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        General >> Give/Need advice to/from others >> Any power steering experts here ?
        
(Message started by: jonnycab on Nov 12^th, 2007, 10:05am)

Title: Any power steering experts here ?
Post by jonnycab on Nov 12^th, 2007, 10:05am

Some advice needed please :)

My new steering rack has developed a knock, as the last one did ???

Having spent yesterday afternoon lying under the car I have found where the knock is coming from.

On hitting the nearside track rod with the palm of my hand I can hear the knock. On grabbing the track rod & yanking it, I can feel slight movement ???

Ah.....I'm thinking, "it must be the track rod inner ball joint".
I removed the gaiter & gave the track rod another tapping with the palm of my hand & gave it a good yanking & the ball joint is fine. The knock is coming from the actual shaft inside the casing ???

I scooped out all the grease from around the shaft where it exits the rack casing, gave the track rod another yanking & could visually see a slight movement of the shaft. Using the palm of my hand again to hit the track rod I could see it move & hear it knock >:(

Why would it move & knock like this ?....it can't be normal ?....has it been remanufactured with ill fitting parts ? :-/

Any advice please, as my patience is now wearing pretty thin & I'm thinking of contacting trading standards about this problem >:(

Thanks in advance for any useful advice :)

Title: Re: Any power steering experts here ?
Post by jonnycab on Nov 14^th, 2007, 2:53am

Okay, so no power steering experts here then......no problem :), it's not exactly the kind of thing you look at every day ;D

If anyone is interested, I've written a detailed report on what is at fault with this steering rack & it will accompany the rack back to the re-manufacturer (AC Delco)....

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i101/jonnycab/dodgysteeringrack.jpg

.....I can feel a compensation case coming on here ;D

Title: Re: Any power steering experts here ?
Post by Simmo on Nov 14^th, 2007, 7:51am

Go JC Go!!. ;)

Title: Re: Any power steering experts here ?
Post by martin_rowe on Nov 14^th, 2007, 10:58am

soory for late reply, there will allways be some movement between the rack & the housing, its down to weather its excessive, I would say that if it knocking its excessive, most racks do not have any bushed / bearings in the housings, just the bore in the housing machined to size to accept the rack. the rack is the toothed bar inside the housing, its turned by the pinion, the bit thats is fastned to the steering column. the laymand term ' steering rack' refers to the whole assy. hope that helps a bit.

Title: Re: Any power steering experts here ?
Post by jonnycab on Nov 15^th, 2007, 3:37am

Thanks Martin......maybe the slight play observed in the rack where it exits the housing is normal....but a clonk, followed by loss of power assistance, & locking up of the steering when at full left, is in my consideration, down to a bad rack......especially after it's still doing it with the P/S pump replaced :)

Title: Re: Any power steering experts here ?
Post by martin_rowe on Nov 15^th, 2007, 8:49am

a 'clonk' seems to be excessive, does the steering lock without assistance (pump not running), not easy to try, would'nt recomend without the water pump running, quite basicaly the assistance comes from the fluid pressure provided by the pump, switched left / right bu a floating shuttle valve on the pinion switching the fluid pressure either side of a piston (the rack), an interesting point is that at one time you had to 'shim' the pinions depth of mesh with the rack, majority of wear is central on the rack, so if set up with minimal back lash in centre positio may lock up at the ends where there is no wear, any way a true s/ex rack should have no problems, sometimes 'you get what you pay for' springs to mind, best go for reputal name rather than 'cheepest'.BTW wear in the end of a rack housing is quite a common 'fail' on a Mercedes Sprinter, but very rare on other makes, we do approx 300 MOT's a month.

Title: Re: Any power steering experts here ?
Post by jonnycab on Nov 17^th, 2007, 12:41am

Mike (Simmo)....it's funny that you should suggest talking to AMK in your pm....

....Went back to my motor factors with the report on the steering rack & they agreed that there must be something wrong with these AC Delco XL racks as regards to the Scorpio.

They ordered me a AMK rack (more expensive) at no extra charge. I fitted it a couple of days ago & the difference in handling was instant, & that was before I had the tracking done.

Tracking done & it's feels absolutely perfect ;D

As Martin says....maybe you really do get what you pay for ;)

Title: Re: Any power steering experts here ?
Post by Simmo on Nov 17^th, 2007, 12:46pm

Glad to hear that JC...good luck with this one ;D Mike.