Hi,

 

I brought our 2000 Outback in for an oil change and the mechanic noticed alot of play in the front end (drivers side). He said we need to have the entire rack and pinion replaced. The car has 95,000 miles and is driven mostly highway.

 

Is the something I should consider replacing myself ? The dealer wants $650 (parts & labor) to do the job . They have to get the rack and pinion assembly from the Subaru dealer.

 

I found the rack & pinion from Rock Auto for about $400, after returning the core (god knows how much shipping costs).

 

Is there a cheaper place to get this part and is it really hard to change ?

 

Thanks for any help !

Paul

I would check out Ebay.

Good luck!

I would start by getting a second opinion. The tie rod ends or ball joints failing is more common in my experience.

 

Unless you are a competent mechanic I would recommend that you let someone else replace it if it is indeed needed. I might have someone do it for me if it was my car, and I do virtually everything myself. The rack might be the one thing that I would have a shop do for me, but I don't know for sure as I have never had one fail.

 

I would only use OEM parts.

Sounds like a inner tie rod would probably cure that. Discount Auto Parts has them for $20 or so. I would not think the whole rack assembly would need replacing with that kind of mileage. A second opinion of a trusted mechanic would be in order if it were mine.

I concur with the 'get a second opinion'. In 3+ years on this board, I don't think I've ever heard of a steering rack problem. More likely to be some other component as mentioned. If it truly is the steering rack, I'd probably put a used one on. Slim chance of getting 2 bad ones.

 

Commuter

Thanks for the advice folks. We'll bring it in to get a 2nd opinion !