Need Help bad many ?s

[Allegretto]

i just bought a 89 Buick Electra Park Avenue that was in a front end accident. the engine is perfectly fine and everything works save for the cosmetic damage to the car. the only problem the car has is that the steering is all f**ked up. it needs new tie rod ends and theres something missing in the suspension assembly. i dont know what it is but i will put some pics up as soon as possible. i was able to drive the car from where i bought it to my house but it was a trip becuase the steering wheel KEEP turnin more than 360 degrees and the wheels had a hard time keeping up. i know the alignment is pretty much gone but im paranoid as to what the issue is. any information will help especially how much ima pay to get it all fixed. thanks people

[bluevp00]

Take it to a body shop & get an estimate on all the work (suspension work only - not body work). It will probably be a couple hundred to over a grand for the entire job, so depending on how much you paid for the car, it may not be worth it to do any work to it.

[Allegretto]

it aint as bad as i made it seem i was just tripping

[MetalHeadZaid]

lol keep away from acid man

[Allegretto]

i dont mean trippin as in i was on something but yeah i need to know the name of the piece im missing its not a big piece i wish i could describe it better but they look like these- http://www.lesabret.com/swaylinkwrong.jpg

[MetalHeadZaid]

lol im just joking around

[UncleBob]

a missing link pin won't cause what you're discribing. You really should take it to a shop and get an estimate. Many shops charge hardly anything for a visual inspection. (not as thorough as a body shop estimate, but most things are easy to find if the guy doing the looking is intimate with it)

Saving yourself the $20 for the inspection, will seem really expensive after you crash, let alone tire damage and other effects of having a screwed up front end.

[Allegretto]

i dont know i dont think the wheel actually turns that much like i said i dont know about the steering but i think i got a better idea at what i was trying to say. the front wheels they were hard to turn and the wheels would try to slip away from me while i was driving. it wasnt that bad seein as to how i made the almost 20 minute drive from where i got the car to my house. somebody said that my steering box or something or other might be loose i got such a bad memory, but yeah i plan on taking it to a shop asap until then ima ask many ?s

[jveik]

yeah i noticed that also, my steering wheel on my old honda does that every once in a while, in the rain is the only time it has done it sofar. you can turn the wheel and when theres pressure aka when the front wheels should pivot, the steering wheel "slips a tooth" and the front wheels are the same direction they were before i turned the wheel. the wierd thing about it is that when it's all done, the steering wheel is perfectly centered again like nothing happened. its almost like a racheting wrench in that as you turn it back it slips back and dosent turn the shaft, except it will do it in any direction in my car lol. it hasnt done it for a while but i still dont trust it and am looking for a new vehicle to use, such as an old chevy truck or something like that.

[UncleBob]

that is not normal on any vehicle. There is something crucial on the front end that is damaged if its "slipping".

I don't want to be overbearing on this, but really guys, the alignment of your wheels is HUGE. I'm not even talking about stuff being broken here. Just having your toe way off in the front or rear, can make the car very unstable. You may not notice it....until the day you swerve, and the car spins out of control.

Thats just one of the parameters involved. It never hurts to find out whats wrong with your car, and THEN decide if you will address it and how you will address it. But until you know whats wrong, you could be taking a large risk over a very cheap fix. Or a large risk over a very expensive fix. But the knowledge would be handy either way!