Coulld well be related.  The gas tank needs to be pulled, in either case.

If you can get to the wire to the gas gauge sender, ground it and see if the
gauge go to "Full".  That would mean the sender is bad.

Have to replace the steering rack... any other fix would be very time
consuming and temporary.

The rattle in the gas tank is likely the float..... that means the guage
willl always read empty.

I agree with BYM.... but you will have to give a little more info. From your
description, it could be the pinion seal (input seal), a hose or a rack
seal. Many rack parts can be either difficult to obtain or require special
tools or technique to replace. If it is indeed a rack piston seal that is
leaking, check out a rebuilt long rack assembly. The long racks come with
new inner tie rods preinstalled and can be surprisingly inexpensive.

--
Jim Warman
mechanic@telusplanet.net

Thanks for your input...i just put in new plug wires and cleaned around the
engine.. i also got shocked by touching the distributor cap while the car
was running... hehehe...but i am ok...it woke me up...

About the gas guage thing... it seems i have to replace the sender
thing...is their a way to take it out without removing the fuel tank?

While wiping off oil crap from the engine i feeling the brackets near the
fuel pump above the starter it seems theirs a screw washer thingy loose but
no way to know if its an actual screw or bushing ... their was too much oily
crap to clean that i got a rash... hope later this weekend i will jack up
the car and look under to see were exactly the pwr strng fluid is coming
out.... any advice will be very helpfull...

thanks
Adriana