pearlwhitesix

I have an odd knock coming from the pass side when I go over a bump a certain way or when the car is stationary, and I turn the wheel quickly left to right.

I thought it was a bad tie rod end but after investigating further, it looks as if the whole steering rack has play in it when would put lateral force on the tie rod with my hand I could see the rack move and the noise was coming from the rack hitting the body as it settles.

Where are the bolts holding the rack are the under the battery?

On previous cars I've worked on the rack was mounted on rubber mounts that often failed is it possible to replace the mount without removing the rack?

4Driver4

The rack is hard mounted ( no rubber) in three locations. Two bolts go straight down through the water tray; one under the battery (there is a round hole in the tray for access one the battery is out), and the other just to the left of the brake booster. The third bolt comes up from underneath on the driver's side. You won't find that one.

Try tightening the two bolts in the water tray. 10 mm twelve point heads.

VONBOTTLE

i had the same knocking right after doing some suspension work, it's going to be the bolt under the battery - just tightened mine for third time (couldn't torque it enough the first time as i didn't have the right size socket - came loose couple days later, second time thought i torqued it enough but apparently didn't - came loose 4 days later)....anyway, finally got an adapter so the socket would fit my torque wrench and used blue loctite as well, torque to 50 lb-ft, all is well again. you might as well take the battery tray out while your down there and clean the clump of junk that is probabaly clogging the drain, i had a huge pile of debris

pearlwhitesix

I had a feeling the bolts were under the battery, but I did not want to remove the battery as I have heard horror stories about having to reprogram radios after disconnecting the battery.

Is there a safe way to disconnect and reconnect the battery or can it be removed without unplugging it?

thanks!!

VONBOTTLE

it's actually very easy, but before you disconnect battery, make sure you have the radio code to get it out of safe mode once you reconnect it, it's 4 numbers, hopefully it's written somewhere in your manual.
there is no way to tighten that bolt without removing the battery. disconnect neg first, then positive and disconnect the little tube on the right side, then remove metal bracket on left side at bottom of battery that holds it down (1/2" socket i believe). pull battery toward you and sort of tilt it forward and lift out. then remove two bolts and two nuts (1/2") holding battery tray in - tilt the front up and yank out, doesn't come out easily. you don't need to remove the tray, but you really should to clean the drain underneath the battery, which guaranteed will be clogged. rack bolt will probably be quite loose, i believe it's an 11 mm 12 socket for that bolt, i think the battery nuts are 10 mm. i unscrewed the bolt about 1/2" and covered the threads with blue loctite to make sure it won't come loose again and then torqued it down to 50 lb-ft
(or 67Nm). when connecting battery, attach pos first and neg last. tighten up the bolt on the driver side while you're in there, you'll need a socket extension, mine tightened up a little. also tightened up all the other bolts that are under the cowl cover - some had varying amounts of looseness. good luck, shouldn't take you more than 10-15 minutes

SloopJohnB@mac.com

Don't disconnect the battery before you hook up a memory saver. I used a jump start box..parallel the box with the cables, disconnect the negative ground from the battery. Then disconnect the positive cable from the battery and wrap it with electrical tape, including the jumper cable. On my car the cigarette lighter is always live so I just plugged the 12v charger cable for the jumper box into the lighter socket. Carefully disconnect the positive cable and wrap it in electrical tape, disconnect the negative cable and remove the battery.

Do your thing under the battery box and put it all back together, hook up the battery and disconnect the cables or in my case the 12v charger plug.

4Driver4

This is a horrible idea and extremely dangerous....and exactly how I do it. lol

SloopJohnB@mac.com

ROFLMAO!