Taken for a ride?

[AndrewOracle]

Hello.

My car steering was feeling loose and I heard a popping noise when turning right. I suspected it was dangerous and took it in right away. It is a tie rod that needs to be replaced.
My question is, how does this happen?
The reason I ask is that I took this car to the same Toyota dealer only 3 weeks ago for my 120K checkup. (There's 116k miles on my 1999 Toyota Celica.)
At that time they noticed two oil leaks, one which was "difficult to get to " and of course expensive, bring my bill to $1k.
I asked why they did not notice anything about the tie rod during the 120K inspection and he said it could have gone unnoticed if it wasn't visible.
Did these guys do something to my car that could have caused my tie rod to now need replacing?? Loosen up something to get at the hard to fix oil leak? I realize it's 10 years old and it may just be a coincidence. But it was fine before I brought it to them and now I am shoveling out money.

I'm not a mechanic so I can't verify that this is nothing more than an irritating coincidence. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks
Andrew

[Bitter]

they're just not looking for problems like they should be, they should have shaken down the suspension and found that if its that bad.

[AndrewOracle]

Thanks for replying.
So is "shaken down" a diagnostic technique?
I am imagining the car on a lift and bouncing the tires around to simulate driving to see weaknesses.

[zythr]

They were probably trying to service as many cars as they could before closing. Some repair shops do this, because it means more money.

[Bitter]

Originally Posted by AndrewOracle

Thanks for replying.
So is "shaken down" a diagnostic technique?
I am imagining the car on a lift and bouncing the tires around to simulate driving to see weaknesses.

pretty much, yes. I always shake the wheels side to side at 90 degrees (top/bottom and left/right) to check for anything loose. I also squeeze the tierods and sway bar links with a large pair of pliers and use a pry bar to chek the ball joints (pry between the knuckle and control arm) or load the suspension on a jack stand to check with the weight of the car that there is no play. I grab the sway bars and check that the bushings are tight and pry at all the arm bushings front and rear.


Sadly, few people are thorough like I am or where I work.

[hatchy_gt-s]

To be fair it is possible to miss it Im sure bitter can agree we dont always catch every little thing. 3 weeks is enough time that a wearing tie rod can wear out enough to start popping.