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Car Forum / Honda Cars / January 200693 Accord ball joint & tie rod end boots
I recently purchased a 1993 Accord DX with 151k miles. The car was in very good condition overall, but two items came to my attention: the muffler (now replaced) and leaking grease boots on both front upper ball joints and tie rod ends. The lower ball joints appear to have been recently replaced, so they don't concern me at present. The local Honda dealer says "replace all these, as soon as possible, because they will soon seize and break, with CATASTROPHIC consequences!!!", and showed me the usual graphic images of death and destruction. Needless to say, I did this on my previous Accord (a 1993 SE), to the tune of about $900 for all four joints and both rod ends. The people who sold me the car (an independent garage which specializes in Hondas) say "you can replace them if you want, but it's a lot of money for something which will just reoccur in a year or so. Just keep 'em greased." Who's right here? And, why can't I just replace the boots? (I know Honda doesn't sell them separately, but aren't there aftermarket replacements?) AFAIK, honda sells them separately. Its listed on hondaautomotiveparts.com under 'Knuckle' for your car. $10 for lower boot, but i think on the upper you are outta luck. You may be able to find a generic out there that could work.... t >I recently purchased a 1993 Accord DX with 151k miles. The car was in >very good condition [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] >Honda doesn't sell them >separately, but aren't there aftermarket replacements?) > AFAIK, honda sells them separately. Its listed on hondaautomotiveparts.com > under 'Knuckle' for your car. $10 for lower boot, but i think on the upper [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] >> Honda doesn't sell them >> separately, but aren't there aftermarket replacements?) You were right about the lower joints, and the rod ends (listed under "Tie Rod"). But it's the upper ones I need, and it's these which are not available separately--to get the joint, one must purchase the entire upper arm assembly. :-( At least they look easy enough to replace. To return to my first question, is it necessary to replace the joints just because of bad boots? And if not, how frequently should these be greased? Thanks, MLA As long as they are well greased, you shouldn't have any problems. Odds of a catastrophic failure on an upper balljoint are quite low. You can easy do a 'wiggle test' to check for play on upper balljoint. Just grab the top part of the steering knuckle where it meets the upper ball joint. Any clicking or movement indicated wear on the balljoint. I would wait until there is play in the upper balljoint before replacing. I would then replace with OEM (if you can afford it) and if you can't afford it like me, then go for a good quality lifetime warranty aftermarket part like Moog or TRW. >> AFAIK, honda sells them separately. Its listed on hondaautomotiveparts.com >> under 'Knuckle' for your car. $10 for lower boot, but i think on the upper [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > >Thanks, MLA On my '94 Accord, the Upper boot is the same size as the Tie Rod End boot right down to the retaining clip. Was the same on my '91 Accord Wagon and my '86 Accord IIRC. Hope this helps. AmmonMan > AFAIK, honda sells them separately. Its listed on hondaautomotiveparts.com > under 'Knuckle' for your car. $10 for lower boot, but i think on the upper [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > >Honda doesn't sell them > >separately, but aren't there aftermarket replacements?) > I recently purchased a 1993 Accord DX with 151k miles. The car was in > very good condition [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > doesn't sell them > separately, but aren't there aftermarket replacements?) the results can be catastrophic. poke about on tegger.com to see what happens when joints seize because the boot's no longer effective. and whatever you do, DO NOT EVER take this vehicle back to the idiots that used the pickle fork on the ball joints [assuming you know from the service history]. it wrecks the boots. there's a proper tool for the job. again, tegger.com for examples. |
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