Toyota told me probably a year or so ago when I was in for a different problem that my rack & pinion system had a small leak. They said it wasn't bad enough to worry about at that point, just a slow drip, but would cost almost $900, if I decided to keep the car. I asked how I would know if it got worse. They said I would hear a squealing noise when steering. It's now been over a year and I have not heard a peep. Could they have been wrong about the leak? Are there any other symptoms I should be looking/listening for? A couple months ago, my car started shaking some from one of my tires going almost bald in one spot. I will need new tires soon and have held off b/c I don't know if I am keeping the car, yet, but the tread was about the same on all four tires before the one went bald. The guy that replaced it said the pattern indicated my shocks were the cause, but after searching through some old Yahoo Answers questions, I noticed that some mentioned suspension in relation to the rack and pinion. Could the leak be causing that kind of problem? I don't want to spend the money on new tires, alignment, and shocks if the problem is being caused by the rack and pinion leak, if there really is a leak.
(Other helpful info: the car is a 1998 Toyota Corolla. I did replace the tire with the bald spot with another tire with similar tread that I got from a friend who had access to old tires. The shaking problem has not recurred, yet.)
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