Mike S

I recently rebuilt the power steering rack with the rennbay kit (2 months ago). All was well until I recently got an alignment at Custom Alignment in Mt. View. About a week after that the steering in the car got really hard. At this point it's hard to turn either direction and seems pretty hard through the whole turn. Occasionally, I'll get a brief (about 1 second worth) of normal assist.

Here's what I know:
1)No noises from the power steering pump or rack
2)Power steering pump was pulled and dissassembled....all systems look great
3)I verified that the pump is pushing fluid back through the reservoir
4)When I first rebuilt the power steering rack I left out the top washer for about a month. I have recently put it back in there, but the situation has not changed.

At this point I'm thinking that it has to be the rack itself. Are there any other thoughts?

mike

F18Rep

Well if you don't have any leaks and for sure have pressure coming into the control tower, then I THINK you have to have a broken/damaged seal in the control tower (one of the three larger diameter seals). You didn't mention the condition of the cylinder walls at the rebuild, how did it look? And did it "groan" during parking situations (another indication of poor sealing in the tower)? If you do open it up, pull the fluid fittings first and peek through the holes, you should NOT be able to see any blue/white seal material (If the pinion is seated correctly). If the pinion is too high of too low, you'll see the seal at the edge of the hole(s).
That would be where I look first...Bruce

Mike S

Cylinder walls loooked great at rebuild time. It has never groaned, even during parking. I know the typical steering groan you are talking about and I don't have any of that for some reason. It's really strange how the thing instantly became a manual rack...or so it feels.

Don 944 LA

Now I know why Clarks Garage stated that a home rebuild usually fails and that it is better to buy a professionally done rack.

I will probably need to do this, and am just going to bite the bullet

F18Rep

I didn't know that Clarks made that point but I wouldn't be surprised if it was true. On the other hand, even the "professionally rebuilt" ones come with a very short warranty of what , 1 year.
Other trivia...A friend paid a premium to get a 3 year warranty, it was a total price of something like $700. And yep, he needed the warranty as the rebuilt one failed after 2 years of light use.
I have a couple of other style racks laying around the shop and have wondered if I couldn't devise a swap-out to a more reliable unit.

Travis - sflraver

The problem with failing racks is not so much the rebuild its the cleaning of the insides. You can replace a few seals just as well as a pro can but its the attention to cleaning the insides that makes all the difference.

You have to understand that all the oil bearing seals in the rack have cylinders riding in and out of them every time you turn the wheel. If your rack started to leak that means that some contaminants got into the system and started to rip away at the seals.

Cleaning the rack out is only part of the solution to having the rebuild last. You must also clean / replace the reservoir and flush out all the fluid lines / pump. Anything that got in there to rip up the old seals would still be hanging around in those components as well.

Remember kids.... a clean power steering system is a happy power steering system.

red9four4

screw power steering get a manual rack, less weight and more feel for the road.... unless you cant handle it

josephsc

I tend to agree -- I installed a rebuilt rack and a new reservoir last summer, but now the pump is leaking! I'm fed up with it, so I'm going manual now. In hindsight, should've done that in the first place. I wouldn't recommend going manual for late-offset cars, though: serious PITA to find the correct tie rods....