power steering

[daniel VR]

hey guys, for a while now iv been toping up my powersteering fluid cos it just keeps leaking from somewhere, more like everywhere. From the front near the oil sump and from the rear of the motor where the rack is. Can someone please tell me what the price of a new rack will cost?

Cheers

 

[sircruisealotVS]

hold your horses mate...before you go gettin a new rack, get the problem figured out.
its most likely your power steering pump needs new seals and the return and high pressure hoses need replacing....its rarely the rack.
get it up on a hoist and you'll see straight away where and what is leaking.

 

[adam_vr]

id be looking at the seals on the pump, or even just check out the clamps on the hoses coming from the resevior, one of them goes down and back towards the rear of the sump area

 

[theburna]

get some degreaser and tighten everything first.

 

[96VScomm]

Ive had 2 pumps replaced because my mechanic said it was the pump, The second pump was done for free.
Anyways its been leaking ever since.
I finally got sick of it and went to a steering place to get the pump changed again thinking they will do a better job and he told me that my high pressure return hose had been rubbing against the engine and a hole had been made in the hose. So now a $250 job is only going to be a $150(should be cheaper but extractor make it harder)

Go to a specialised steering place they are more likely to tell you whats wrong then a mechanic, in my case anyways.

 

[Slow VR]

My return hose is leaking down near the rack. Get under the car with a torch n urs will probably be the same. My pump was leaking as well but got that rebuilt. I just keep toppin it up with fluid.

 

[bluecar]

hold your horses mate...before you go gettin a new rack, get the problem figured out.
its most likely your power steering pump needs new seals and the return and high pressure hoses need replacing....its rarely the rack.
get it up on a hoist and you'll see straight away where and what is leaking.

Anybody ever pulled the power steering pump of a VS a part.

Trying to replace the seal at this very minute and can't quite figure out how to pull the rotor that the pulley screws onto off.

Edit. No worries. Made a puller. There is a hexagon inside the rotor that had me thinking it screwed off.

 

[slappa.]

i had my steering rack and pump replaced under warranty about 10 months ago. the steering is still really tight? wat could be causing this? or is this normal... it gives me the shits sometimes

 

[Don Sutton]

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"i had my steering rack and pump replaced under warranty about 10 months ago. the steering is still really tight? wat could be causing this? or is this normal... it gives me the shits sometimes"

If the steering is tight then either the power assistance is not being applied or there is binding in the column. You should take it to a steering place to get it checked. If the column is binding you will feel extra effort at the steering wheel but the steering gear will behave normally. You can check this by disconnecting the coupling at the steering gear with the wheel and road wheels straight ahead, then turning the wheel left and right through maximum 1 turn either side of centre. If you have SRS airbag this is most important or you will break the wires in the column for the steering wheel airbag.
If it is a fault of the gear it can be caused by a number of things which require either a pressure gauge, flow meter and torque meter to correctly diagnose. Else you resort to educated guess work by replacing parts until it is fixed. Flow should be around 7-8 litres per minute and pressure should achieve 10Mpa. You should have full valve shutoff by about 8NM torque.

 

[slappa.]

cheers mate i didnt think it was normal, even though i know **** all about cars... i take it this is ur line of work? or u are just a freak knowing all those figures.