Steering Stabilizer

[Bernie Benz]

A new failure mode, Mike!
I don’t recall ever hearing of the damper failing by freezing up. I  
would expect the more likely damper failure to be seal failure  
resulting in loss of fluid and thus viscus damping. If you do not  
replace it you might tighten the rack to pinion clearance adjustment  
to add a little more friction to the system. I have had to this to  
damp a steering osculation.

Bernie

On Jun 25, 2007, at 11:59 AM, Mike Miller wrote:

> I recently took a trip from Montana to Vancouver, WA. In Troutdale,  
> OR, I
> backed out of a parking spot and the steering wheel would not turn  
> back to
> straight. I pulled back in and discovered PS fluid dripping from  
> the front
> of the engine, so I assumed it was the PS Pump leaking. But that  
> did not
> explain why the steering would not move. After applying a *lot* of  
> brute
> force, there was a loud pop/snap and the wheel behaved normally,  
> but, was
> still leaking PS fluid - the more I turned the wheel, the faster it  
> leaked.
> Luckily, I had a quart of Pentosin with me so I topped it off and  
> drove it
> the 30 miles to my destination - loosing hardly any fluid along the  
> way.
>
> I put out a call for a local area shop on the Northwest Audi list  
> and got 3
> replies  - all for the same shop. Called that shop and they had a  
> couple
> week backlog, but they refered me to another shop who was able to  
> get me in
> and out that same day. The guy even ordered up a pump before I  
> brought it
> in. What sucks was I had a relatively new pump sitting in a parts  
> car at
> home. Just shy of $600 for the repair with the pump costing a tad  
> less than
> $350.
>
> The speculation was that the steering stabilizer was going bad  
> (before it
> finally froze entirely)and caused excessive pressure on the PS  
> Pump, blowing
> a seal. The loud pop I heard was the stabilizer bending 90 degrees and
> bending a mounting bracket. I guess people might want to check their
> stabilizer. I have the stabilizer removed and can feel no  
> difference in the
> way the car drives - I doubt I pull one from a parts car and  
> install it.
>
> --mike
>
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