Who'da guessed....

After all the recent discussions about emissions, rich running vans,
faltering ECU's, O2 sensors, etc...etc..., I did a once over on the van
prior to submitting it to the local inspection station. Replaced fuel,
oil and air filters... spark plugs, cap, rotor, changed the oil and
v-belts, ran a couple tanks o' gas with injector cleaner and patched an
exhaust leak. My only concern was the four inch crack in the windshield
running up under the drivers windshield wiper. While checking the tail
lights and emissions, the inspector asked me to run the wipers, and ok'd
'em.

Wheww! Great! No close inspection of the windshield! Then he dragged out
the floor jack....

"R E J E C T E D" ...as the inspector scraped off my perfectly good
97-98 inspection sticker I read the large red letters on the replacement
sticker...

Ok...so what's the deal with replacing a tie rod? The Bentley shows what
appears to be a release latch/catch where the tie rod attaches to the
rack. A quick under-the-van inspection didn't reveal any type of release
catch, it looks to be threaded to the rack. Is it both?...a catch that
allows one to then unscrew the tie rod? Can anyone clarify what I'm
seeing in the manual before I have to slide under there this weekend?

For anyone that's interested, the check for worn tie rods is an easy one
to make.  Jack up the van so that a front wheel just clears the ground.
Grasp the front tire at the 3 and 9 o'clock postions and push and pull
it. Repeat for the other side. A worn tie rod will allow movement with a
clunking sound. The sound and movement comes from a worn ball and socket
on the end of the tie rod. Mine is worn to the point where the tire
moves approx 1 inch back and forth without the steering wheel moving.
This is a good check to add to your tire rotation schedule.

Wondering which way a van will go when one wheel has a mind of it's
own...

Mark   *** 91 Carat ***
Granby, MA