My girlfriends 98 blazer has issues with slow speed turning. It still turn fine, just a bit tight coming off stop signs and stuff. Oil change place said these parts are probably going:

Tire rods
Pitman arm
Idler arm
Sway bar

Obviously these are all very important things, but it's a 98 blazer, and this repair is $900. We are just worried that one day she will make a turn, it won't move, and she will crash and die. How likely is that? Is that how it goes when these pieces start to go?

Thanks!

the sway bar might need need end links and bushing but replacing the whole thing thats a load of crap.

the rest of it, if it is in bad condition dose need to be replaced. if your tie rods alone fail could lead to a total loss of steering. but i will say that 900$ price dose seem a tad high.

if your half decent with a wrench you could figure out how to change all those with youtube videos. only major thing you couldn't do is the alignment that will have to be done after replacing all that

even just using amazon its about 150$ in parts and they are charging 750$ in labor from what i can see on that

This post was edited by night_throne on Jan 9 2016 03:38pm

Those prices are retarded

Order them from Amazon or rock auto. That's all shit you can do with basic tools

This post was edited by KoJ on Jan 9 2016 05:08pm

First off: Find a different mechanic. Agree with everyone saying those prices are too high. I wonder if the steering box could be going? Do you hear a clunk or is it just hard to turn, as in the steering wheel gets "heavier"?

This post was edited by said_aouita on Jan 9 2016 05:14pm

doesn't clunk, just gets "heavier"

i can't do the work myself. i wish i could but i cant. the car is only worth $1500-2000 as it's a 200k mile 98 blazer.

This post was edited by AspenSniper on Jan 9 2016 05:25pm

Have you checked the power steering fluid and can you hear any whining sounds from the power steering pump while trying to turn?

It sounds more like power steering is getting weak. Other parts might need replaced too but for your specific problem i lean towards power steering

This post was edited by JDH on Jan 9 2016 05:29pm

it's not the pump, i did know that you'd hear a whining sound. it's not that. I did a power steering fluid flush, did that today. cant tell a difference yet.

it dont necessarily have to be whining. thats just the most common symptom. you need to take it to a GOOD mechanic who can check the power steering and maybe even the steering box and rack.

your problem isnt coming from the pieces you listed. i know when the evo valve goes bad it can cause extremely touchy steering at highway speed but im still not sure if it can not allow full pressure at low speed like its supposed to. we've had semis that when the ps pump were bad and you were turning into a place at an idle that the power steering would almost lock up you had to rev the motor to get your power steering back. only thing i can tell you is if you find yourself with hard steering like you describe see if revving the motor frees the steering up. if it does replace the power steering pump immediately and dont get the cheapest one you can find you get what you pay for.

Could be the power steering gearbox. I had to replace mine in my 05 Blazer because my steering had a ton of slop in it that didn't go away after replacing all of the suspension components.