Mark Alexander wrote:
> I recently purchased a 1993 Accord DX with 151k miles. The car was in
> very good condition
> overall, but two items came to my attention: the muffler (now replaced)
> and leaking grease boots
> on both front upper ball joints and tie rod ends. The lower ball joints
> appear to have been
> recently replaced, so they don't concern me at present.
>
> The local Honda dealer says "replace all these, as soon as possible,
> because they will soon
> seize and break, with CATASTROPHIC consequences!!!", and showed me the
> usual graphic
> images of death and destruction. Needless to say, I did this on my
> previous Accord (a
> 1993 SE), to the tune of about $900 for all four joints and both rod ends.
>
> The people who sold me the car (an independent garage which specializes
> in Hondas)
> say "you can replace them if you want, but it's a lot of money for
> something which will just
> reoccur in a year or so. Just keep 'em greased."
>
> Who's right here? And, why can't I just replace the boots? (I know Honda
> doesn't sell them
> separately, but aren't there aftermarket replacements?)
>
the results can be catastrophic. poke about on tegger.com to see what
happens when joints seize because the boot's no longer effective.

and whatever you do, DO NOT EVER take this vehicle back to the idiots
that used the pickle fork on the ball joints [assuming you know from the
service history]. it wrecks the boots. there's a proper tool for the
job. again, tegger.com for examples.