My daughter was getting her oil changed at the local Ford dealer the other day for her 1995 Crown Victoria, and while the car was up on the rack the mechanic looked at the undercarriage and told her she needed new passenger side inner and outer tie rods for around 256.00. Is this something a mechanic could validly determine just through visual inspection?
If they are bad enough, yes.
Let’s define “looked at” and “visual.” I say this because customers often seem surprised at a fee “just to look at it,” as if it means merely taking a glance, when actually it usually means poking around, manipulating, measuring, sometimes partially disassembling, etc. - not to mention evaluating and applying expertise.
Now, if the mechanic literally only looked, and didn’t touch anything, it would be rare (though not impossible) to be able to determine that an outer tie rod end was faulty, and nigh unto impossible to make a judgment about an inner tie rod. But if, as I suspect, the visual inspection comprised looking while properly manipulating these parts, then yes, a valid determination could readily be made. Observing and noting play (easy motion that doesn’t include any other part moving) while trying to move the tie rod assembly in certain directions is exactly the prescribed inspection procedure. The reason measuring devices aren’t needed is that the amount of allowed play is zero, and any play detected by hand or eye is sufficient to condemn the parts.
At one of those quick oil change shops, I was told I had to replace all the bulbs for my interior lights. “Thanks, I’ll look into it,” I told him. Needless to say, they all worked fine when I later checked.
Then recently, at a tire place, which also does emissions test, the guy said I needed a full set of tires, and a new timing belt. More bullshit.
WTF do inner and outer tie rods do?
They connect the steering gearbox or rack (probably a gearbox on an old Crown Vic) to the front wheels. Looseness would be felt by the driver as freeplay in the steering wheel.
Tie rods connect the steering gear to the parts with the wheels (knuckles).
Rack and pinion steering gears have inner tie rods that attach to the rack, and outer tie rod ends that attach to the knuckles.
Recirculating ball steering gears have a less direct connection, with the gear connecting to linkage parts that connect to the tie rods. These tie rods have inner tie rod ends (not the same as inner tie rods) and outer tie rod ends.
Tie rod ends are ball-and-socket type swivel joints, which allow for both rotational and (limited) vertical motion. The rotational motion is necessary for turning the wheels, the vertical motion is necessary to allow the wheel (through the suspension) to move up and down over bumps and such. Inner tie rods also have ball-and-socket joints where they attach to the rack, allowing sufficient motion for various wheel positions.