Hi everyone!
I'm new to Club Lexus forums and this is my first post
First of all, please excuse my lack of knowledge about my car's suspension bits, I know how to change a spare, and the basic difference between MacPherson strut and Double Wish bones (awesome engineering YouTube channels helped), and that's where it ends.
The reason I decided to post on here is to get some insights on what could have went wrong in my situation, so here is what happened:
Last night I was at a signal in my 98 LS 400, about to make a left close to my place and as I turned my wheels all the way to left, I hear a loud clunk (metal snapping) from the left passenger side of my car. I was right in the middle, yielding so I couldn't stop and inspect so I went ahead and drove until I went to my drive way (not far, and it only had one right and left turn to my driveway). Then once stopped, I inspected and noticed that the shorter end of the tie rod connecting the steering rack and the right passenger's side wheel is just dangling freely and all the wheels were straight, with the exception of FR wheel for obvious reasons. Here are some pictures:
Left Wheel.
Dangling rod.
The right wheel.
Now, given that I had new ball joints installed 3 months ago in a 17 year old car, I'm just trying to figure out if it could have been a shoddy install that might have lead to this. Or, if it's just a mere coincidence where the age of the vehicle was the root cause? What else can I expect to have damaged with the short drive? Any input is appreciated!
Some additional info would also be helpful...Miles on car? Have the tie rod ends been replaced prior? My suggestion is to also have the tie rod replaced on the other side as well. Should be good to go.
Thanks for your input! The car has around 112k and tie rods weren't replaced before. I'll certainly get the other one taken care of as well. I'm really looking forward to doing more fun things to this car, once the essentials are taken care of.
My 99 has 196k and earlier this year I replaced both lower ball joints because they were loose, but my tie rod ends felt firm and good... no known replacement .... at 81 I am no longer heavy on the foot adding additional stress and we only put 4000 miles on this year... so 112k sounds young to me...
where in Tex are you?
Instead of deleting this post I'll leave it. I was very wrong about the new part that was installed. Billy, glad you stayed on to correct my messes.
Yeah very scary stuff, be happy it was not at 70 miles per hour on the freeway.
This is the wonderful thing about China made parts and how they can endanger our lives.
That is an obvious manufacturing defect, that is a fairly new ball joint assembly.
I would like to know what brand it was sold under. I would document when it was done and contact a lawyer.
That part and it maker need to be on a recall list of some sort, before someone gets killed, its crazy to literally have 10 and 12 year olds assembling parts like this in other countries.
So I thought the 98's had down pressure on the main ball joint this one is more like the Gen 1's?
So please do everyone a favor find out the brand name and country of origin of that part.
And how about a very clear picture of the inside of the socket part, not too close and not too far away.
Oh and you miss named the post the tie rod did not snap, the tie rod end ball joint separated.
Ah, thanks Dicer! I had a feeling I messed up on wording the title. I'll try and take some pictures soon since it's raining hard out and the car is sitting at the shop that put in new lower ball joints earlier. I tried looking up the part numbers (W0133-1610861 and W0133-1613620) at Toyota and Lexus stores (since repair shop repeatedly said OEM) but so far, I haven't gotten a hit. I'm getting part numbers from a few dealers in the area and will keep everyone posted once I find who actually did make these parts.
UPDATE:
Seems like the shop got parts from a supplier named Worldpack and Manufacturer of the part seems to be named "Genuine". I'm trying to find more details on where they are located, but the shop insists saying Toyota and Lexus use the same manufacturer and just rename SKUs for their internal inventory.
[QUOTE=rctrntla;9226836 UPDATE:
Seems like the shop got parts from a supplier named Worldpack and Manufacturer of the part seems to be named "Genuine". I'm trying to find more details on where they are located, but the shop insists saying Toyota and Lexus use the same manufacturer and just rename SKUs for their internal inventory.[/QUOTE]
I do not think your problem is the lower ball joints, but it could be related to how the shop separated the tie rod end from the BJ.. they SHOULD have checked the up and down movement of the tie rod end AND if it had ANY, recommend a new tie rod end.. that would have made it your fault.. so
dont be too hard on them .. it is really not the ball joint in question here..
ps, I think there is a place named USA in china where they ship from....
Billy is right I really jumped too fast on this one. The new part is just fine it was likely a worn end like Billy says.
That is not a new part. So my above post in junk.
This is an uncommon but not unheard of TRE failure. Purely due to age/wear from teh rubber boot failing early and grit/sand eating away the metal.
Should have been caught in whoever did your last inspection in TX, as they exhibit BOATLOADS of play before failing like this. You may have felt vagueness in the steering as well.
