Found it by pure luck. I was underneath the car doing an oil change and tightening the starter nuts and just doing a general inspection, when I grabbed the centerlink to help maneuver out from under the car, when..... it moved significantly..... Which I was fairly certain it shouldnt have.
After further examination I could see where all the play was. Acted like the center link was riding up and down the idler arm shaft, but it was actually the Idler arm "stud" that was broken at its base.
Checked it out and Center link is good but I am changing all the tie rod ends now too, as now after driving 50 miles down the freeway today, I CAN FEEL a hint of shudder in the steering wheel since the whole car isnt rattling and shaking anymore, masking it over..... and they seemed a little on the loose side when I was fooling around with the idler arm.
obviously I need to spend more time under the car doing general inspections.
