G20 Front Suspension/Steering issues - advice needed

[mrswirl]

hey guys - just ran across these forums and would appreciate any advice.

Have a 00' G20 Touring w/ MT - bought brand new, now has ~175K miles. Stock everything. Still going strong - I love this car.

Here's the issue: I usually go to the dealer for service except for this once - about a year ago I needed new struts and went to the local shop. Got fronts replaced along w/ alignment and some new bushings. Not OEM but was told they were just as good.

Now I'm experiencing very harsh ride with lots of "clunking" and popping coming from the front suspension and the steering is much "looser" than normal at high speed. Also, power steering is now having trouble when cold - very stiff and hard to turn when parking and the steering wheel is "fighting back" during slow speed turns. PS fluid was black so I flushed and replaced it. My fear is PS pump and/or rack & pinion now need replacing = $$$

I suspect the problems are all related to when the front struts were replaced as I never had any problems prior. Since this mechanic doesn't specialize in Nissan or japanese cars I'm guessing they either didn't adjust tie rods or strut mounts correctly or used incorrect bushings. This might explain the harsh ride now and I'm guessing that it accelerated the PS problems.

So, advice needed...Are all these symptoms likely related or just coincedence due to age/mileage? Does it sound like I need a new power steering pump or rack & pinion assembly; or heaven forbid, both? Can all this be traced back to the strut replacement or am I just trying to pin non-related issues back to this local mechanic?

Thoughts?

[RED_DET]

The issues are more related to the age of the car. It does have 175k miles and things don't last forever, especially bushings. The g20's are notorious for upper control arm bushings going bad. The power steering pump is probably on the verge of crapping out on you. You should normally get 60k miles out of struts and I wouldn't think you have put that many miles on the car since they were replaced. Normally worn shocks attribute behavior of bounciness because the springs have taken over the task of dampening and rebound because the struts/shocks are blown. I would check to see if the tie rod boots are busted, if that is the case, then the will need to replaced as well.

[ABNRML4U]

^^^^^^^ +1 Go with what he said ^^^^^^^^^^