I have a 97 Honda Accord with 122K miles on it. Recently, if I drive over bumpy roads, I'll sometimes feel vibrations seemingly from the underside of the car, almost as if something might be loose. Sometimes I can feel the gas pedal vibrating.
I took the car in to the Honda dealer and they looked at it. They said that the vibrations were likely caused by a power steering rack leak and a worn tie rod. On the invoice, it specifically says "Left front inner tie rod has excessive play and power steering rack is leaking at that point. Replace power steering rack and exhaust system to start."
They said that in order to replace the power steering rack and possibly tie rod, they would have to remove the exhaust first. But the exhaust has rusted and they said it would totally fall apart if they removed it and wouldn't be able to put it back on. So I'd have to replace the exhaust too and all of that might cost $3400.
But they said they didn't think it was necessary to fix, and that I could continue driving the car without any problems (besides the vibrations). I asked when the power steering rack would run out of whatever it's leaking, and they said it looked like it had been leaking for a while, and that it could be years before it becomes a serious problem.
So is this something that can be safely ignored?