to avoid it where possible.
Turning the wheels one way when parking on a slope is one of the times where there really isn't much you can do about it.
However, other times like when parking or pulling out from street parking, it helps to turn as little as possible when the car's not moving or still moving very slowly.

On that note, don't let this idea of not dry-steering dominate your driving, just keep it in mind.

This will put a little more stress on things like your power steering, steering components (incl. tie rods) and tires, but nothing the car shouldn't be able to take!

[Russki]

Another tie rod scare:
When I first got my car in the air, I looked at all the parts, did the basic inspection of everything and found out that my left outer tie rod has been welded together in the middle <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/crazy.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':crazy:'> It had a bend in it, like it was busted by a curb, and a welded seam. &nbsp;The alignment was good, and that's what bothered me, why didnt the alignment shop tell the previous owner that a welded tie rod is not good? &nbsp;Instead I guess they just aligned it and thats all. &nbsp;Well, anyways, no harm done. &nbsp;I got the tie rod replaced with no problems. <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/thumbs-up.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':thumbsup:'>

[RedlineRacer]

The turning the curb stuff you should have learned in drivers ed man. Thats like the first thing they teach you so your car doesn't run off and hit something and f*ck up your car.

[SilviaDriver]

that happen to my dad, while driving on the freeway with my mom and sister in the car

gald it didnt happen on the freeway

[luke91]

I think I remember you from the old board. &nbsp;Was it:

http://project.nissan-240sx.com

I was on that one for a while, and it shut down <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':angry:'>
There was a fuy named Robbie on that site, and I used to argue with him every day. <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'> &nbsp; I wish he was here. <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='???'>

Anyway, I saw a minivan wreck because of broken tie rods. &nbsp;That is dangerous. &nbsp;Count your blessings. &nbsp;You're lucky to have had that happen while you were parking. &nbsp;At least now you have two new ones. &nbsp; <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/thumbs-up.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':thumbsup:'>

--luke

[Primo]

Could very well have been a rock strike. I hit a rock one time (it came out of nowhere <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'> ). The thing bent my tie rod real bad and dented the underside of my car by the drivers feet. I could actually see the dent from the inside..thats how much it was pushed up... anyways that probably what happen. Tie rods dont just break everyday. Glad to hear youre okay.

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Peace
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;-Primo