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        General >> Problems >> power steering??
        
(Message started by: Snuggles on Oct 12^th, 2004, 8:10pm)

Title: power steering??
Post by Snuggles on Oct 12^th, 2004, 8:10pm

Seems the power steering has gone now-no power assistance at all.. could this be the rack or the pump, it's just about drivable above 10 mph but you need to be arnie below that-no clunks or stiff spots, just no assistance ??? ??? ??? :'( :'( :'( any ideas would be very welcome!!!

Title: Re: power steering??
Post by scorpio_man on Oct 12^th, 2004, 8:24pm

hi there

seals gone in the rack? all the fluid in the rubber bellows.
http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/steermanual.htm

Title: Re: power steering??
Post by Snuggles on Oct 13^th, 2004, 11:56am

In garage now-will let you know how it goes ;-) Thanks Scorpio Man.

Title: Re: power steering??
Post by Snuggles on Oct 15^th, 2004, 11:38am

Well, it's back now, the garage has replaced the power steering pump and drivebelt and replaced the steering rack bellows gaitors. They say this will stop the leak that was the original problem, but surely the gaitors are only to stop the ingress of dirt, or hold grease in-are they really there to hold in power steering fluid or are they just going to split with the pressure of any rack leaks etc???

Does this garage really know what they are doing-I hope so because it's just cost me over £350! :-/

Title: Re: power steering??
Post by Eddie on Oct 16^th, 2004, 5:12am

Did the garage say they FOUND a leak?
It is possible the pump WAS u/s,The new belt would be done as a matter of course. They possibly removed the old gaiters to check for leaks and replaced with new.
Did you notice any noise from the pump before the steering went AWOL.
Did you check fluid level when the steering was U/S?

eddie

Title: Re: power steering??
Post by Snuggles on Oct 16^th, 2004, 1:08pm

No, the garage said they think it should be ok now-the pump was fine until the gators were replaced-the same night I got it back it appeared to seize, then gave up altogether-I checked the fluid daily and it never ran anywhere near dry-Looked again this morning and sure enough it's on it's way down again and there's an oily patch on the ground!

Is it normal for a garage to just keep replacing parts at your cost until they just happen to find the problem by accident-in my job if I was to do that there is no way the customenr would just keep on paying-I thought the whole idea of taking a car to a qualified mechanic who charges £25 per hour + vat was that his training and experience would lead him to diagnose a faulty component, replace it and check the system-am I expecting too much??

Rant rant rant!! (sorry) >:( >:( >:( >:( :-X :-X

Title: Re: power steering??
Post by john.n on Oct 16^th, 2004, 6:10pm

Sounds as if the leak could be on the hose at the bottom of the reservour, have a look. john.n :)

Title: Re: power steering??
Post by Eddie on Oct 17^th, 2004, 5:17pm

Have a look under the car below the front of the engine.
There is a thick metal block about 3" square,attached to the cross member,one of the steering pipes runs across this block,mine had worn a hole right through,it exploded one saturday night in the middle of cardiff!

There is another friction point on the bracket supporting the pump,check this also.

eddie

Title: Re: power steering??
Post by Snuggles on Oct 17^th, 2004, 7:40pm

defo no leaks from the reservoir tank-I will discreetly ( >:( >:( )suggest the garage checks the hoses-especially the ones mentioned-at the rate the fluid is coming out (the reservoir is dropping about 1/2 inch per day) it shouldn't be rocket science to spot a leak that size :o Otherwise it looks like I shall have to buy some shares in OPEC ;D Thanks for the pointers everyone-will let you know how it goes asap.

Title: Re: power steering??
Post by Snuggles on Oct 18^th, 2004, 10:57pm

Ok-took the car back-mechanic insists the leak will stop once the gators have filled with oil-now call me a plonker but why would the gators fill with oil unless the seals on the rack are knacked-am I right in thinking there may be a little oil in the gators but they should certainly not be filled with oil?

If some one can put me right I will advertise for a rack, tell the garage to put it on and be done with it-he says it is definatly NOT leaking from any of the hoses or joints, bottle etc. if I get a new rack I will have replaced all the moving parts-I just hate having to paywhat will be in excess of £500 for a job that should have probably cost half that if the garage had just told me the rack was duff then replaced it-I very much doubt the pump would have got some piece of crap in it, siezed up and broken. :-[

Title: Re: power steering??
Post by Snoopy on Oct 19^th, 2004, 7:55am

There should NOT be any oil in the gators of the steering rack.... The seals for the rack are inside the rack itself and if these are failing then the gators fill with oil.. It does sound like you need a new steering rack,
Have a read of this and associated data at it might explain a few things for you....
http://www.fordscorpio.info/srackrepair.htm

Title: Re: power steering??
Post by Simmo on Oct 19^th, 2004, 9:36am

I had a similar fault and as I understand it the rack is not serviceable but is a replacement item. The gaiters are not there to contain fluid but they will hold a large amount and thats seem to be what is happening to your fluid.You should be able to 'feel' that amount of fluid in them and they will be swelling up ... before they burst!.... :(

Title: Re: power steering??
Post by Snoopy on Oct 19^th, 2004, 9:50am

You are correct although this page gives details of a repair I seem to recall that it was only a short term solution before the rack failed completely and a NEW rack was fitted .. which incidently is quite an easy and quick DIY job ... Others on here have it well documented and wil give advice if required.

Title: Re: power steering??
Post by Snuggles on Oct 19^th, 2004, 10:13am

Thanks everyone-I have ordered a remanufactured rack so I will get that fitted. Comes to something when you have to tell the guy charging you what the problem is and how to fix it properly ::) Ah well... Will let you know how the fitting goes and the (hopefully) final result. ;D

Title: Re: power steering??
Post by Snuggles on Nov 5^th, 2004, 10:55am

Well-it's done at last-I brought a remanufactured steering rack and the garage fitted it-guess what? No more leaks!!! ;D Just to show what sort of garage we are dealing with here after I got the car back it jumped on every pothole, squaled round bends and tried to go in two directions at once! Took it to a different garage to get the tracking checked and it was 24 mm out. DOH!!! Anyway thanks for all the advice--as suggested it was the rack. Now a funny thing happened the other night when I was waiting to pick up my mother (about 10 mins) when I drove off steam appeared to be coming from the bonnet. Sure enough on closer inspection the coolant reservoir was dripping quite a bit of water down the back of the hot engine. After many expletives I decided as there appeared to be plenty of water in the reservoir and the guage was normal to get home. Since then it has been fine, the water has not moved-there are no bubbles or oil or mayonaise in the water-do you think someone has topped it up to far and it was just letting out the excess? Only thing is I would have thought it would come out of the cap or somewhere obvious but I could not see where the source was at all... thanks again everyone. ::)

Title: Re: power steering??
Post by pustagris on Nov 6^th, 2004, 7:55am

Gratulations to your succesfull repair of your steering rack. Can you tell me how much the bill was. (parts and labor)
Where did you buy the remanufactured rack?Do you think that they will even sell racks for left hand vehicules?
In France this thing is hard to get.

regards Volker (pustagris)

Title: Re: power steering??
Post by Snuggles on Nov 6^th, 2004, 12:53pm

Hi, thanks. The remanufactured rack was only £75 from autospares group, sutton auto factors, new cross street, sutton-in-ashfiels, notts, ng17 4aa Telephone 01623 441944. There is a £50 surcharge which is returned once you send them your old rack and there is vat on top. Fitting should have been around £75 all in. They accept credit/debit card and are pretty fast although I had to send the first rack back because of transit carriage-(would'nt have happened if they had wrapped it a bit better instead of just shoving it in a thin cardboard box-the second one was packed exactly the same although luckily it had survived the journey ok). By the way this is NOT the garage I had all the problems with!

Title: Re: power steering??
Post by pustagris on Nov 7^th, 2004, 10:14am

Hello Snuggles. Thank you for your answer. I will call this people if they can repair my steering rack (left hand drive!)
Do they have an e- mail adress? I understand you paid by credit card and the whole " operation" was done by mail ?

I tried Google to find some french repair shop, able to do this kind of work, but didn't find any.
How heavy (kg or pounds) is the power steering rack, once taken out of the car?
I want to know this to get an idea how much the freight to the UK and back will be.
regards
Volker (pustagris)

Title: Re: power steering??
Post by Snuggles on Nov 7^th, 2004, 7:52pm

www.autospares-group.com probably about 3kgs. All done via the web and email-give them a ring-they were very helpful. Good luck :)

I have found the water problem-a very fine crack in the reservoir on the underneath-only showing a small weep when hot and under pressure-if anyone has a reservoir for sale for a tdi I would be glad to purchase it... At the moment I have temporarily sealed it with some gas-tight tape and it is ok 8)