Hikari_NOS

I'd also check the ball-joints and make sure the boots aren't corroded off and that they still have some lube in them to keep them from rubbing. My mustang did the same thing too with the squeak noise until I noticed the rubber boot on both ball-joints was completely gone and they were exposed to weather/moisture.

About a few months after the noise began, my steering became hard to turn and then a week later, the driver side finally gave out and fell off the frame leaving my wheel almost sideways and me having to have it towed to a shop to be repaired. Anyways, let us know if the tie-rod replacement fixed the noise. If not, then its gonna be your ball-joints making that noise. I listened to your video and it is the same exact noise I heard too before mine had to be replaced. n_n;;

Best of luck with that and as far the third brake light. Depends on were you play with the wires, but it sounds like its either the bulbs aren't getting a full contact or after the section that works regardless, there may be a short in the wiring there. I'm not really an electrical savvy person, but that is what my husband said could be happening when I described it to him. He knows a bit about electrical issues. He helped me get my car back to running without dying. Turns out had some corrosion inside a few connectors beside my pcm.

Like I said, let us know how things turn out though. n_n

Hikari_NOS

Sorry about the double post. For some reason it told me that I had to wait 30 seconds to post in another thread, but when I hit submit the next time, it had already posted for me without notifying me first. n_n;; Definitely gotta love the slow internet.

hurricane1091

The sound went away and the car handles much better. Rotated the tires and changed the brakes and rotors today with my Dad (I seriously have no idea where I'd be without him, I'm terrible at fixing cars). Unfortunately the back calibers were seized and had to be replaced too. The brakes work fine now but they seem weird. Loose almost. We bled them and what not, and I had no problems when we did it in my old car. Might have to keep my eye on it I guess for a little. I love my car, it just sucks being a poor college student. Tough to give it everything it needs sometimes. The guy I bought the car from clearly didn't give two ****s about it unfortunately. Starting to become evident.

Hikari_NOS

Glad to hear the sound went away. When you bled the brakes, did you make sure to pump the brake pedal as you added more brake fluid into the reservoir? Mine were a loose when we changed mine until I pumped the brakes a little bit.

Yeah I know the feeling. I'm really beginning to believe the previous owner of mine didn't care too much for it either. I think that they were probably either a high school teenager or someone who didn't know a thing about cars, because it appeared as if they were either trying to make the car into a racing street machine or a show car, but failed horribly at either of them. I'm planning on paying for a car fax and seeing what all exactly my car has been through. Assuming it even got reported. n_n;;

My husband just started college himself and since he is the only one with a full-time job (I'm currently unemployed but actively seeking employment), all the money he makes goes to bills and other necessities, so I know the poor feeling as well. Luckily he had the G.I. Bill and got one of the FAFSA grants, so everything is covered for his college. Just waiting on them to repay us for the costs we had to pay up front.

hurricane1091

Yes, we pumped the brakes and all that. I'm going to just pay a little more attention tomorrow and see how it feels. It doesn't feel like I'm stopping when I press the brakes, but I am. It's really weird. Anyways the guy I bought the car from got it at 60k, drove it for 20k without doing anything over a year, and sold it to me. So things that should of been done during that span weren't.

hurricane1091

When it rains it pours I guess. Check engine light just came on during my drive to work. I'm hoping it's the bull**** gas cap that the gas attendant ripped off a few weeks ago. It has a lock on it but I don't have the key to it so I don't lock it but it got stuck some how. Is there any chance it's the bad power steering pump making the light go on?

IronMan0002005

I had a hellacious p/s pump and the light never came on for that. There aren't any sensors in it for it to let the computer know something is off. The dealership that I bought mine from did a good job of making it look good when I bought it. Since I have had mine I have found so much wrong with it. P/s pump was bad from being run without fluid in it for a long period of time. Bad clutch and cable. Some ghetto work was done on the exhaust. The ac compressor had a terrible leak in it. I'm pretty sure it has bad wheel bearings, but that's just something that happens over time. And I'm looking at a possible damaged gear in my differential. So I know that feel... Good luck with the check engine light.

IronMan0002005

This was my old car. Let a bad axle go, ended up having to replace all of the bearings, the strut, the axle, two of the control arms, all of that good stuff. Definitely not something that I plan to repeat.

petrock

The power steering pump does not have a sensor on it, so there is no way for the computer to know its bad in order to throw a code and turn the CEL on. Take it to your local auto parts store and get the codes read on it. Make sure to get the actual code number from the guy, not just the description so you can use your google-fu to find out what the code means and ways to fix it. Good luck...