Vjgtrybno1

Put the Tenacious_G 86 NA up on jackstands to see what was up with the loss of power steering fluid. We removed the belly pan and noticed the majority of fluid was coming from the driver's side. We fired up the engine and turned the wheel lock to lock a few times and fluid was literally dripping from the driver's side boot, which had a hole in one of the accordion creases.

So it looks like a leaky rack. By my reckoning, we could buy a rebuilt rack, rebuild the current one or pick up one from a parts car here in Cincy. What makes the most sense? If we rebuild the current one, will we still need to get the car re-aligned? How long do those rebuild kits with the seals last? Any thoughts? Thanks.

hpservertech

I would get a rebuilt one. If your inner & outer rods are fine get one from an early car. Autozone sells them for $176 after the core. Put your inner & outer rods on and give them back the new ones. Or you can get the turbo inner & outer rods new for around $75 iirc from a guy on ebay that is in CT. Ironically everyone sells the short version for more then the long version, can't understand that one. You can't use the inner & outer rods though from an early car on a late one though.

And yes, you will need an alignment aftwords.

FRporscheman

I rebuilt the rack on our 928S myself... if this will be the only time you ever rebuild a rack, then it's kinda not worth the effort and time. It was educational though... Just buy a rebuilt rack, but make sure you get it from Griffiths - they actually rebuild racks, not just reseal them like all the other places.

GodSpeed

+1

J Silverman

Im in the same boat. My car has more of a drip from the passenger side. I think Im going to install a manual rack so I dont ever have to worry about leaks again.

Keithr726

The PO of my car had a rebuilt one installed and it was really expensive.

FRporscheman

Expensive probably means it was the fully rebuilt kind, so it should be good for another 15-20 years.

There are two levels of expensive though. If you buy from Griffiths or something comparable, then it won't exactly be cheap. However, if you buy one direct from ZF (the OEM), then you'll be looking at prices rivalling the price of a spare 944.

35thSLP

I rebuilt my sons rack with the rennbay kit and it has been good as new for 2 years. 70.00 and took about 3 hours to do. It was not difficult, you just need a clean place to do it and compressed air helps.

josephsc

I rebuilt my rack with the rennbay kit. Two years later, the high pressure hose started leaking. I got sick and tired of the whole setup, and "manualized" the PS system (gutted the rack, ripped out the pump, etc).

I now get a work out everytime I park the car outside my fiancée's apartment b/c she lives on a hill. She seems to enjoy watching me flex my muscles.